The Sorraia River (), or Rio Sorraia, is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

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 po ...

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 ...

. It forms at the confluence of the Sor and Raia, near the town of

Couço Couço is a civil parish in the municipality 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, el ...

. Having a basin of , it flows for , joining the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see 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, to e ...

near Murteira. Along its length it receives the Divor, and, almost at the mouth, the Almançor. Over time it had a vital role in the region and, according to historical records,

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

already settled here, using it for agriculture, communication and to export the products grown on the fertile lands of the Sorraia Valley where they developed ingenious irrigation systems. It passes the municipalities 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 ...

and Benavente and until the early twentieth century was still navigable, having known a significant flow of river traffic of agricultural and forestry products, including

cork oak ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the core ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

and grain. In the second half of the twentieth century it became part of the "Plano de Irrigação do Vale do Sorraia" (Plan for Irrigation of the Sorraia Valley), aimed at making better use of water resources to boost farm income in the region.

External links

Associação de Regantes e Beneficiários do Vale do Sorraia
(Association of Irrigators and Beneficiaries of the Sorraia Valley) Rivers of Portugal Tributaries of the Tagus {{Portugal-river-stub