Cascais

Sister cities

• Gaza City
• Wuxi
• Salvador
• Lavreotiki Municipality
• Sal
• Karşıyaka district
• Santana
• Bucha
• Pampilhosa da Serra
• Ungheni
• Sausalito
• Bolama

History

Human settlement of the territory today known as Cascais dates to the late Paleolithic, as indicated by remnants encountered in the north of Talaíde, in Alto do Cabecinho (Tires) and south of Moinhos do Cabreiro. It was during the Neolithic that permanent settlements were established in the region, their inhabitants utilizing the natural grottoes (such as the Caves of Poço Velho in Cascais) and artificial shelters (like those in Alapraia or São Pedro) to deposit their dead. The bodies were buried along with offerings, a practice that continued to the Chalcolithic. as well as in the late-Roman and medieval necropolis of Talaíde. Similarly, Muslim settlers in the region left their mark on local place names, including "Alcoitão" and "Alcabideche", where the romantic poet Ibn Muqana al-Qabdaqi, who wrote of the region's agriculture and windmills, was born at the beginning of the 11th century. The development of Cascais began in earnest in the 12th century, when it was administratively subordinate to the town of Sintra, located to the north. In its humble beginnings, Cascais depended on the products of the sea and land, but by the 13th century its fish production was also supplying the nearby city of Lisbon. The toponym "Cascais" appears to derive from this period, a plural derivation of cascal (monte de cascas) which signified a "mountain of shells", referring to the abundant volume of marine mollusks harvested from the coastal waters. During the 14th century, the population spread outside the walls of its fortress castle. The settlement's prosperity led to its administrative independence from Sintra in 1364. On 7 June 1364, the people of Cascais obtained from King Peter I the elevation of the village to the status of town, necessitating the appointment of local judges…

Geography

Cascais is situated on the western edge of the Tagus estuary, between the Sintra mountains and the Atlantic Ocean; the territory occupied by the municipality is limited in the north by the municipality of Sintra, south and west by the ocean, and east by the municipality of Oeiras. with municipal authority vested in the Câmara Municipal of Cascais: * Alcabideche * Carcavelos e Parede * Cascais e Estoril * São Domingos de Rana Cascais' coastline is home to 17 beaches. These are: Guincho Beach and Carcavelos Beach are especially well known as good surf spots. Close to Praia do Guincho is the Cresmina Dune, which is an unstable dune system due to the constant drifting of sand particles caused by strong winds. Cascais has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb, Trewartha: Csbl), with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Moderated by the Atlantic and the typical urban heat island of a city, temperatures in Cascais rarely get below or above .

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  19,544
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  16,959
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  15,341
• Black Redstart

  Phoenicurus ochruros (S.G.Gmelin, 1774) · Aves
  14,285
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  13,574
• Spotless Starling

  Sturnus unicolor Temminck, 1820 · Aves
  12,106
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  11,447
• European Serin

  Serinus serinus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  9,100