A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Beja | |
|---|---|
.JPG)  .jpg)  _(cropped).jpg) .jpg) Beja Castle, Nossa Senhora da Conceição Convent, Interior of Beja Castle, the Castle Watchtower, Republic Square, Santa Maria da Feira church | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 | |
| Coordinates: 38°02′N 7°53′W / 38.033°N 7.883°W | |
| Country |  Portugal |
| Region | Alentejo |
| Intermunic. comm. | Baixo Alentejo |
| District | Beja |
| Parishes | 11 |
| Government | |
| • President | Paulo Arsénio (PS) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,146.44 km2 (442.64 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 35,854 |
| • Density | 31/km2 (81/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC±00:00 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+01:00 (WEST) |
| Local holiday | Ascension Day (date varies) |
| Website | www |
Beja (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɛʒɐ] ⓘ) is a city and a municipality in the Alentejo region, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 35,854,[1] in an area of 1,146.44 km2 (442.64 sq mi).[2] The city proper had a population of 21,658 in 2001.[3]
The municipality is the capital of the Beja District. The present Mayor is Paulo Arsénio, elected by the Socialist Party with an absolute majority in the 2017 Portuguese Local Elections.[4] The municipal holiday is Ascension Day. The Portuguese Air Force has an airbase in the area – the Air Base No. 11.
History
Situated on a 277-metre (909 ft) hill, commanding a strategic position over the vast plains of the Baixo Alentejo, Beja was already an important place in antiquity. Already inhabited in Celtic times,[5][better source needed] the town was later named Pax Julia by Julius Caesar in 48 BCE, when he made peace with the Lusitanians. He raised the town to be the capital of the southernmost province of Lusitania (Santarém and Braga were the other capitals of the conventi). During the reign of emperor Augustus the thriving town became Pax Augusta. It was already then a strategic road junction.
When the Visigoths took over the region, they called the town Paca (a direct derivation or shortening of the Latin Pax or Pace-Augusta) which then became the seat of a bishopric. Saint Aprígio (died in 530) became the first Visigothic bishop of Paca. The town fell to the invading Umayyad army in 713. Paca, was then adapted to Arabic Baja (Arabic: باجة there's no sound for "p" in Arabic), and eventually became Beja.[6]
Starting in 910 there were successive attempts of conquest and reconquest by the Christian kings. With the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031, Beja became a taifa, an independent Muslim-ruled principality. In 1144 the governor of Beja, Sidray ibn Wazir, helped the rebellion of the Murīdūn (disciples) led by Abul-Qasim Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Quasi in the Algarve against power of Seville. In 1150 the town was captured by an army of the Almohads, who annexed it to their North African empire. It was retaken in 1162 by Fernão Gonçalves, leading the army of the Portuguese king Afonso I. It must have been abandoned by the Portuguese because in 1172 Gerald the Mercenary captured the town from the Muslims and before departing from it the medieval Arab city was reduced to rubble and left desolate. In 1175 Beja was recaptured again by the Almohads. It stayed under Muslim rule till 1234 when king Sancho II finally recaptured the town from the Moors.
All these wars depopulated the town and gradually reduced it to rubble. Only with Manuel I in 1521 did Beja again reach the status of city. It was attacked and occupied by the Portuguese and the Spanish armies during the Portuguese Restoration War (1640–1667).
Beja became again the head of a bishopric in 1770, more than a thousand years after the fall of the Visigothic city. In 1808 Napoleonic troops under General Junot sacked the city and massacred the inhabitants.
Geography
Climate
Due to its southernmost inland location with the descending winds of the subtropics and low precipitation, especially in summer, the city has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa).[7] It is the hottest main city in Portugal and one of the hottest places in Europe during summer. Between 2001 and 2018 it had the hottest summer of any main city in the country. Although mild by European standards, Beja has relatively cool winters, while summers are long and hot.
