Mortágua

For the Portuguese wine grape known as Mortágua, see Touriga Nacional.
Mortágua
Municipality

View of Mortágua valley

Flag

Coat of arms
Coordinates: 40°26′N 8°14′W / 40.433°N 8.233°W / 40.433; -8.233Coordinates: 40°26′N 8°14′W / 40.433°N 8.233°W / 40.433; -8.233
Country  Portugal
Region Centro
Subregion Dão-Lafões
Intermunic. comm. Região de Coimbra
District Viseu
Parishes 7
Government
  President José Júlio Norte (PPD-PSD)
Area
  Total 251.18 km2 (96.98 sq mi)
Population (2011)
  Total 9,607
  Density 38/km2 (99/sq mi)
Time zone WET/WEST (UTC+0/+1)
Website http://www.cm-mortagua.pt/

Mortágua (Portuguese pronunciation: [muɾˈtaɣwɐ] or [mɔɾˈtaɣwɐ]) is a municipality in the district of Viseu, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 9,607,[1] in an area of 251.18 km².[2]

The present mayor is José Júlio Norte, elected in 2013 by the Social Democratic Party.

History

Legend suggests that that village was formed on a lake; settlers recalled that Água Morta (dead water) existed here, but no physiological evidence remains of the body of water.[3] But, the name overtime stayed and evolved, becoming the variant today of the local municipality.

About 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the main village is a hill, covered in vegetation, but whose lateral flank was occupied by a Moorish settlement known as Crasto.[3] Over a cliff archeologists discovered several homes including a building that was defined as a kitchen, on its edge.[3]

By 1895, several chapels were situated on this hilltop, which had become known as Cabeça da Senhora do Mundo (owing to the existence of an image to that invocation).[3]

Geography

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 7 civil parishes (freguesias):[4]

References

Notes

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 2/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.