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62-573: The district is composed of 16 municipalities : All 16 municipalities are divided into 67 parishes or freguesias. In Pre-Roman Portugal , the area was inhabited by the Cynetes (or Conii), a people (formed by several tribes ) of linguistic and ethnic affiliation, possibly Celtic or Iberian , whose territory included the modern area of the Beja District . This former territory of the Cysteines ran from

124-560: A Regional Cabinet, comprising a President ( Presidente do Governo Regional ) and several Regional Secretaries ( Secretários Regionais ). The Azores ( Açores ) is an archipelago of nine islands and several islets that were discovered and settled by the Portuguese in the late 15th century. The Azores lies a third of the distance between Europe and North America, along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge . The government and administration of

186-459: A Regional Government ( Governo Regional ), that constitutes a Regional Cabinet, comprising a President ( Presidente do Governo Regional ) and several Regional Secretaries ( Secretários Regionais ). Their legislatures are designated Legislative Assembly . A plan to divide mainland Portugal in eight regions was defeated in a referendum in 1998 . The metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto were created in 1991. A law passed in 2003 supported

248-434: A greater area. The following chart show municipalities (as of 2023) with populations over 100,000. Around 190 municipalities have less than 20,000 inhabitants each. Administrative divisions of Portugal Portugal is a unitary state with delegated authority to three levels of local government that cover the entire country: The Judiciary of Portugal has a separate geographic system. The government structure

310-582: A high degree of autonomy. In part due to the favorable relationship with the Romans, the colonies had some conflicts with the Lusitanians , who under the leadership of Caucenus , the Lusitanian leader before Viriathus , had conquered their territory for some time, including the capital, Conistorgis (whose location is still not known, but is thought to be in modern-day Faro or Castro Marim ) in 153 BC. Partly due to

372-534: A period of time. In the year 552, the current area of Algarve was regained by the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire (then governed by Emperor Justinian I ), and a government was appointed that lasted until the year 571, when King Liuvigild conquered it for the Visigothic Kingdom . The Cape St. Vincent is situated in a route of migrating birds , allowing for the seasonal observation of

434-416: A seafaring nation, and traditionally human settlement has congregated along the coastline, so much so that the coastal districts, while being relatively small, were disproportionately larger by population. The six largest districts (with the exception of Santarém) are the six districts with the smallest populations and common character: a border with Spain. Of these interior districts, which represent 63.8% of

496-403: A social distinction based on population size and associated services and have no legal representation in law or constitution. Portugal has no unincorporated areas ; all the national territory belongs to a municipality, including uninhabited islands: Berlengas to Peniche , Desertas Islands to Santa Cruz , Selvagens Islands to Funchal , and Formigas Islets to Vila do Porto . Portugal

558-453: Is based on the 1976 Constitution , adopted after the 1974 Carnation Revolution . The powers of the 18 Districts were removed when the government decided not to reappoint their Civil Governors in 2011. The legal status of a city or town is granted only for ceremonial purposes, typically with smaller boundaries than municipalities. Some municipalities have several cities. Starting in 2003, Eurostat has defined regions and subregions in

620-444: Is divided into 18 continental districts ( Portuguese : distritos ) and two autonomous regions ( Portuguese : regiões autónomas ), Azores and Madeira . The table below is the distribution of the municipalities within these districts and the autonomous regions: The biggest municipalities are those located in rural and inland areas where the dominating property type is the latifundia , such as Beja , Évora , or Portalegre in

682-405: Is the second-level administrative subdivision of Portugal , as defined by the 1976 Constitution . As a general rule, each municipality is further subdivided into parishes ( freguesias ); the municipalities in the north of the country usually have a higher number of parishes. Six municipalities are composed of only one parish, and Barcelos , with 61 parishes, has the most. Corvo is, by law,

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744-471: The Canary or Balearic Islands . The division of the Portuguese territory is established in title eight (Título VIII) of the Portuguese constitution: granting local authority to territorial collectivities with representative organs to affect the interests of the local populations. These collectivities are defined as autonomous regions , administrative regions , municipalities and civil parishes , but reserves

806-516: The Corvo Island in the Azores) is the only Portuguese municipality without a civil parish. The parish, in contrast with the municipalities, had their base in the ecclesiastical divisions that "had its origin in the fact that neighbours professed the same religion and professed their faith and divinity in the same temple" . Between 1216 and 1223, Afonso II of Portugal began a process of legitimizing

