Lagos (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈlaɣuʃ]ⓘ; literally "lakes"; from
Proto-Celtic: *Lacobriga) is a city and
municipality at the mouth of
Bensafrim River and along the
Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the
Algarve, in southern
Portugal.[1] The population of the municipality in 2011 was 31,049,[2] in an area of 212.99 km2.[3] The city of Lagos proper (which includes only the
civil parish of São Sebastião e Santa Maria) has a population of approximately 22,000.[4] Typically, these numbers increase during the summer months, with the influx of visiting tourists and seasonal residents. While the majority of the population lives along the coast and works in tourism and services, the inland region is sparsely inhabited, with the majority of the people working in agriculture and forestry.
Lagos is one of the most visited cities in the Algarve and Portugal, due to its variety of tourist-friendly beaches, rock formations (
Ponta da Piedade), bars, restaurants and hotels, renowned for its vibrant summer nightlife and parties.[5] Yet, Lagos is also a historic centre of the Portuguese
Age of Discovery, frequent home of
Henry the Navigator, historical shipyard and, at one time, centre of the European slave trade.[6] In 2012, travel website
TripAdvisor, classified Lagos as the number one travel destination, on a list of "15 destinations on the rise" worldwide.[7]
Lagos, Nigeria, may have been named after it, since, at the time of the 15th century, Lagos, Portugal, was the main centre of Portuguese maritime expeditions down the African coast.[8]
The parish of
Praia da Luz, in which
Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007, becoming the famous place in the municipality.
Lagos is an ancient maritime town with more than 2000 years of history. The name Lagos comes from a
Celtic settlement, derived from the Latin Lacobriga, the name of the settlement was established during the pre-
Punic civilizations. It became an early settlement of the
Carthaginians, who recruited Celtic tribesmen in their war against the Romans (the
Punic Wars). Owing to its already important harbour, it was colonized by the
Romans and integrated into the Roman province of
Lusitania, becoming known as Lacobriga.
Quintus Sertorius, a rebellious Roman general, helped by the Lusitanians of Lacobriga (who had been oppressed under Roman Generals and members of
Lucius Cornelius Sulla party), successfully defeated the Roman army of
Caecilius Metellus Pius probably at nearby
Monte Molião.
With the fall of Rome, the town of Lagos was occupied in the sixth century by the
Visigoths from the
Kingdom of Toledo and later by the
Byzantines.
The
Moors arrived in the 8th century from North Africa, renaming the settlement Zawaia (meaning lago, or lake). It became part of the much larger coastal region of al-Gharb, which eventually became known as the Algarve. The Moors fortified the town with
Lagos Castle and established important trade links to Northern Africa from their bases in the Iberian peninsula. In 1174, the local
wālī gave permission for the Christian peoples to construct a church dedicated to São João Baptista, which was built outside the town's walls (becoming the oldest church in the Algarve).
Kingdom
Even as King
Afonso Henriques advanced to the south, the Christian
Reconquista never made it into Algarve and Alentejo, and the south remained under Moorish control. King
Sancho I, with the support of Crusader forces used Lagos as a stepping stone to attack the
fortress of Alvôr.[9] Zawaia was eventually captured by King
Afonso III of Portugal in 1241, but was only taken definitively in 1249. From this period on the King began self-styling himself as the "King of Portugal and the Algarve", stressing the fact that the Algarve (which had for so long been ruled by the Moors as a foreign country) had been annexed into the dominion of the Portuguese.
Lagos became an independent jurisdiction under the rule of King
Peter I in 1361.
King
John I assembled his fleet in the harbour of Lagos, before setting sail for the siege and
conquest of the city of Ceuta in 1415. This was the first step in opening the Muslim world to medieval Europe, which in fact led to the
Age of Discovery with Portuguese explorers sailing across the whole world. By the 15th century, Lagos became the centre of Portuguese maritime exploration, with ships ordered south to trace the shoreline of Africa in order to find routes to India.
