Browse / Portugal / Beja / Barrancos
Barrancos
Bejatown
Barrancos
Total population
1,422
Demographic figures from INE Portugal. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.
City facts
Facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Overview
Barrancos, officially the Town of Barrancos, is a town and a municipality in southeastern Portugal, by the Spanish border. With a population of 1,438 as of 2021, it is the least populated municipality in Continental Portugal. Covering an area of 168.42 square kilometres (65.03 mi2), Barrancos is one of only six Portuguese municipalities comprising a single civil parish.
Read more on WikipediaHistory & geography
History
The area of present-day Barrancos has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with evidence of occupation dating back to the Chalcolithic and even the Paleolithic periods. Human occupation continued during the Roman, Visigothic and Moorish periods, as evidenced by artifacts. In 1167, the territory was conquered by the Portuguese nobleman Gonçalo Mendes da Maia, during the reign of Afonso I. Consequently, Castilian and Leonese settlers, under the protection of the Order of Avis from at least the 15th century, established themselves in the region and contributed to the development of a hybrid culture and the emergence of the Barranquenho language. Noudar endured repeated conflicts between Portugal and Castile including a period of Castilian occupation from 1707 to 1715. During the Portuguese Restoration War, the village of Barrancos suffered significant destruction between June and August 1641, when Portuguese forces, acting on royal orders, burned the settlement. This episode likely contributed to the loss of historical written records. From the early 19th century, Noudar began to decline as its military importance diminished, leading to a gradual depopulation. By 1835, the administrative designation "municipality of Noudar and Barrancos" appeared, reflecting the shifting population center. The administrative reforms of Mouzinho da Silveira in 1836 elevated Barrancos to the status of vila (town), effectively transferring the municipal seat from Noudar to Barrancos. Between 1896 and 1898, Barrancos was briefly merged into the municipality of Moura during an administrative reorganization, but its municipal status was restored in 1898.
Geography
Barrancos is located in the easternmost municipality in the Beja District and a part of the Alentejo region. It is bordered by the Portuguese municipalities of Moura to the east and south and Mourão to the northeast and by the Spanish municipalities of Jerez de los Caballeros to the north and Encinasola to the west. The municipality of Barrancos lies within the boundaries of the Moura/Barrancos Natura 2000 site, a protected area established under the EU Habitats Directive in 1998. Covering an area of , it is recognized for its high biodiversity and well-preserved Mediterranean ecosystems. The landscape is characterized by rolling hills and schist plateaus interspersed with holm oak woodlands and cork oak groves. These habitats sustain a mosaic of scrublands, natural grasslands, and riparian vegetation along seasonal watercourses such as the Ardila, Murtega, and Murtigão rivers. The site is of national importance for the conservation of cave-dwelling bats, including maternity colonies of Mehely’s horseshoe bat, greater mouse-eared bat, and Schreiber’s bat, and it serves as the principal winter refuge for several Rhinolophus species in Portugal. Its watercourses support endemic and threatened freshwater species, such as the saramugo, the southern straight-mouth nase, and the Eurasian otter. Historically a habitat for the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), the area retains suitable conditions for potential recolonization or reintroduction of the species.
Excerpted from the corresponding Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).
Geography
Coordinates & boundaries from the US Census TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Climate
Air quality
Walkability
Amenities nearby
Wildlife & biodiversity
Earthquake history
Photos
Sights & places nearby
Notable people from here
Nearby places in Beja
Geography & sun
Elevation, sunrise/sunset and daylight from Open-Meteo. Solar climatology from NASA POWER.
Nearby airports
Public attention
Pageview totals from the Wikimedia Pageviews API.
Books about Barrancos
Search results from Open Library.
Recent natural events nearby
Ground air-quality sensors
Recently spotted species
Events
Gallery
Sources
- • Wikipedia
- • Wikidata
- • Open-Meteo / sunrise-sunset.org
- • Wikipedia Pageviews API
- • Open Library
- • Wikidata SPARQL (CC0) — population, area, elevation, inception, head of government, Commons image