HISTORY OF OUR MUNICIPALITY
The strategic and privileged location on the banks of the rich Mondego River estuary has led to the establishment of numerous civilizations throughout history in the lands that would later become the municipality of Figueira da Foz.
The origins of the occupation of the territory date back to prehistoric times, but the Romans left marks of their presence, notably the inscriptions on two denarii—one from the Vibia family and the other from Emperor Octavian Augustus.
All that is known about the Saracens is that they razed the village in 717. It was Count Sesnando, a Mozarab from Tentúgal, who led the Christian reconquest. The monastery of Santa Cruz de Coimbra, aware of the strategic position of the locality as a seaport, began to settle the lands in the 11th century.
In the centuries that followed, successive kings granted privileges to the church, namely to the Monastery of Santa Cruz de Coimbra (half of the land of Redondo, Lavos, and Quiaios, by will of D. Afonso Henriques; half of the salt marshes in Casseira, through a sale by D. Sesnando), and the Church of Santa Maria de Coimbra (the village of Tavarede, through a donation by D. Sancho I), thus expanding the territory of Figueira da Foz.
In the 13th century, the chapter of the Cathedral of Coimbra granted, in a charter, the estates and mountains of Tamargueira to Domingos Ioanes Martinho Miguel and Martinho Gonçalves. Since then, the population has grown steadily.
In the 14th century, in 1342, King Afonso IV granted Buarcos a charter. In 1362, Pedro ordered the Mitra and Cabido da Sé de Coimbra to appoint the administrative officials and notaries necessary for the proper functioning of his people in his coutos (lands) of Tavarede and Figueira.
In the 15th century, in 1456, caravels set sail from Buarcos bound for Ceuta, and ten years later Prince João (II) received the land of Buarcos from his father, Afonso V, with civil and criminal jurisdiction.
During the 16th century, the population was ravaged by constant pirate attacks. It was then that it became necessary to build the Fort of Santa Catarina to defend the area.
Pirate attacks resumed in the 17th century, with Figueira da Foz and Buarcos being sacked, churches desecrated, and the Fort of Santa Catarina occupied.
The importance acquired by the village of Figueira da Foz led King José to grant it the status of town by decree on March 12, 1771. In 1773, exploration of the Cabo Mondego mine, known at the time as the Focinho da Figueira mine, began, and the Pampilhosa-Figueira railway and road were built.
In 1807, the Fort of Santa Catarina was occupied by a garrison belonging to Junot's army, which would come to dominate the entire region between Coimbra and Figueira da Foz.
A year later, with the conquest of Fort Santa Catarina by a group of volunteers led by the academic Bernardo António Zagalo, the Napoleonic forces lost control of the region. Wellesley's army, the future Duke of Wellington, landed around three thousand men in Mondego Bay in August 1808.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the great dynamism and wealth produced by the port and the development of shipbuilding caused the population of Figueira da Foz to almost double. At the end of the century, the city acquired a new economic impetus, motivated by the arrival of the aristocracy, who began to bathe in the clear waters of the golden sandy beaches on the coast of Figueira da Foz. Wealthy Spaniards also began to come to Figueira da Foz to spend their pesetas at the casino. On September 20, 1882, Figueira da Foz was elevated to city status.
Source: CMFF