The Castle of the Moors in Sintra (near Lisbon), has also preserved remains of its walls and a cistern from the Moorish occupation. The old Moorish center of the city, the Almedina, was defended by a wall and several fortified towers and gates, parts of which are still preserved.Īnother example of Islamic castles in the Algarve is the Castle of Paderne, whose ruined walls serves as evidence of the taipa building technique used in some period construction. Built between the 8th and 13th centuries, the castle retains its walls and square-shaped towers from the Moorish period (including its 11th-century cisterns or water reservoirs). One of the best-preserved is the Castle of Silves, in the ancient capital of the Al-Garb (today's Algarve). Although many Portuguese medieval castles originated in the Islamic period, most of them were extensively remodeled after the Christian reconquest.
Meanwhile, Northern European and English forts/castles were built with wood material during this period. They brought innovative stonework and heavily fortified gates to Portugal. The Moors, Islamic peoples who had arrived in the Iberian Peninsula from Northern Africa around 711 A.D., conquering the Christian lands ruled by the Germanic Kingdoms of the peninsula, built strong castles and fortifications in many cities. There were primarily two main periods of fortified castle construction: those built and defended by the Moors from Northern Africa, between the 8th and 13th centuries, and those built or maintained by Christian forces including the Kingdom of Portugal, after this period. The outposts that remained continued to serve as sentries or outposts, while some points evolved into larger towns or cities that survived long after the Romans had retreated.īy the Middle Ages, Portugal was a crossroads of cultures, with hostile Moors to the south and rival Iberian kingdoms to the east.
Eventually, the Romans gradually built their centers based on their trade and/or commercial needs and abandoned many sites for places along rivers or lowland agricultural settlements. These outposts were usually built on existing fortified castros or defensible Neolithic/Paleolithic strongholds in the hills. The Romans were the first to bring in organized military outposts in order to guard their domains. The Romans, who occupied Portugal for the next 400 years after this period, then built forts with high walls and strong towers to defend their towns. Even the early Celtic tribes of Portugal, the early Lusitanians, already fortified their villages within simple stone walls by this time. Unlike many of their European counterparts, Portuguese castles were heavily influenced by the master-builders of Rome and Northern Africa. These conditions made the defense of Portugal difficult, the region was marked by eras of fortification building. The Alentejo is a vast golden plain that extends south to the red cliffs and green hills of the Algarve. The Tagus basin divides the nation in half, with the yellow hills and cattle fields of the central region on the north bank and the beginnings of the Alentejo to the south. The capitol Lisbon in the central region and its surrounding area is known for its white rocks, olive fields, and open spaces. Along the coastal Beiras, the topography becomes hillier with pine forests and a sandy coast. The green mountains are less fertile as they spread to the east and become mountainous towards the south to the Beiras. The areas around Porto in the north are covered in green hills, with fertile river valleys and a rocky coast. The country is a place of topographical contrasts, making defense difficult. It occupies the westernmost portion of the Iberian Peninsula and is about the size of the American state of Indiana. Portugal has well-defined geographic boundaries, with the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, and rivers and mountains to the east and north.
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