InfanteHenry the Navigator, third son of King John, lived most of the time in Lagos. From here he directed expeditions to
Morocco and to the western coast of
Africa with
caravels,
lateen-rigged ships with excellent seafaring capabilities. Lagos was also the home port for
Gil Eanes who was the first to sail beyond
Cape Bojador in 1434, after a failed attempt in 1433 that put him out of favour with the, then considered the end of the world. The act of rounding the Cape, much like the later rounding of the
Cape of Good Hope, permitted Eanes (and the navigators that followed) to advance into the African subcontinent. When, by 1443, Lançarote (then fiscal officer of the crown) had sailed as far as
Arguim and brought back 275 Africans, the Portuguese had sufficient slaves to relieve the perpetual handicap of agricultural labour.[10]
Over the following decades, news of discoveries and achievements, and ships loaded with spices and goods would flow into the port of Lagos. It was also the gateway for the first African
slaves into post-medieval Europe.[11] Even before Africa was opened-up to the Portuguese, the seamen of Lagos were already unscrupulous slave traders.[12] From the first slave markets in Lagos (the Mercado de Escravos, which opened in 1444), many Africans were dispersed throughout Europe, bringing a considerable income to the Portuguese monarchy and merchant classes, as well as cheap labour force.[11] As the major sponsor of these expeditions, Prince Henry received one-fifth of the selling price of every slave. The demand for the indentured labour force was so high that, by 1450, profit on
Mauritanian slaves was 700 percent.[13] The discovery of gold by Alfonso Gonçales also increased activities in Lagos, whose residents petitioned the Infante Henry to establish a trading company to pursue gold deposits in the region.[14] This included Juan Dias (ancestor of
Bartolomeu Dias who rounded the Cape of Good Hope),
Gil Eanes,
Lançarote de Freitas, Estevan Alfonso and Rodrigo Alvarez, who provisioned a squadron of six caravels to travel to isle of Garças in 1444, but returned with 150 Africans.[14]
Following the death of Prince Henry, and the expansion into the Atlantic and New World, the port of Lagos continued to receive shipments of goods and slaves, but its role began to decrease. Lisbon began to prosper, with ships returning directly from the colonies of the Azores, Madeira and Brazil, while trading houses began to relocate to the capital. But, even as the wealth arrived in Lisbon and Lagos, the ostentation was widely on display in the royal residences.[15]
King
Sebastian, obsessed with his plans for a great crusade against the
Kingdom of Fez, assembled a huge fleet in Lagos in 1578.[16] During this ill-fated attempt he and most of Portugal's nobility were killed in the
Battle of Ksar El Kebir in Morocco, eventually causing a
succession crisis, that eventually resulted in the
Iberian Union.
When Portugal came under Spanish rule, the Portuguese coast became a target for the English fleet. Lagos, close to the Spanish naval base of
Cádiz, was attacked by Sir
Francis Drake in the late 1580s, but was defended by its inhabitants, resulting in Drakes sack of
Faro.[17] But, the coast was under regular attack of other
pirates and
corsairs, in addition to the Spanish who bombarded the Algarve during the
Portuguese Restoration War (1640–1668), which led to the construction of a string of forts all along the coast. One of them was the late-17th-century Fort of Ponta da Bandeira in Lagos, which was completed between 1679 and 1690 (according to the stone inscription over the main door).
From 1576 to 1755, Lagos was a high-profile capital of the Algarve, until the old Portuguese town was destroyed by the
earthquake and tsunami of 1755. Although some walls from the 16th century still remain, as well as the governor's
castle, many of the buildings are from the 17th century.
Two well-known naval battles took place off Lagos, reflecting its strategic location: in the
Battle of Lagos (1693) a French flotilla defeated a combined Anglo-Dutch force, while in the
Battle of Lagos (1759) a British force defeated a French force.
