Barrancos ( Barranquenho: ), officially the Town of Barrancos (), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in Portugal. With a population of 1,834 in 2011, it is the least populated municipality in mainland Portugal. Its area is 168.42 km². The municipality is composed of one parish, being one of the six Portuguese municipalities composed of only one parish, and is located in

Beja District The Beja District (; ) is located in southern Portugal. The district capital is the city of Beja. It is the largest district of the country by area, comprising around 11% of Portuguese territory. It borders Spain. Municipalities The district i ...

, close to the Spanish border. Among its economic activities are

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

rising, being a production center for Barrancos ham, a type of '' presunto'' ( dry-cured ham), similar to the

jamón ibérico Jamón ibérico (; Spanish for "Iberian Ham"), known in Portuguese as presunto ibérico (), is a variety of ''jamón'' or ''presunto'', a type of Curing (food preservation), cured leg of pork (primarily Black Iberian pigs) produced in Spain and P ...

, made from Black Iberian Pig (also known as ''Porco Alentejano''). The present Mayor is António Pica Tereno, elected by the Unitary Democratic Coalition. The municipal holiday is August 28. Barrancos is famous in Portugal for its festival, which takes place each year during the last four days of August, and where traditional

bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

occurs in the town's main square.

History

The territory where the Barrancos municipality stands today was initially

conquered Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or legal prohibitions against conquest ...

from the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

in 1167, by Gonçalo Mendes da Maia, and the area's population was ordered by D. Sancho I in 1200. The original municipality was then located in the village of Noudar, which would only be definitively incorporated in the Kingdom of Portugal in the year 1295, when it was granted ''

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 ...

'' by D. Dinis. Noudar village was extinct in 1825, beginning a slow process of abandonment and migration to Barrancos. Noudar, with its castle and old village ruins, is today one of the landmarks of the region. It is located 12 km to the northwest of Barrancos.

Language

In Barrancos, the Barranquenho language is spoken. Since 2021, this language is protected in the municipality.

Notable people

* Paulo Guerra (born 1970 in Barrancos) a Portuguese former long-distance runner who specialized in the 10,000 metres and cross-country running

Gallery

References

External links

Photos from Barrancos

Parque de Natureza de Noudar

Web Iberic Ham of P.D.O. Barrancos
Towns in Portugal Populated places in Beja District Municipalities of Beja District {{Beja-geo-stub