Alenquer (), officially the Town of Alenquer (), is a Portuguese municipality in the

Lisbon District Lisbon District () is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the current Setúbal District. ...

and in the Oeste region. The population in 2011 was 43,267,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
in an area of . The present Mayor is Pedro Miguel Ferreira Folgado.

History

Alenquer received its

Foral 200px, Foral of Castro Verde - Portugal The ''Carta de Foral'', or simply ''Foral'', was a royal document in Portugal and its former empire, whose purpose was to establish a ''concelho'' (Council) and regulate its administration, borders and priv ...

in 1212 by the hand of '' Infanta'' (Princess) Sancha, Lady of Alenquer, daughter of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Sancho I of Portugal Sancho I (born ; Coimbra, 11 November 115426 March 1211) also referred to as Sancho the Populator (), was King of Portugal from 1185 until his death in 1211. He was the second king of Portugal. Sancho was the second but only surviving legitimat ...

Climate

Alenquer has a

mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. It has a total of 2763.9 annual hours of sunshine.

Notable residents

* Pero de Alenquer a 15th-century Portuguese explorer of the African coast * Damião de Góis (1502 in Alenquer – 1574) an important Portuguese humanist philosopher. * John Smith Athelstane, 1st Count of Carnota (1813-1886 in Alenquer) a British diplomat, author, biographer and painter.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 11 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): * Abrigada e Cabanas de Torres * Aldeia Galega da Merceana e Aldeia Gavinha * Alenquer * Carnota * Carregado e Cadafais * Meca * Olhalvo * Ota * Ribafria e Pereiro de Palhacana * Ventosa * Vila Verde dos Francos

References

External links