Alfândega da Fé

Alfândega da Fé is a municipality in northeast Portugal. The population in 2011 was 5,104, in an area of 321.95 km².HistoryEarly archaeological sites, such as Castro hill fort settlements, can be found scattered throughout the municipality.The municipality has an origin that comes from mixed Moorish influences and Christian faith. Alfandagh, the Arabic term for this region, which means hospice, castle or frontier, or literally "a place of calm hospitality populated by peaceful or hard-working peoples". In a published work of João Manuel d’Almeida Moraes Pessanha: "Alfândega, public hospice, market likely, like the Kahn's Orient...It is a village of Arab foundation, in likely the 8th century; The Arabs maintained their nomadic lifestyle. Charmed by the conquest of Spain, they immediately molded the country according to their use and customs: a soil that many liked, a land that, many said was similar to Syria in its climate and purity of its atmosphere, or Yemen in its fertility, in India its flowers and aromas, Hedjaz in its products, and in Aden in its ports and coasts." There are historical convictions that Alfândega, during Moorish occupation, was an administrative seat of some importance to a region referred to as Valiato de Aldandica. The conquest by Asturian Christians was to have likely resulted in the expulsion of the Moors, and the extension of its name with Fé (faith).