Geography
Physical geography
By its geographical position (east-northeast to west-southwest orientation) and lithological diversity, the Algarve stands out as a unique
stratigraphic and
morpho-tectonic region.[18] A peripheral
Carboniferous unit of the
Variscan orogeny, it constitutes the
Mesozoic and
Cenozoic sedimentary layers, deposited onto two totally distinct superimposed basins.[18] Between the Middle-Upper
Triassic to
Hettangian, sediments evolved from continental (
fluvial red
sandstone) to shallow marine over the entire region, which included instances of evaporates, tholeiite fissural
magmas, lava flows,
volcanic ash and
pyroclasts.[18]
The area of Lagos, conforms to the Middle
Miocene Lagos-Portimão formation (a band that extends along the coast from Lagos to
Albufeira, abutting the Serra do Caldeirão to the north) and which corresponds to marine sedimentation over relatively stable, but a minorly deformed limestone shelf platform.[18][19][20] A period of calm during the intra-Miocene (of approximately 2.4 Ma) led to generalized exposure and development of
karst, that influences the present day coastline.[18][20] The conspicuous horizontal bending of this profile in the cliffs of Lagos, much like the remainder of the Lagos-Portimão formation, is formed by alternating bands of
siliciclastic and
calcareouslithologies.[19] The low degree of cementation in the layers causes a high degree of instability of the cliffs.[19] The littoral and cliff sands are dominated by various
bivalve organisms,
bryozoans, larger
benthicforaminifers and
Coralline algae with minor additions of
echinoids and
balanids implying a shallow-water depositional system of a warm-temperate climatic regime.[19] The locality of Cerro das Mós, from where a large
crocodilian (Tomistoma schlegelii) tooth was collected long ago,[21] has also produced some
Odontoceti teeth. These may be dated from the
Serravallian, which, constitute the oldest marine mammal occurrence in the Algarve.[20][22]
Climate
Lagos has a
Mediterranean climate (
Köppen: Csa) with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Like the rest of the Algarve, Lagos is very sunny, averaging over 3100 hours of sunshine a year. Precipitation is concentrated in the winter months, where highs average around 16–17 °C (61–63 °F) and lows around 8–9 °C (46–48 °F), wind and humidity are also more prevalent during this season, averaging 14 km/h (8.7 mph) of wind and around 80 percent humidity. Summers are warm to hot, very sunny and generally still, the coastal sea breeze helps to cool down the often excessive heat of this season.
Sea temperatures have little seasonal variation and are their highest in September-October and their lowest in March, averaging 20–21 °C (68–70 °F) in the summer, and 16–17 °C (61–63 °F) in the winter.[23]
Grutas da Costa d'Oiro (English: Golden Coast Grottos)
Laguna de Alvor (English: Lagoon of Alvor)
"Bravura Dam" English: Bravura Dam)
Mata Nacional de Barão de S.João (English: National Forest of the Baron of Saint John), representing a varied flora that includes Pine (Pinaceae), Acacia (Acacia), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus) and Strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo), with six pedestrian trails and six campsites. In the zone of Pedra Branca, is a
Paleolithicmenhir, called the Menhir of Pedro do Galo, accessible through the pedestrian trails, visitors can use the tables and picnicking areas near the guardhouse for barbecues, while small children have access to a playground. A public sports field and 100 metre interval obstacle course was also constructed to attract activity, near the picnic area.
The Bravura Dam, in the parish of Bensafrim
Beaches
Meia Praia (Half Beach) —the most popular tourist beach, consisting of soft, white sand, Meia Praia is one of the largest open bays in Europe, resulting in calm seas, permitting conditions for many nautical sports, while cliffs provide sheltered coves from strong windy conditions;
Praia Solaria (Sunny Beach);
Praia da Batata (Potato Beach) — a small beach tucked between two small cliffs (where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean). It is known for the small music festivals that take place there during summer;
Praia dos Estudantes (Students' Beach);
Praia da Dona Ana (Dona Ana Beach) - its areal is slightly thicker than the beaches in the surrounding area and it is surrounded by striking rock formations. At high tide the beach is split by the geomorphology of the cliffs;
Praia do Canavial (Canavial Beach);
Praia de Camilo (Camilo Beach);
Praia da Luz (Beach of Light) - located in the parish of
Luz, the beach is bounded in the east by Rocha Negra (English: Black Rock), providing summer vacationers with a popular escape.
Praia da Balança- located after Praia da Boneca and Praia dos Pinheiros, it is a sandy cove enclosed by towering cliffs.[26]
Sustainable tourism
In 2012 Lagos received the QualityCoast Gold Award for its efforts to become a
sustainable tourism destination. Because of this award, Lagos has been selected for inclusion in the global atlas for sustainable tourism
DestiNet.
[27]
Population of Lagos (1801 - 2011)
Year
Pop.
±%
1801
9,789
—
1849
11,012
+12.5%
1900
13,937
+26.6%
1930
16,210
+16.3%
1960
17,060
+5.2%
1981
19,700
+15.5%
1991
21,526
+9.3%
2001
25,398
+18.0%
2009
29,298
+15.4%
2011
30,755
+5.0%
Human geography
The municipality of Lagos is located approximately 35 kilometres (22 miles) east of the
Cape St. Vincent coast, along the southern coast of the Algarve. It is surrounded along its borders by the municipalities of
Vila do Bispo (to the west),
Aljezur (to the northwest),
Monchique (to the northeast) and
Portimão (to the east).
To the north of Lagos is the road to
Silves, the first capital of the Algarve,
Monchique (spa town/mountain),
Milfontes, a coastal town and port/harbour of the city of
Sines, that winds through the scenic protected landscape of the Southwest Natural Park (Costa Sudoeste Alentejana e Vicentina).