868-494: The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) standard. These are coincide with some local government borders, but are otherwise only used for statistical purposes. There are 18 districts in continental Portugal : The distribution of Portuguese districts is nominally homogeneous, although there are outliers (Beja for example is 4.6 times larger than the smallest district, Viana do Castelo). But these divisions bely

930-418: The municipal assembly . Before the 2013 local government reforms, the 308 municipalities were subdivided into 4,259 civil parishes. As part of the national government's attempt to control spending, in light of the sovereign debt crisis , in 2012 the government of Pedro Passos Coelho introduced a plan to reform the administrative divisions, in order to create efficiencies and save money. The plan envisioned

992-497: The 1832 reforms. The initiatives envisioned a comprehensive series of provinces that would have included European Portugal, archipelagos and extra-local dependencies in Southeast Asia, Africa and India. These colonies included: Initially the population of these overseas territories were made to exploit resources (minerals, spices, wood or slaves), but later there was a sense of evangelisation or lusotropolicalism , that facilitated

1054-424: The 1976 Constitution defined the districts as a transitional level of administration, awaiting the formation of the administrative regions. In the period between 2003 and 2013 the whole continental territory of Portugal was subdivided into metropolitan areas and intermunicipal communities, which now form the top-level administrative divisions of the continental territory. The powers of the 18 Districts were removed when

1116-631: The 19th century after the administrative reforms conducted by the middle of the 19th century by the governments of the constitutional monarchy . The concelhos probably formed after the expulsion of the Visigothic rulers by the Moors during the Umayyad conquest of Hispania . Towns were thus left free to govern themselves, and the population started to organize in councils ( concelhos in Portuguese) in order to govern

1178-640: The Azorean judiciary and seat of the Diocese of the Azores. Madeira is an archipelago that includes two principal islands, Madeira and Porto Santo , plus two uninhabited natural group of islands, the Desertas and Savage Islands ( Ilhas Selvagens ). The archipelago is located closer to Africa than Europe, is highly commercial and urbanized; its regional capital ( Funchal ) is developmentally comparable to urban centers in

1240-505: The Portuguese overseas territories, instead of the previous overseas dominion , during the administrative reforms of the beginning of the 19th century, following the idea that these territories were as part of Portugal as the Portuguese European provinces. In the beginning of the 20th century, most of these territories started to be referred as colonies , although the term overseas provinces continued also to be used. Only after 1951,

1302-421: The Portuguese territory by conferring charters to nobles, clergy and municipal chambers (which would not be completed until after 1249 (under Afonso III of Portugal ), making the parish the smallest division. From the 19th century freguesia began to refer to the civil/administrative entity, while the paróquia ( Latin and 19th-century Portuguese : parochia ) became affiliated with the religious entity. Since

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1364-526: The Portuguese territory was settled early, and maintained with stability after the 13th century. The first division of the Portuguese territory was based exclusively on the Roman Iberian provinces of Hispania Tarraconensis , Lusitania and Hispania Baetica , established by Emperor Augustus between 27 and 13 B.C. The actual territory of Portugal north of the Douro, the province of Tarraconensis, occupied half of

1426-511: The archipelago is distributed between the three capitals of the former districts of the Azores: the regional parliament is located in the city of Horta (on Faial Island ); Ponta Delgada (on São Miguel Island ) is the most populous city and home to the Regional Presidency and administration; while Angra do Heroísmo (on Terceira Island ), the historical and cultural capital, is the home of

1488-570: The coast. But, until 1832, the provinces did not serve an administrative function, although they did mark the differences in habits, linguistic peculiarities and socio-cultural characteristics. The province remained a military designation, chiefed by the General das Armas (Military Governor), expressly forbidden from influencing municipal affairs. During the Liberal regime, some of the liberal politicians conceived an administrative system where provinces were

1550-508: The colonization of these lands. The first significant colony was Brazil whose history included a period as kingdom within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves (1815–1822), before a political schism would result in its independence in 1822. The Eurostat -based NUTS system subdivides the nation into three levels: NUTS I, NUTS II and NUTS III. In some European partners, as

1612-632: The conflict with the Portuguese (and partly due to the cultural influence of Mediterranean civilizations), unlike many pre-Roman peoples of Portugal, they were allies of the Romans for some time and not their opponents, differing from the attitude of most of the other peoples, such as the Lusitanians who were strong opponents of the Romans. Nevertheless, a while later, in the context of the Lusitanian Wars, in

