List of cities in Portugal
This is a list of cities in Portugal. In Portugal, a city (Portuguese: cidade) is an honorific term given to locations that meet several criteria, such as having a minimum number of inhabitants, good infrastructure (schools, medical care, cultural and sports facilities), or have a major historical importance. The country's demographic expansion of the 1980s prompted the elevation of several towns to city status and, as of 2018, 159 locations in Portugal are considered a city.
Overview
In Portugal, the city is not an administrative division, therefore a city generally does not necessarily correspond to a municipality, with the exception of the entirely urban municipalities, such as Lisbon, Porto, Funchal, Amadora, Entroncamento, and São João da Madeira.
The municipality with the most cities is Paredes Municipality, which contains four cities.
Until 1910, a location was proclaimed city by royal charter, which happened 25 times to current Portuguese cities (royal charters were also granted to cities of the Portuguese Empire; for example, São Paulo in 1711). During the Portuguese First Republic, the process was transferred to the parliament, which elevated three towns to the category of city. The dictatorial Estado Novo regime proclaimed seven cities on the Portuguese mainland (as well as some more in the colonies), this time by government decree. After the 1974 Carnation Revolution, proclamation of cities returned to parliament and now, Portugal has 156 cities, one of the consequences being that the title no longer holds the prestige it once had.
Eight locations have been always considered cities since Portugal became an independent kingdom (de facto 1128): Braga, Coimbra, Lamego, Porto and Viseu, as well as Évora, Lisbon and Silves, which were annexed at a later date. Guarda was the first city proclaimed as part of the independent kingdom, in 1199.
The most recent cities are : Albergaria-a-Velha, Alfena, Lagoa (Azores), Valença, Senhora da Hora, São Pedro do Sul, Samora Correia, and Borba.
The most populous cities are: Lisbon (Lisboa), Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Braga, Amadora, Queluz, Funchal, Coimbra, Setúbal, Agualva-Cacém, Almada, Rio Tinto, Aveiro, Viseu, Odivelas, Leiria, Guimarães, Barreiro, Évora, Faro, Portimão and Ponta Delgada.
List
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Notes
- Although the cities list does not indicate the cities' population, it indicates the parishes that compose them, therefore, this number is the sum of the population of the parishes. The population data was taken from the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and is from 2004.
- Except the city of Figueira da Foz
See also
References
- "Cidades Portuguesas". Instituto Nacional de Estatística. Archived from the original on 2007-05-23. Retrieved 2006-07-08.
- "Municípios Portugueses". Associação Nacional de Municípios Portugueses. Retrieved 2006-03-27.
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