The Kingdom of the Algarve (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Reino do Algarve'', from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

Gharb al-Andalus Gharb al-Andalus ( ar, غرب الأندلس, trans. ''gharb al-ʼandalus''; "west of al-Andalus"), or just al-Gharb ( ar, الغرب, trans. ''al-gharb''; "the west"), was the name given by the Muslims of Iberia to the region of southern mode ...

'' ), after 1471 Kingdom of the Algarves (

: ''Reino dos Algarves''), was a nominal kingdom within the

Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kno ...

, located in the southernmost region of continental Portugal. It was a dominion of the

Portuguese Crown This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the nea ...

and supposedly a kingdom apart from Portugal, though in fact the "Algarvian kingdom" had no institutions, special privileges, or autonomy. The Algarve was politically very similar to the rest of the Portuguese provinces, and "King of the Algarve" was just an honorific title, based on the Algarve's history as the last area of Portugal to be conquered from the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

during the Portuguese

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

. The title ''King of Silves'' was first used by

Sancho I of Portugal Sancho I of Portugal (), nicknamed "the Populator" ( pt, "o Povoador"), King of Portugal (Coimbra, 11 November 115426 March 1211) was the second but only surviving legitimate son and fifth child of Afonso I of Portugal by his wife, Maud of Savoy. ...

after the first conquest of the Algarvian city of

Silves Silves may refer to : Europe * Silves, Portugal, municipality and former bishopric in Algarve, southern Portugal ** Silves (parish), a civil parish in the municipality of Silves ** Castle of Silves, a medieval castle in civil parish of Silves ...

in 1189. At the time of his grandson,

Afonso III of Portugal Afonso III (; rare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse''), or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' ( Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin), the Boulonnais ( Port. ''o Bolonhês''), King of Portugal ...

(1210 – 1279), the rest of the Algarve had finally been conquered, so "King of Portugal and the Algarve" then became a part of the titles and honours of the Portuguese Crown.

History

Reconquista

During the

, Portuguese and Castilian conquests went south, to retake lands that had been conquered by Muslim armies in the 8th century. Portugal conquered and secured much of its southern borders during the reigns of King

Sancho II of Portugal Sancho II (; 8 September 1209 – 4 January 1248), nicknamed the Cowled or the Capuched ( pt, o Capelo), alternatively, the Pious ( pt, o Piedoso), was King of Portugal from 1223 to 1248. He was succeeded on the Portuguese throne by his br ...

and King

First conquest

In 1189, King

conquered

, one of the most prosperous cities in Al-Andalus, aligned at the time with the

Almohad Caliphate The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...

. Portuguese control over Silves would be short, with the

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire f ...

conquering the city again in 1191 in a massive counter-attack led by

Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Yūsuf ibn Abd al-Muʾmin al-Manṣūr (; c. 1160 – 23 January 1199 Marrakesh), commonly known as Yaqub al-Mansur () or Moulay Yacoub (), was the third Almohad Caliph. Succeeding his father, al-Mansur reigned from 118 ...

the Almohad Caliph in person.

The conquest of the Algarve

With the decline of the Almohads, the southern

taifa The ''taifas'' (singular ''taifa'', from ar, طائفة ''ṭā'ifa'', plural طوائف ''ṭawā'if'', a party, band or faction) were the independent Muslim principalities and kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain), re ...

city-states united under a single Emir, Mûsâ Ibn Muhammad Ibn Nassir Ibn Mahfûz, former governor of Niebla, and known among the Christians as ''Aben Mafom''. Ibn Mafûz, King of Niebla and Emir of the Algarve, trying to counter the achievements of the Portuguese in their territories, declared himself a

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...

(who thus titled himself the King of the Algarve). Through his vassals, Alfonso X hoped to claim dominion over the Algarve not yet conquered by the Portuguese. The Emir's vow of vassalage to Castille however did not stop the knights of the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; es, Orden de Santiago ), is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgri ...

, under the command of the Grand-Master

Paio Peres Correia D. Paio Peres Correia was a Portuguese warrior who played an important role in the thirteenth-century Reconquista. He was born c. 1205, in Monte de Fralães, a civil parish in the municipality of Barcelos. He went to Uclés, then the seat of t ...

, from conquering most of the region city by city, between 1242 and 1249, including

. In March 1249, King

captured Faro, the last Muslim stronghold in Algarve, ending the Portuguese Reconquista. The entitlement of Afonso III of Portugal as ''King of Portugal and the Algarve'' would serve as a reaction to Alfonso X of Castile's claim to the Algarve, and was designed to demonstrate the rights of the Portuguese monarch in the region concerned. The issue between the sovereigns of Castille and Portugal was eventually settled by the

Treaty of Badajoz (1267) The Treaty of Badajoz was signed in Badajoz on 16 February 1267 between King Alfonso X of Castile and King Afonso III of Portugal. Both signatories agreed to establish lines of mutual assistance and friendship. Based on the terms of the accord, Alf ...