Administratively, the municipality is divided into four civil parishes (freguesias):[28]
Panoramic view of Lagos's Avenida dos Descobrimentos
Economy
Lagos' economy, like many coastal towns in Portugal, has always been closely linked to the sea, and
fishing has been an important activity since very ancient times. Since 1960, the city has embraced
tourism, which has become its most important economic activity. It has beautiful beaches, good climate, the sea, a scenic coastline, and historical patrimony.
The Marina de Lagos has 460 berths and has become an important centre for long-distance cruisers, and it is also known for its modern drawbridge.
Lagos also has numerous cultural and night-life entertainment venues.
Fonte Coberta Dam (
Portuguese: Barragem da Fonte Coberta) is a dam measuring 36 metres in length with a height between 2.3 and 1.3 metres built by the Romans. It can be visited in the northwestern part of Lagos.
Excavations in the northeast of Lagos on Monte Molião (Portuguese: Sítio Arquelógico do Molião) revealed the foundations and walls of a settlement founded in the 4th or 3rd century BC during the
Iron Age.
Gil Eanes Secondary/Commercial-Industrial School (
Portuguese: Escola Industrial e Comercial de Lagos/Escola Secundária Gil Eanes)
Municipal Hall of Lagos (
Portuguese: Edifício dos Paços do Concelho)
Lighthouse of Ponta da Piedade (
Portuguese: Farol da Ponta da Piedade)
Pillory of Lagos (
Portuguese: Pelourinho de Lagos)
Regional Museum of Lagos (
Portuguese: Museu Regional de Lagos) - this modest regional museum is located next to the church of Santo António.,[29] housing the
eclectic collection of archaeological finds from prehistory and the
Neolithic, in addition to minerals, Roman mosaics, Moorish oil-lamps and pottery. The
ethnographic section includes exhibits from life in the Algarve, that includes not only residential, but also military artefacts, such as swords, muskets and cannonballs, and the
foral (charter) issued by King
Manuel for Lagos. Religious artefacts are also prominent in the displays, that include the sacerdotal vestments worn by the
canons who said Holy Mass to King Sebastian (before he left on his ill-fated conquest of Morocco), and a
diptych (dating from the 16th century) with scenes from the
Annunciation and
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
Slave Market/Customshoues of Lagos (
Portuguese: Mercado de Escravos/Vedoria/Alfândega de Lagos)
Military
Bulwark of Alcaria/Freiras (
Portuguese: Baluarte da Alcaria/das Freiras)
Bulwark of Porta dos Quartos (
Portuguese: Baluarte da Porta dos Quartos)
Bulwark of Santa Maria/Porta da Vila (
Portuguese: Baluarte de Santa Maria/da Porta da Vila)
Bulwark of São Francisco/Jogo da Bola (
Portuguese: Baluarte de São Francisco/do Jogo da Bola)
Castle of Senhora da Luz (
Portuguese: Castelo da Senhora da Luz)
Fort of Meia Praia (
Portuguese: Forte da Meia Praia)
Fort of Ponta da Bandeira (
Portuguese: Forte da Ponta da Bandeira) - also known as the Forte do Pau da Bandeira, the Forte de Nossa Senhora da Penha de França or the Forte do Registo, the fort, which guarded the entrance to the harbour, was originally dedicated to the Santa Virgem Senhora da Penha de França (to which it was referred).[30] This squat rectangular fort guards the entrance to the harbour, accessed by a small
drawbridge, to terraced spaces (that overlook the town, beach and harbour) and the small chapel (decorated with 17th-century
azulejos tile). Until the late 20th century, the fort was used as a service depot for military forces and housed services linked to maritime activities (such as supplies for lifeboats and nautical sports). It was restored between 1958 and 1960, and officially acquired by the municipality of Lagos in 1983, where it was converted into exhibition displays of maritime history, with
astrolabes and models of caravels.
Walled/Tower Fortifications of Lagos (
Portuguese: Muralhas e Torreões de Lagos)
Religious
Chapel/Hermitage of São João Baptista (
Portuguese: Capela/Ermida de São João Baptista) Its octagonal
nave may have been built on the foundations of a
mausoleum of a muslim
Marabout in the 12th century. The oldest document in which the chapel and its monastery were mentioned dates from the 14th century. The chapel was nearly completely destroyed by the
tsunami following the earthquake of 1755. Its reconstruction did not start before 1805. The monastery was dissolved in the 20th century and transformed into a normal residential building. Behind the chapel a large wall painting consisting of painted azulejo tiles is worth a visit. It shows people washing clothes in flat tanks behind the chapel. The tanks still exist today and can be visited behind the chapel.
