The Comunidade Intermunicipal da Lezíria do Tejo (Portuguese pronunciation:[lɨˈziɾiaðuˈtɛʒu];
English: Tagus Floodplain) is an administrative division in
Portugal. It was established as an Associação de Municípios in 1987, converted into a Comunidade Urbana in 2003, and converted into a Comunidade Intermunicipal in November 2008.[1] It is also a
NUTS3 subregion of the
Alentejo Region.[2] The seat of the intermunicipal community is the city of
Santarém. Lezíria do Tejo comprises municipalities of the former districts of
Santarém and
Lisbon. The population in 2011 was 247,453,[3] in an area of 4,275 square kilometres (1,651 sq mi).[4] In the past, the territory of this administrative division was roughly entirely set in the former historical province of
Ribatejo and had nothing to do with the former historical province of
Alentejo. Lezíria is the
Portuguese word (from the
Arabic الجزيرة, al-jazira, "the island") for
floodplain or
freshwater marsh.
Tejo is the name of the main river in the region. The Lezíria is a well-renowned center of
intensive farming,
horse breeding and
animal husbandry.
Portugal