1674-530: The country, and in the King's Testamento do Reino de Portugal he recognized the five "regions" of the nation: Antre Douro e Minho ; Antre Douro e Mondego ; Beira , Estremadura and Antre Tejo e Odiana . Dinis's successor, Afonso IV (1325–1357), instituted a system of six official comarcas , that reflected a concrete definition of these regions: Antre Douro e Minho , Antre Douro e Mondego , Beira , Estremadura , Antre Tejo e Odiana and Algarve . Between

1736-399: The creation of a democratic local administration, in 1976, the Portuguese municipalities have been ruled by a system composed by an executive body (the municipal chamber ) and a deliberative body (the municipal assembly ). The municipal chamber ( câmara municipal ) is the executive body, and is composed of a president of the municipality and a number of councillors whose number depends on

1798-404: The creation of a democratic local administration, in 1976, the Portuguese parishes have been ruled by a system composed by an executive body (the junta de freguesia , "parish board") and a deliberative body (the assembleia de freguesia , "parish assembly"). The members of the assembleia de freguesia are publicly elected every four years. The presidents of the parish boards are also members of

1860-621: The creation of more metropolitan areas, urban communities and other associations of municipalities, but a law passed in 2008 abolished these, converting them into intermunicipal communities . Finally in law 75/2013 September 2013 the current two types of administrative regions were defined: The Metropolitan Areas are territorial units formed by grouping municipalities, in order to economize on municipal investments and services. As of 2014, there are two metropolitan areas that correspond to Level III NUTS regions: (Other cities have metropolitan areas as defined by commuting patterns, but do not have

1922-440: The government decided not to reappoint their Civil Governors in 2011. Since 1976, Portugal conceded political autonomy to its North Atlantic archipelagos ( Madeira and Azores ) due to their distance, isolation, geographical context and socio-economic circumstances. The regional autonomies have their own organic laws, regional governments and administration, overseen by a Regional Government ( Governo Regional ), that constitutes

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1984-406: The inadequacies and disparities that exist within the country: the distribution of population and gross domestic product between territorial units is markedly different. The district of Beja, for example, represents approximately 11.5% of the area of Portugal, while Viana do Castelo is less than 2.5%. But, in comparison, Beja represents only 1.6% of the population of Portugal. Portugal is primarily

2046-619: The infusion of new revenues and facilitated growth in population and size. There are 308 municipalities in Portugal: 278 in mainland Portugal , 19 in the autonomous region of the Azores , and 11 in Madeira . They are usually named for their biggest city, or at least, their historically most important city or town. However, the municipality is not synonymous with the city (or urban centre) and can include various towns or cities. In Portugal, cities/towns are

2108-633: The mouth of the Mira River all the way to the Guadiana River . It is possible that they were related to the Tartessos (people whose linguistic and ethnic affiliation is also not yet fully known or determined), but were not the same people. Before the definitive integration of the canons into the Roman Empire , during the period from about 200 BC to 141 BC, they were under strong Roman influence, but enjoyed

2170-585: The municipality is usually much larger than the city or town after which it is named. The largest in area is Odemira with 1720.60 km , the smallest is São João da Madeira with an area of 7.94 km . Nearly all municipalities are subdivided into civil parishes . Barcelos is the municipality with the largest number of civil parishes (61). There are six municipalities that have only one civil parish: São João da Madeira , Alpiarça , Barrancos , Castanheira de Pera , Porto Santo (Madeira) and São Brás de Alportel . The municipality of Corvo (comprising

2232-540: The municipality's population. The municipal assembly ( assembleia municipal ) is composed of the presidents of all the civil parishes plus a number of directly elected representatives that has to be at least equal to the number of civil parish presidents plus one, and which otherwise depends on the municipal population. There are 308 municipalities in Portugal. They are usually named for their biggest city, or at least, their historically most important city or town. However,

2294-440: The municipality's population. The municipal assembly is composed of the presidents of all the parishes that compose the municipality, as well as by a number of directly elected deputies, at least equal to the number of parish presidents plus one. Both bodies are elected for four years. Portugal has an entirely separate system of ceremonial cities and towns . Cities and towns are located in municipalities but often do not have

2356-505: The nation and have a population that is less than two million residents, is only marginally less than the population of the district of Lisbon. The district system dates back to 25 April 1835, a creation of the Liberal government, and inspired by the French départements , with the objective to facilitate the action of government and permit access to the authorities. The district is the most relevant and historically significant subdivision of