Church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo (
Portuguese: Igreja da Nossa Senhora do Carmo)
Church of Nossa Senhora da Luz (
Portuguese: Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Luz)
Church of Odiáxere (
Portuguese: Igreja de Odiáxere)
Church of Santa Maria (
Portuguese: Igreja de Santa Maria/da Misericórdia)
Church of Santo António (
Portuguese: Igreja de Santo António) - its simple façade with the asymmetrical bell towers, date from 1715, and contrast sharply with the extravagantly decorated interior, which is covered in gilded wood carvings and blue-and-white 18th-century
azulejo tiles (talha dourada) which fill the walls of the
nave, while six
Baroque paintings by José Joaquim Rasquinho, representing the miracles of
Saint Anthony are hung on its walls. The wooden
vault was painted with a trompe-l'œil effect, while polychrome statues of
cherubs playing with animals and fishes are scattered within the interior. It was one of the few buildings to survive the
Great Earthquake of 1755, reconstructed by the local commander of Regimental Infantry, who may have added the polychromatic statue of St. Anthony with military sash. Purportedly, King
Sebastian attended his last mass in this church, before his ill-fated expedition to
Morocco.* Convent of Nossa Senhora do Loreto (
Portuguese: Convento de Nossa Senhora do Loreto)
Hermitage of São Pedro de Pulgão/Nossa Senhora dos Aflitos (
Portuguese: Ermida de São Pedro do Pulgão/Nossa Senhora dos Aflitos)
Ruins of the Hermitage of Santo Amaro (
Portuguese: Ruinas da Ermida de São Amaro)
Ruins of the Convent of the Trinity (
Portuguese: Ruinas do Antigo Convento da Trindade/dos Frades Trinos)
Culture
Many local traditions are celebrated in the municipality and range from gastronomy to traditional handicrafts.
In gastronomy, there are the local specialties: Dom rodrigos and morgados cookies based on local products, such as
almonds,
figs and
eggs. Lagos is also a wine-producing region and is famous for its moscatel wine, and also for a strong alcoholic spirit, the aguardente de medronho, made of berries of
strawberry tree.
^Ponta da Bandeira (or Pau da Bandeira) are actually more recent names given the fortress, named for the area of Lagos on which it is actually located.
Taste the Difference(PDF), Faro, Portugal: Associação Turismo do Algarve, 2005, archived from
the original(PDF) on 28 September 2011, retrieved 24 August 2011
Paula, Rui Mendes (1992), Lagos: Evolução Urbana e Património (in Portuguese), Lagos, Portugal: Câmara Municipal de Lagos, p. 392,
ISBN978-972-95676-2-9
Cardo, Mário (1998), Lagos Cidade: Subsídios para uma Monografia (in Portuguese), Lagos, Portugal: Grupo dos Amigos de Lagos, p. 80
Coutingo, Valdemar (2008), Lagos e o Mar Através dos Tempos (in Portuguese), Lagos, Portugal: Câmara Municipal de Lagos, p. 95
Forst, Markus H.; Brachert, Thomas C.; Pais, João (2000), "High-resolution correlation of coastal cliff sections in the Lagos-Portimao Formation (Lower-Middle Miocene, central Algarve, Portugal)",
Ciênçias da Terra, Lisbon, Portugal: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, pp. 289–296
Cachão, M.; Terrinha, P.; Santos, A. (September 2005), "Meso-Cenozoic of the Algarve", Episodes, vol. 28, Coimbra, Portugal: Universidade de Coimbra, pp. 179–180
Pais, J.; Legoinha, P.; Elderfield, H.; Sousa, L.; Estevens, M. (2000), "The Neogene of Algarve (Portugal)", Ciênçias da Terra, Lisbon, Portugal: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, pp. 277–288
Estevens, M. (2000), "Neogene marine mammals inPortugal. Paleogeographical and palcoccological significance.", 1º Congresso sobre c Cenozoíco de Portugal, Monte de Caparica, Portugal, pp. 271–280{{
citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Antunes, M.T.; Jonet, S.; Nascimento, A. (1981), "Vertebres (crocodiliens, poissons) du Miocene marin de I' Algarve occidentale", Ciênças da Terra (UNL) (in French), Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 9–38{{
citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)