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30-455: Topo Islet is approximately 12.14 hectares (30.0 acres; 0.0469 sq mi) in area. It is about 100 metres (330 ft) off the southeasternmost tip of São Jorge, adjacent the civil parish of Topo in the Calheta municipality. Waters around the islet range from 5 to 22 metres (16 to 72 ft) deep. The area is suitable for more experienced divers due to strong currents. Though the islet

60-419: A land area of 888.35 km (342.99 sq mi), and the smallest parish by area is São Bartolomeu (Borba), with a land area of 0.208 km (0.080 sq mi). The most populous parish is Algueirão - Mem Martins, with a population of 68,649 people and the least populous is Mosteiro, with a population of just nineteen people. A freguesia is a subdivision of a município (municipality), which

90-426: A plan to reform the administrative divisions, claiming it would create efficiencies and save money. The plan envisioned the reform of the management, territorial geography and political form of how Portugal functioned at the local level, including specifically at the freguesia and concelho levels. It was determined that these changes would then be formalized before the 2013 local government elections, as part of

120-409: A process to reduce expenditures, a condition of the $ 110 billion accord. 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 of 28 January 2013, which defined the reorganization of the civil parishes. This way,

150-403: 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

180-424: Is a cluster of freguesias , like a US county . Most often, a parish takes the name of its seat, which is usually the most important (or the single) human agglomeration within its area, which can be a neighbourhood or city district, a group of hamlets, a village, a town or an entire city. In cases where the seat is itself divided into more than one parish, each one takes the name of a landmark within its area or of

210-444: 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

240-622: Is just off the coast, most diving expeditions leave from the port of Velas , about 75 minutes away by boat. The islet has no permanent human population or structures. However, prior to Topo Islet's local protection as a nature reserve , people visited the islet and its waters to camp and spearfish . The islet serves as a marine bird sanctuary. Marine birds inhabiting or visiting the islet include black-headed gull , common tern , Cory's shearwater , Eurasian whimbrel , great black-backed gull , little egret , little shearwater , roseate tern , ruddy turnstone , and sanderling . In recognition of

270-511: Is low. However, researchers have found exemplars of the endemic Azorean bracel-da-rocha fescue grass ( Festuca petraea ) on Topo Islet. The waters around Topo Islet are biodiverse . Fish observed in the area include Atlantic bonito , Azores chromis , barred hogfish , bluefish , Canary damsel , dusky grouper , longfin yellowtail , Mediterranean rainbow wrasse , moray eels of various species, ornate wrasse , white trevally , and yellowmouth barracuda . The common octopus also habitates

300-405: 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,

330-637: The Portuguese Empire until its handover to China in 1999. During the period of Portuguese rule it was divided into two municipalities which were subdivided into a total of seven parishes. In 2001 the municipalities were dissolved and their administrative functions transferred to the Municipal Affairs Bureau . The parishes were legally retained but no longer serve an administrative function. Municipalities of Portugal The municipality ( Portuguese : município or concelho )

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360-403: The assembleia de freguesia are publicly elected every four years. The presidents of the parish boards are also members of the municipal assembly . 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". Freguesia ,

390-631: 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

420-418: The area. Freguesia Freguesia ( Portuguese pronunciation: [fɾɛɣɨˈzi.ɐ] ), usually translated as " parish " or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal , as defined by the 1976 Constitution . It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Portuguese overseas territories of Cape Verde and Macau (until 2001). In

450-619: 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

480-586: The islet's role as a marine bird habitat, in 1984 the regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores decreed the islet a "partial" nature reserve. Since March 1990 the islet and adjacent coastline on the main island of São Jorge have been protected through the European Environment Agency 's Natura 2000 initiative under the Birds Directive . In 2011 the original Topo Islet reserve and adjacent coastline

510-459: The municipalities with the same name (except for Sé, which belongs to Funchal ). Of Cape Verde 's 22 municipalities , which form the highest level of sub-national government in the small African state, some but not all are subdivided into parishes. There are 32 parishes in the country. Macau is an autonomous special administrative region in Southern China that was historically a part of

540-421: The municipality directly. Barcelos is the municipality with the most civil parishes (61, since 2013). Portugal has no unincorporated areas ; all the national territory (apart from the above-mentioned example of Corvo) belongs to a civil parish, including uninhabited islands: Selvagens Islands to Sé , and Berlengas to Peniche , Desertas Islands to Santa Cruz , and Formigas Islets to Vila do Porto , in

570-440: 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

600-500: The number of parishes was reduced from 4,259 to 3,091. Municipalities in Portugal are usually divided into multiple freguesias , but seven municipalities are not: Alpiarça , Barrancos , Castanheira de Pera , Porto Santo , São Brás de Alportel and São João da Madeira all consist of a single civil parish, and Corvo is a special case of a municipality without civil parishes, where all usual parish duties and functions are performed by

630-467: 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

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660-410: The parish the smallest division. But, the power of the clergy built these areas, accumulating immense wealth and power. The liberal government of Mouzinho da Silveira abolished the parishes in 1832, but the government of Manuel da Silva Passos restored them in 1836. The freguesia began to refer to the civil/administrative entity, while the paróquia ( Latin : parochia ) became affiliated with

690-503: The past, it was also an administrative division of the other Portuguese overseas territories. The parroquia in the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia and Asturias is similar to a freguesia . The average land area of a Portuguese parish is about 29.83 km (11.52 sq mi) and an average population of about 3,386 people. The largest parish by area is Alcácer do Sal (Santa Maria do Castelo e Santiago) e Santa Susana, with

720-485: The patron saint from the usually coterminous Catholic parish ( paróquia in Portuguese). Be it a city district or village, the civil parish is often based on an ecclesiastical parish. Since 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/council") and a deliberative body (the assembleia de freguesia , "parish assembly"). The members of

750-694: The religious entity. Before the 2013 local government reforms, the 308 municipalities were subdivided into 4,259 civil parishes. In 2011, after more than two weeks of bailout negotiations in light of the sovereign debt crisis with the International Monetary Fund , the European Central Bank and the European Commission , the Portuguese government was obliged to reduce the number of municipal and parish local governments after July 2012. The government of Pedro Passos Coelho introduced

780-498: 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

810-488: 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

840-474: 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

870-504: The traditional Portuguese word for parish, had its beginning in the filius ecclesiae (child of the church) and filius gregis (child of the shepherds's flock), the collectivity of the religious faithful, with similar aspirations and interests. Between 1216 and 1223, Afonso II of Portugal began a process of legitimizing 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

900-414: Was named Área Protegida para a Gestão de Habitats ou Espécies do Ilhéu do Topo (Topo Islet Protected Area for Habitat and Species Restoration) and integrated into the newly established Nature Park of São Jorge, one of the locally protected areas of the Azores . The entire terrestrial area of the islet is protected. As sheep and cattle pasture on the islet—damaging the natural habitat—its plant diversity

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