2418-501: The nation's territory; it serves as the basis for a series of administrative divisions, such as electoral constituencies or district football associations , as well as being a socially recognizable territorial division of the country. In 1976, Portugal was divided into 18 districts and two autonomous regions (the Azores and Madeira ), consisting of 308 municipalities ( concelhos ), which in turn were divided into 4257 local government authorities ( freguesias ). Article 291 of

2480-404: The national territory, that includes mainland Portugal and the two archipelagos, the municipalities ( municípios , colloquially known as concelhos ) have been the most constant territorial subdivision in the past 900 years. While a term for municipality ( concelho ) appeared in the 13th century, to "express a community constituted in a territory of varying extensions, whose residents –

2542-420: The neighbours of the municipality – are granted major or minor administrative autonomy" , the territorial division predates its use. Preceding the nation's independence, the oldest of the larger municipalities still in existence Coimbra and Santarém were founded in 1085 e 1095, respectively. São João da Pesqueira (in the district of Viseu ) is the oldest Portuguese municipality, founded in 1055. Since

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2604-414: The only municipality with no parishes. Since the creation of a democratic local administration, in 1976, the Portuguese municipalities have been ruled by a system composed of an executive body (the municipal chamber ) and a deliberative body (the municipal assembly ). The municipal chamber is the executive body and is composed of the president of the municipality and a number of councillors proportional to

2666-415: The parish, instituted by the religious orders that dominated the country, controlled local ecclesiastical power at the local level. During the reign of King Dinis (1279–1325), the monarch instituted a series of inquiries throughout the kingdom which resulted, a few years later, in the configuration of the territory into provinces and municipalities. This was the first official recognition of the diversity of

2728-562: The peninsula, while the province of Lusitania, included the area south of the Douro. These Roman provinces were themselves subdivided into conventus iuridicus : Conventus Bracarum , its seat in Bracara Augusta (today the city of Braga); Conventus Scallabitanus , its seat in Scallabis (today the city of Santarém); and Conventus Pacensis , its seat in Pax Julia (today Beja). By the end of

2790-507: The provinces to characterize traditional and rural Portugal. Each province intended to be a regional community, to which were given decentralized powers . Yet, the Districts continued to define administrative and political control, much like the organization of public security for the State, limiting the powers of local government. This organizational structure for the territory resulted in a loss of

2852-458: The reform of the management, territorial geography and political form of how Portugal functioned at the local level, including specifically at the freguesia and município levels. In addition to the reduction of the number of representatives in the local boards, the plan also established criteria for the reduction, amalgamation or extinction of various civil parishes. The reform was implemented according to law 11-A/2013 January 2013, which defined

2914-552: The reign of Afonso IV and the 20th century there were numerous alterations to the limits of the nation, a consequence of development and population growth. Further modifications to the limits of these provinces occurred in the Plano de Ordenamento da Mata Nacional da Machada (1864), the first scientific delimiting of forest resources, and the Projecto Geral da Arborização dos Areais Móveis de Portugal (1897), which modified land usage along

2976-460: The reorganization of the civil parishes, Since the 2013 reform, there are 3,091 parishes in Portugal. The largest in area is Alcácer do Sal (Santa Maria do Castelo e Santiago) e Santa Susana with 888.35 km , the smallest is Borba (São Bartolomeu) with an area of 0.20 km . Portugal has a complex administrative structure, a consequence of a millennium of various territorial divisions. Unlike other European countries like Spain or France,

3038-654: The right of urban areas and islands to establish other forms of local authority. In defining the rights and privileges of these entities, the constitution also defines sources of income, that includes local heritage, budgets and equalization transfers from the State, in addition to defining the basic role of local government at each level. Since 1976, Portugal conceded political autonomy to its North Atlantic archipelagos (the Azores and Madeira ) due to their distance, isolation, geographical context and socio-economic circumstances. The regional autonomies have their own organic laws, regional governments and administration, overseen by

3100-498: The same boundaries, even they are continuously built up. There are around twice as many cities and towns as there are municipalities. The municipality has been the most stable subdivision of Portugal since the foundation of the country in the 12th century. They have their origin in the foral , a legal document, issued by the King of Portugal , which assigned privileges to a town or a region. The present subdivisions have their origins in

