MONTALEGRE
41° 49′ 23″ N; 7° 47 ′30″ W
It is the seat of the Municipality of Montalegre, which has a total area of 805.46 km2, 9,261 inhabitants in 2021 and a population density of 11 inhabitants per km2, subdivided into 25 parishes. The municipality is limited to the north by the Spanish region of Galicia, to the east by Chaves, to the southeast by Boticas, to the south by Cabeceiras de Basto, to the southwest by Vieira do Minho and to the west by Terras de Bouro.
Montalegre is one of the two municipalities that compose the region of Barroso. The Peneda-Gerês National Park comprises 26,26% of its area (211,74 km² out of a total 806,19 km² belonging to that park).
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 27 civil parishes that administer local area government and support the local populations:
Cabril
Cambeses do Rio, Donões e Mourilhe
Cervos
Chã
Covelo do Gerês
Ferral
Frades do Rio
Gralhas
Meixedo e Padornelos
Montalegre e Padroso
Morgade
Negrões
Outeiro
Paradela, Contim e Fiães
Peireses
Pitões das Júnias
Reigoso
Salto
Santo André
Sarraquinhos
Sezelhe e Covelães
Solveira
Tourém
Venda Nova e Pondras
Viade de Baixo e Fervidelas
Vila da Ponte
Vilar de Perdizes e Meixide
Climate
At an elevation of 1,000 m (3,281 ft) above sea level, Montalegre has a cool Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb). There is a short dry season in summer, but overall plenty of precipitation annually. The average annual temperature is around 10 °C (50 °F) and the average annual rainfall is around 1,400 mm (55 in). The driest month is July, with 23 mm (0.91 in). Most precipitation falls in December, with an average of 252 mm (9.9 in).
Summers are pleasant and dry, and winters are chilly and snowy.
History
Early construction in Montalegre date back 3500–4000 years when early inhabitants, around the villages of Mourela, Veiga and Vila da Ponte, buried their dead in funeral mounds. Vestiges of this culture predominate the region, and suggest that settlements have been ongoing since the Metal Ages.
Celt colonies began to appear afterward, constructing castros in many of the places that developed into formal settlements. With the arrival of the Romans, bridges and formal roads began to appear, while many of the castros began to be converted into Roman encampments, later the nuclei of formalized settlements.[3] Remains of the Roman civitas are still common: Praesidium (in Vila da Ponte, popularly known as Sabaraz) and Caladunum (in Cervos).
Although there were no overt indications that the Moors settled in this region, although oral tradition inferred as much.
In 1809, French troops had problems in the region, during the Peninsular Wars, fighting off the Barrosões, in Misarela.
On 6 November 1836, the municipality of Montalegre was divided, in order to create the municipality of Boticas. In course, the parishes of Vilar de Vacas was lost to the neighbouring municipality of Vieira do Minho, and later the parish of Couto Misto de Santiago de Rubiás, was also de-annexed.
Contemporary history of the municipality has been marked by growing emigration, the result of the lack of economic recourse and the abandonment of traditional activities.
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