Alcácer do Sal

Alcácer do Sal (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐɫˈkasɛɾ ðu ˈsaɫ]) is a municipality in Portugal, located in Setúbal District. The population in 2011 was 13,046, in an area of 1499.87 km².

History

Earliest settlement

There has been human settlement in the area for more than 40,000 years; archaeological investigations have placed human presence here back to the Mesolithic Period, when the first peoples began to concentrate in the areas around Alcácer. This period was characterized by exploitation of the ecosystem in the Sado Estuary, when the river extended to São Romão, involving fishing, scavenging for shellfish, hunting and foraging in the local forests. The primitive tools, made from chert, were adapted from the techniques of the late Paleolithic era. By the late Mesolithic period, people had concentrated in the area of Comporta and Torrão, later establishing primitive defensive protection to support its communities.

These principal settlements were abandoned by the Copper Age, but repopulated during the Iron Age, as was the case of Alcácer. Mediterranean trade, pioneered by the Phoenicians, introduced commercial colonies in Abul and Alcácer (then referred to as Bevipo or Keition), where a written alphabet and currency allowed commerce to flourish.