Alcántara
Encyclopedia
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, on the Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
, near Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. The toponym is from the Arabic word al-QanTarah (القنطرة) meaning "the bridge".
History
Archaeological findings have attested human presence in the area from the Bronze AgeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
; the first historical inhabitans were the Lusitanians
Lusitanians
The Lusitanians were an Indo-European people living in the Western Iberian Peninsula long before it became the Roman province of Lusitania . They spoke the Lusitanian language which might have been Celtic. The modern Portuguese people see the Lusitanians as their ancestors...
, followed by the Celts
Celtiberians
The Celtiberians were Celtic-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula in the final centuries BC. The group used the Celtic Celtiberian language.Archaeologically, the Celtiberians participated in the Hallstatt culture in what is now north-central Spain...
, who came from east to the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
. To this period, and to the following Roman domination, belong remains of several castra (military camps), villas and the bridge which gives its name to the city. The Roman rule lasted from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century, when they were replaced by the Visigoths.
In the 8th century the Arabs conquered the Iberian peninsula, including Extremadura. In the 12th century the Muslim geographer al-Idrisi described the bridge as one of the world's marvels. In the 12th-13th centuries Alcántara was a frontier city, devoted to military activities and animal husbandry. After the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ruled the Iberian peninsula and part of North Africa, from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Islamic Iberia were constructed in this period, including the famous...
, it belonged to several Islamic taifa
Taifa
In the history of the Iberian Peninsula, a taifa was an independent Muslim-ruled principality, usually an emirate or petty kingdom, though there was one oligarchy, of which a number formed in the Al-Andalus after the final collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031.-Rise:The origins of...
s (petty kingdoms).
Ferdinand II of León
Ferdinand II of Leon
Ferdinand II was King of León and Galicia from 1157 to his death.-Life:Born in Toledo, Castile, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and of Berenguela, of the House of Barcelona. At his father's death, he received León and Galicia, while his brother Sancho received Castile and...
occupied it in 1167, during his wars against Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, but later the town was recaptured by the Almohads. The Christian conquered it definitely in 1213 with Alfonso IX of León
Alfonso IX of Leon
Alfonso IX was king of León and Galicia from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death...
. In 1217 it was given to the military order of Calatrava
Order of Calatrava
The Order of Calatrava was the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava as a Militia was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164.-Origins and Foundation:...
. They however considered it too difficult to defend, and thus the following year they were replaced by the Order of San Julian de Pereiro, a military order created in 1156 and which had its headquarters on the Rio Cora and which later took its name from Alcántara, where they established. The city maintained its strategical importance until 1655, when Portugal was finally separated from Spain. In 1807, during the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, it was occupied by the French troops.
Alcántara lost all its importance in the 19th century, when the order's properties were secularized. Its depopulation was halted only in the 1960s, when the electric company Hidroelectrica Espaňola built here several plants. However, its economy was not boosted, and the town is still part of one of the less developed areas of Spain.
The Order of Alcántara
Order of Alcántara
The Order of Alcántara , also called the Knights of St. Julian, was originally a military order of León, founded in 1166 and confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1177.-Alcántara:...
, a religious and military order, was established in 1176 here, for defence against the Moors, and was suppressed in 1835.
In 1499, Peter of Alcantara
Peter of Alcantara
Saint Peter of Alcántara, O.F.M. was a Spanish Franciscan friar.- Biography :He was born at Alcántara, Province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. His father, Peter Garavito, was the governor of Alcántara, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia...
, teacher of Theresa of Avila, saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
and Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
reformer, was born here.
Main sights
- Alcántara BridgeAlcántara BridgeThe Alcántara Bridge is a Roman stone arch bridge built over the Tagus River at Alcántara, Spain between 104 and 106 CE by an order of the Roman Emperor Trajan in 98...
, of six symmetrical arches, 194 m long and 71 m high, built in honour of TrajanTrajanTrajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
in 103-106. An inscription gives the name of the architect of the viaduct, C. Iulius Lacer. - Convent of San Benito de AlcántaraSan Benito de AlcántaraSan Benito de Alcántara is a monastery in Alcántara, in the province of Cáceres, Spain.-History:After the Christian conquest of Alcántara in 1213, the city was given to the military Order of Calatrava four years later. In 1218, they in turn ceded it to the order of San Julián de Pereiro, which...
(16th century) - Church of Holy Mother of Almocobar (13th century)
- Remains of the Moorish walls, modified and restored in the Middle Ages
- Convent of St. Francis (15th-17th centuries)
- Convent of the Nuns of Los Remedios, of which only the Baroque Chapel remains