, where King Alfonso X gave up his claims of the Algarve, making his grandson

Dinis Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, an ...

the heir to the throne of the Algarve, which dictated the terms of its incorporation into the Portuguese crown. The treaty, though, allowed the use of the title of ''King of the Algarve'' by King Alfonso X and his descendants, since King Alfonso X had acquired the territories of ''Al-Gharb Al-Andalus'' on the other side of the

Guadiana river The Guadiana River (, also , , ), or Odiana, is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border, separating Extremadura and Andalusia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal). The river's basin extends from the e ...

. The kings of Castile, and then Spain, would add the title to their repertoire of titles until the ascent of Queen

Isabel II of Spain Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successi ...

to the throne.

Age of Discovery

During the

Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...

, many voyages started from the Algarve, mainly those funded by

Prince Henry the Navigator ''Dom'' Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator ( pt, Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15t ...

(Infante D. Henrique). Prince Henry also set up his school of navigation at

Sagres Point Sagres Point (', , from the Latin ''Promontorium Sacrum'' ‘Holy Promontory’) is a windswept shelf-like promontory located in the southwest Algarve region of southern Portugal. Only 4 km to the west and 3 km to the north lies Cape S ...

, though the idea of a real school building and campus is highly disputed. Most of the voyages set sail from

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

The Algarves of either side of the sea in Africa

The name of the Algarvian Kingdom suffered some minor changes due to the Portuguese North African conquests, which were considered an extension of the kingdom of the Algarve. John I of Portugal added to the title of "King of Portugal and the Algarve", the title "Lord of Ceuta", and his grandson

Afonso V of Portugal Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Afri ...

, in turn, styled himself "Lord of Ceuta and Alcacer-Ceguer in Africa" (after 1458). The 1471

conquest of Asilah The Portuguese conquest of Asilah ( ar, أصيلة، أرزيلة; Portuguese: ''Arzila'') in modern Morocco from the Wattasids took place on 24 August 1471. History Continuing with his policy of expansion of the Portuguese territories in Morocc ...

, Tangiers and Larache, together with North African previous holdings, led to the creation of the title "the Algarves from either side of the sea in Africa" (Algarve d’além-mar), leaving the European Algarve to become "the Algarve behind the sea" (Algarve d’aquém-mar). Thus, it was not until 1471 that "the Kingdom of the Algarve" led to "the Kingdom of the Algarves", due to the increase of Portuguese possessions in Northern Africa, which were made as possessions of the Kingdom of the Algarve. The

Portuguese monarchs This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Throu ...

therefore adopted the title that they would use until the fall of the monarchy in 1910: "Kings of Portugal and the Algarves of either side of the sea in Africa". The title would continue to be used even after the abandonment of the last North African holding in

Mazagan El Jadida (, ; originally known in Berber as Maziɣen or Mazighen; known in Portuguese as Mazagão) is a major port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, located 96 km south of the city of Casablanca, in the province of El Jadida and the r ...

(

: ''Mazagão''; lost by Portugal in 1769).

19th-century conflicts

During the 19th century, a serious clash between pro-constitutionalism liberals and pro-absolutism antiliberals, caused the a civil war in Portugal (1828-1834), and in Algarve an exodus of people from the Algarvian inlands to the coastal cities. José Joaquim Sousa Reis, an antiliberal known as

Remexido Remexido, the nickname of José Joaquim de Sousa Reis ( Estômbar, 19 October 1796 – Faro, 2 August 1838), was a civil servant and wealthy land tenant who became a notorious guerrilla leader of the Algarve in Portugal, defending the rights ...

, fought in the inlands and attacked the coastal cities, bringing the urban population into turmoil. The turmoil of the Algarve intensified in the years between 1834 and 1838, when the Algarve saw battles on a level it had never seen before. On November 26, 1836, Miguel I of Portugal, already defeated and living in exile, named Remexido ''Governor of the Kingdom of the Algarve'' and ''Acting Commander in Chief of all the Royalist Troops, Regular and Irregular Armies, and the Operations in the South''. Remexido, however, was captured near

São Marcos da Serra São Marcos da Serra, also known simply as São Marcos, is a village and the seat of the homonymous civil parish in the municipality of Silves, in Algarve region, Portugal. The population of the entire civil parish in 2011 was 1,352, in an area of ...

and shot in Faro on August 2, 1838, after being subjected to a summary trial.

References

{{coord missing, Portugal Kingdom of Portugal History of the Algarve History of Ceuta

Kingdom the Algarve Kingdom the Algarve Kingdom the Algarve States and territories established in the 1180s States and territories disestablished in 1910 1189 establishments in Europe 12th-century establishments in Portugal 1910 disestablishments in Portugal 1st millennium in Portugal