São Brás de Alportel () is ãoBráa town and municipality in the District of Faro, Algarve region, in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 10,662, in an area of 153.37 km². The present Mayor is Vítor Guerreiro, elected by the Socialist Party. The municipal holiday is June 1.
History
The human occupation in the municipality of São Brás de Alportel goes back to Prehistory (since the Paleolithic), as attested by several findings, such as flint chips, quartz and quartzite, a black schist burnisher and a pebble in jasper shale that seems to have a bovine drawn on one surface and, on the other, a horse. As far as Protohistory is concerned, there is still a total lack of knowledge. The most represented and, therefore, most studied historical periods are the Roman and the Islamic medieval.
Conii and Turdetanian
Like the rest of Algarve region, the area was inhabited by the Conii and Turdetanian before the arrival of the Romans.
Roman period
The Roman presence was witnessed, in this territory, by several vestiges that point us to the existence of possible necropolis, agricultural infrastructure, a Roman villa, a mutatio (station for changing animals and carts for travelers) and the sidewalks that integrated the old Roman road network. These sites have been identified by the presence of fragments of fine pottery (campanian and terra sigillata), common pottery, storage pottery (amphorae and dolia), building pottery (tegulae, imbrices and bricks) and illuminated pottery (lucernas), as well as the discovery of a mason made from a bucket handle (pot handle) and graves with associated spoils whose chronology dates back to the II/I century B.C. and continues until the IV-V A.D. Also noteworthy are the two funerary monuments, in the shape of an ara, one of which (IRPC 64) presents, besides the inscription to Cecilia Marina, a decoration in relief on the four faces, considered unique in the Conventus Pacensis.
Visigoths
With the Fall of the Roman Empire, the area fell under the rule of the Visigothic Kingdom until the Muslim invasion of Iberia in the 8th century.
Islamic period
The Islamic occupation is attested by documental sources (XI-XIII centuries) and archaeological sites with a chronological occupation between the Caliphal (X-XI centuries) and Almohad (XII-XIII centuries) periods, namely alcarias and small agricultural settlements, some located near paved roads. These sites were identified by the presence of ceramic artifacts: tableware (decorated with "cuerda seca" and honey glazed with manganese decoration), kitchenware (pots and bowls), storage (pitchers, jugs) and construction (typed tiles); and also by metallic artefacts: such as two amulets (prophylactic objects) containing religious inscriptions (11th-12th and 12th-13th centuries), and a set of coins that includes a dinar (gold coin).
Middle Ages
From Roman times (2nd/1st century BC) until the foundation of the municipality in 1914 (20th century) São Brás de Alportel belonged to the term of the city of Faro (formerly known as Ossonoba), which is why its history maintains, throughout all these centuries, a close relationship with that city. However, little is known of the history of the current municipality of São Brás de Alportel in the period between 1249/50 (2nd half of the 13th century - last conquest of the Algarve) and 1517 (beginning of the 16th century - Visitation of the Order of Santiago).
Renaissance
In the 15th century São Brás de Alportel would have been a place with a simple hermitage. This small temple was located next to the old Roman road - the current-day Calçadinha - which connected the town to the northern lands of Faro, to the south. In the middle of the 16th century, as happened in several other Algarvean localities, São Brás de Alportel was elevated to the seat of a parish and, consequently, a new and larger temple was rebuilt.
Age of Enlightenment
Between the 17th and 18th centuries, following the transfer of the bishopric seat from Silves to Faro (1581), the then Bishop of the Algarve had the Episcopal Palace built in São Brás de Alportel which by then belonged to the concelho of Faro.