The high in January is around 14 °C (57 °F) while the July and August highs are around 33 °C (91 °F), however in the last few years there has been an increase, to around 34-36°C+.[8] The January low is 5 °C (41 °F) and in July and August is 16 °C (61 °F). The annual mean temperature is around 17 °C (63 °F). The average total rainfall in a year is 558 mm (22.0 in).[9][10]
Snow is rare but may occur on a few occasions in a century, the last major snowfall having happened on January 10, 2009.[11] The year 2005 was particularly dry in Portugal and Beja suffered devastating forest fires in the surrounding rural areas contributing to the desertification that affects Alentejo.[12][13]
| Climate data for Beja (Santiago Maior), elevation: 246 m or 807 ft, 1981-2010 normals, 1981-present extremes | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 22.0 (71.6) |
24.5 (76.1) |
30.0 (86.0) |
35.3 (95.5) |
40.0 (104.0) |
45.4 (113.7) |
45.2 (113.4) |
45.4 (113.7) |
43.3 (109.9) |
35.0 (95.0) |
28.1 (82.6) |
22.0 (71.6) |
45.4 (113.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) |
15.5 (59.9) |
19.0 (66.2) |
20.4 (68.7) |
24.3 (75.7) |
29.9 (85.8) |
33.3 (91.9) |
33.1 (91.6) |
29.4 (84.9) |
23.5 (74.3) |
18.0 (64.4) |
14.5 (58.1) |
22.9 (73.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 9.7 (49.5) |
10.8 (51.4) |
13.4 (56.1) |
14.6 (58.3) |
17.7 (63.9) |
22.0 (71.6) |
24.6 (76.3) |
24.8 (76.6) |
22.4 (72.3) |
18.2 (64.8) |
13.6 (56.5) |
10.7 (51.3) |
16.9 (62.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.4 (41.7) |
6.0 (42.8) |
7.7 (45.9) |
8.7 (47.7) |
11.0 (51.8) |
14.0 (57.2) |
15.8 (60.4) |
16.4 (61.5) |
15.4 (59.7) |
12.9 (55.2) |
9.2 (48.6) |
6.8 (44.2) |
10.8 (51.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −2.7 (27.1) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
0.3 (32.5) |
3.3 (37.9) |
7.6 (45.7) |
8.7 (47.7) |
9.0 (48.2) |
7.5 (45.5) |
3.8 (38.8) |
0.3 (32.5) |
−0.9 (30.4) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 65.7 (2.59) |
55.0 (2.17) |
40.5 (1.59) |
58.8 (2.31) |
43.3 (1.70) |
13.1 (0.52) |
2.4 (0.09) |
4.0 (0.16) |
29.5 (1.16) |
71.5 (2.81) |
76.5 (3.01) |
97.7 (3.85) |
558 (22.0) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 166.7 | 158.8 | 225.6 | 253.1 | 292.4 | 340.2 | 373.2 | 340.0 | 262.6 | 208.8 | 177.3 | 148.1 | 2,933.3 |
| Source 1: IPMA[10] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Météo Climat 1981-2010 (sunshine values)
"Moyennes 1981/2010 Beja". Baseline climate means (1981–2010) from stations all over the world. Météo Climat. Retrieved 14 July 2020. | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Beja (Santiago Maior), elevation: 247 m or 810 ft, 1961-1990 normals and extremes | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 22.0 (71.6) |
24.1 (75.4) |
28.8 (83.8) |
29.8 (85.6) |
36.7 (98.1) |
43.3 (109.9) |
42.7 (108.9) |
41.4 (106.5) |
42.0 (107.6) |
34.3 (93.7) |
28.1 (82.6) |
21.2 (70.2) |
43.3 (109.9) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 13.8 (56.8) |
14.9 (58.8) |
17.3 (63.1) |
19.4 (66.9) |
23.7 (74.7) |
28.4 (83.1) |
32.5 (90.5) |
32.5 (90.5) |
29.3 (84.7) |
23.2 (73.8) |
17.5 (63.5) |
14.2 (57.6) |
22.2 (72.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 9.6 (49.3) |
10.4 (50.7) |
11.9 (53.4) |
13.7 (56.7) |
16.9 (62.4) |
20.8 (69.4) |
23.8 (74.8) |
24.0 (75.2) |
22.2 (72.0) |
17.7 (63.9) |
13.0 (55.4) |
10.1 (50.2) |
16.2 (61.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.4 (41.7) |
5.9 (42.6) |
6.6 (43.9) |
7.9 (46.2) |
10.1 (50.2) |
13.2 (55.8) |
15.1 (59.2) |
15.4 (59.7) |
15.1 (59.2) |
12.3 (54.1) |
8.5 (47.3) |
6.0 (42.8) |
10.1 (50.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −3.0 (26.6) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
−2.8 (27.0) |
0.3 (32.5) |
2.3 (36.1) |
6.2 (43.2) |
9.1 (48.4) |
9.0 (48.2) |
6.4 (43.5) |
3.2 (37.8) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
−4.9 (23.2) |
−4.9 (23.2) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 81.0 (3.19) |
80.0 (3.15) |
54.0 (2.13) |
60.0 (2.36) |
36.0 (1.42) |
23.0 (0.91) |
2.0 (0.08) |
3.0 (0.12) |
22.0 (0.87) |
65.0 (2.56) |
76.0 (2.99) |
83.0 (3.27) |
585 (23.05) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 9.0 | 10.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 | trace | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 68 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 81 | 79 | 72 | 70 | 64 | 56 | 50 | 50 | 56 | 68 | 76 | 81 | 67 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 148.0 | 147.0 | 195.0 | 219.0 | 282.0 | 298.0 | 357.0 | 336.0 | 245.0 | 199.0 | 158.0 | 142.0 | 2,726 |
| Source: NOAA[14] | |||||||||||||
Human geography
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 11 civil parishes (freguesias):[15]
- Albernoa e Trindade
- Baleizão
- Beja (Salvador e Santa Maria da Feira)
- Beja (Santiago Maior e São João Baptista)
- Beringel
- Cabeça Gorda
- Nossa Senhora das Neves
- Salvada e Quintos
- Santa Clara de Louredo
- Santa Vitória e Mombeja
- São Matias
- Trigaches e São Brissos
International relations
Beja is twinned with: