The history of the establishment and management philosophies of the mainland Portuguese Protected Areas was reconstructed through the use of written records and oral history interviews. The objectives were to review the main philosophies in the creation and management of these areas, to assess the influence of international PA models, to compare the Portuguese case with other European and international literature concerning PAs and to discuss the value of the oral history in this research. As main results, it was found that the initial management model of "Wilderness (or Yellowstone)" was replaced by the "new paradigm" of PAs when the democracy was re-established. Changes in the management philosophies within this "new paradigm" were also identified, which resulted in the transition of a "Landscape" to a "Nature conservation" model. After the establishment of the Natura 2000 network, the "Biodiversity conservation" model prevailed. It was also found that the initiative for the establishment of most PAs came from the government, although there were few cases of creation due to the action of NGOs and municipalities. Finally, oral history interviews enabled the addition of information to the literature review, but also provided more insight and detail to this history.