Benavente () is a municipality and parish in

Santarém District The District of Santarém ( pt, Distrito de Santarém ) is a district of Portugal, located in Portugal's ''Centro Region''. The district capital is the city of Santarém. The district is the 3rd largest in Portugal, with an area of , and a pop ...

in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 29,019, in an area of 521.38 km².

History

In 1199 the fixation of foreign settlers on the left bank of the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see #Name, below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections ...

River created a Town on a peninsula in the

tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see #Name, below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections ...

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

. Situated in the western limits of

Coruche Coruche () is a municipality in Santarém District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 19,944, in an area of 1115.72 km². The present Mayor is Francisco Silvestre de Oliveira, elected by the Socialist Party. The Coruche City Council ha ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

dominion, subordinate to the

Order of Calatrava The Order of Calatrava ( es, Orden de Calatrava, pt, Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Orde ...

. This small settlement remained under the Seignory of this Military Order, which named it Benavente, the same name as a castle of the same Military order in the

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...

(

Benavente, Zamora Benavente is a town and municipality in the north of the province of Zamora , in the autonomous community Castile and León of Spain. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. Located north of the capital on an important communications hub, it was repo ...

). It received its

foral 200px, Foral of Castro Verde - Portugal The word ''foral'' ({{IPA-pt, fuˈɾaɫ, eu, plural: ''forais'') is a noun derived from the Portuguese word ''foro'', ultimately from Latin ''forum'', equivalent to Spanish ''fuero'', Galician ''foro'', Ca ...

on March 25, 1200, given by D. Paio (or ''Pelágio''), master of the Military Order of Santa Maria of Évora. The foral was confirmed in Santarém in 1218 by Sancho I. King Manuel gave it a new foral on January 16, 1516. The present Mayor is Carlos Coutinho, elected by the

Unitary Democratic Coalition The Unitary Democratic Coalition ( pt, CDU – Coligação Democrática Unitária, PCP–PEV) is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português or PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The G ...

(

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

coalition). Benavente is crossed by National Road 118, which divides the town's historical centre on the west side, destroyed by an earthquake on 27 April 1909, and the new town built after the quake on the east. The municipal holiday is

Ascension Day The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., shared b ...

Economy

Agriculture, livestock farming, forestry, and food industries are the main activities. The

Companhia das Lezírias The Companhia das Lezírias (Lezírias Company) or CL for short (the only two letters in the company logotype), is a state-run agriculture and forestry company located in the Lezíria do Tejo subregion, and headquartered in Samora Correia, Benavent ...

is headquartered in the municipality, in

Samora Correia Samora is a unisex given name and a surname. People with the name include: Given name * Samora Fihlani (born 1985), South African rugby union player * Samora Goodson (born 1984), American football player * Samora Khulu (died 2008), South African ...

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 4 civil parishes (''

freguesias ''Freguesia'' (), 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 Port ...

''): * Barrosa * Benavente * Samora Correia * Santo Estêvão

Notable people

Maria João Bastos Maria João David da Silva Bastos (born 18 June 1975) is a Portuguese actress. She has participated in several Brazilian productions, becoming a known actress in Brazil. Biography Maria João was born in Benavente, Santarém District. She holds ...

(born 1975) a Portuguese actress, best known in Brazil. Maria João Bastos, IMDb Database
retrieved 11 July 2021. *

Filipe Morais Filipe Alexandre Major Morais (born 21 November 1985) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger. Morais began his career at Chelsea, progressing through the youth system before signing a professional deal in 2005. H ...

(born 1985) a UK based footballer with over 370 club caps *

João Barradas João Barradas (born 3 February 1992) is a Portuguese accordionist and composer. Biography João Barradas was born in Porto Alto, in the parish of Samora Correia. He initiated his accordion studies at the age of six at a small music school ...

(born 1992) a Portuguese accordionist and composer *

Gonçalo Guedes Gonçalo Manuel Ganchinho Guedes (; born 29 November 1996) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Primeira Liga club Benfica, on loan from Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, and the Portugal national team. ...

(born 1996) is footballer with over 180 club caps and 23 for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

References

External links

Town Hall official websitePhotos from Benavente
Towns in Portugal Populated places in Santarém District Municipalities of Santarém District {{Santarém-geo-stub