3162-491: The same legal status and are all under 1 million inhabitants.) The intermunicipal communities replaced the urban communities, the intermunicipal communities for general purposes and some metropolitan areas that were created in 2003, and abolished in 2008. The territories of the intermunicipal communities are (roughly) based on the NUTS III statistical regions. As of 2014, there are 21 intermunicipal communities: Apart from

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3224-593: The sense of regional identity, which was only kept alive by oral traditions, based on regional references of origin. There was a substantial difference between the European provinces and regions and the overseas colonies (the so-called overseas provinces ). Following the Carnation Revolution , the regions and provinces were abolished and the districts became the second level administrative regions. The term overseas province started to be used to designate each of

3286-406: The six traditional provinces, 11 new ones were established: Minho , Douro Litoral , Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro , Beira Alta , Beira Baixa , Beira Litoral , Estremadura , Ribatejo , Alto Alentejo , Baixo Alentejo and Algarve . These were based in the natural regions identified by the geographer Amorim Girão in several studies he published between 1922 and 1930. The Estado Novo regime used

3348-488: The south, and also in other less populated areas, such as Bragança or Castelo Branco . The most populous municipalities are those located near the sea, and especially around the metropolitan areas of Lisbon , Porto , and Braga , while the less populous municipalities are located in the inland regions of Alentejo and Trás-os-Montes . The municipalities with the lowest population densities are also found in these inland regions, with smaller populations distributed over

3410-536: The term colony was completely dropped and the term overseas province was exalted by the government of António de Oliveira Salazar to shift the attention of anti-colonial protests in the United Nations. But the history of extra-local territories (colonies or provinces) within Portuguese administration dates back to the first settlements along the African coast, South-east Asia and Brazil, and were instituted as part of

3472-517: The third century, Emperor Diocletian administratively reordered Tarraconesis, dividing it into three separate territories (Tarraconensis, Carthaginensis and Callaecia), the latter comprising the northern Portugal, Galicia and Asturias . These divisions remained constant even after the Visigoths controlled the Iberian peninsula. During the period of Al-Andalus and Muslim caliphates, the Iberian peninsula

3534-480: The top level tier of government, maintaining their former names, but with different borders. The debate over the importance of provinces only arose from fears that there would be an excessive concentration of power in the hands of governmental officers ( prefeitos ). The adoption of the 17 districts (1835) instead of eight provinces was an attempt to dissolve such power. In 1936, the provinces were reestablished as administrative divisions in Portugal. However, instead

3596-474: The town and surrounding lands. These were also a reminder of Roman municipalities. The existence since the Middle Ages of a large number of small municipalities with no financial resources and without people qualified to take part in municipal councils caused the stagnation of their growth. The Liberal revolution of 1836, resulted in the suppression/annexation of many of these smaller municipalities, which allowed

3658-692: The variety of bird life. The subsoil of the district is inhabited by several endemic species unique to Faro, some still just being discovered. The most emblematic species of the underground fauna of the Algarve are the giant pseudo-scorpion of the Algarve caves ( Titanobochica magna ) and the largest terrestrial cave insect in Europe , Squamatinia algharbica . 37°00′54″N 7°56′06″W  /  37.01500°N 7.93500°W  / 37.01500; -7.93500 Municipalities of Portugal The municipality ( Portuguese : município or concelho )

3720-644: The year of 141BC, the Conidia revolted against the Roman Empire, along with the Turduli of Beturia (also called betures), but were quickly defeated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus , a Roman proconsul , and was definitively integrated into the Roman Empire. Despite being conquered by the so-called barbarian peoples ( Vandals , Alans , Suebi , and later Visigoths ) at the time of Barbarian migrations or invasions, Roman culture and Christianity remained there for

3782-476: Was also a tendency to demarcate lands associated with settlements or seigneurial properties; there was a constant history of forals (the royal charters) being allocated for unorganized territories, as a means to primarily establish fealty rights and encourage medieval settlement. Historically, the institution of the foral system was a way to divide the territory and to establish local administrative control (and not regional or hierarchical continuity). Similarly

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3844-573: Was divided administratively into provinces ( kuwar ) and municipalities ( kurar ), along the lines of the Roman-Visigothic delineations. Meanwhile, the taifa of Badajoz dominated the spaces of Beiras, Estremadura and a great part of the Alentejo. With the expansion of the Portuguese national territory, following the conquest of new lands, the monarchy imposed a structure that permitted permanent dominion and organization of territorial space. There

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