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Although some lakes occur in mainland Portugal, most of these bodies of water are native to the archipelago of the Azores. A large part of the lakes present in mainland Portugal are artificial and the result of damming. Most natural lakes in the mainland can be found in Serra da Estrela. Madeira has small bodies of water (ponds), an thus does not meet the criteria for inclusion in this list.
The word lake can be directly translated into the Portuguese language word lago, but these bodies of water are most commonly classified as lagoas (singular: lagoa), which is semi-equivalent to the word pond and is not to be confused with a lagoon (lagoons are bodies of water close or connected to an ocean whereas lakes or ponds are surrounded entirely by land).
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