Castro Verde

Castro Verde (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈkaʃtɾu ˈveɾd(ɨ)]) is a town and a municipality of the Alentejo region of Portugal (in the historic district of Beja). The population in 2011 was 7,276, in an area of 569.44 km². Castro Verde is situated in the Baixo Alentejo subregion, within a territory known locally as the Campo Branco (English: White Plains). The municipality can be recognized by the local municipal markers along its borders, that appear within its borders to denote its reference as A Window on the Plains; municipal markers appear as stylized house profiles, with an exaggerated window that allows the visitor to see through into the panorama.

History

The pre-History of the Baixo Alentejo Subregion dates back to 200,000 B.C. when the territory was crossed by migratory Neanderthal peoples from the north of Europe in the Lower Paleolithic period. Until their extinction, around 28,000 B.C., Neanderthal man hunted and forged in present-day Portugal. Later, the area was home to several cultures due to the abundance of minerals and its commercial and strategic place along the Mediterranean. The earliest settlements began with Celtiberians, from the central Iberian Peninsula around the 6th Century B.C., and were followed by the Celts. From the 3rd Century, tribal clans were replaced by organized oppidum, a fortified organized city with a defined territory that included many castro villages constructed from large boulders or earthworks.

Castro Verde (civil parish)

Castro Verde (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈkaʃtɾu ˈveɾð(ɨ)]) is a former civil parish in the municipality of Castro Verde, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Castro Verde e Casével. In the 2001, its resident population included 3819 inhabitants.

History

Turdetani, Roman and Arab peoples left behind several markers in the lands, although its settlements were primarily the consequence of Lusitanian castros that dotted the landscape. With the arrival the Romans in the Iberian peninsula, the region of Castro Verde began to be settled by shepards and farmers. Its toponym, Castrum Veteris, was associated with a Roman military outpost which helped to protect the small pastoral communities from the 1st century BC, and later prospectors who searched for metal ore within the White Pyrite Belt.

The Reconquista placed the region on the historical map; historical tradition holds that it was in São Pedro das Cabeças that the famous Battle of Ourique was waged by forces of Portuguese nobleman Afonso Henriques, who presumably decapitated five Moorish kings during the battle. Historically, the battle occurred on the plains of Ourique, a vast territory that included Castro Verde. In addition, the toponomic name of São Pedro das Cabeças came from legends that indicated that a number of cadavers and skulls found in these lands, from the numerous battles.