Benavente

Benavente is a municipality and parish in Santarém District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 29,019, in an area of 521.38 km².HistoryIn 1199 the fixation of foreign settlers on the left bank of the Tagus River created a Town on a peninsula in the tagus estuary. Situated in the western limits of Coruche castle dominion, subordinate to the Order of Calatrava. This small settlement remained under the Seignory of this Military Order, which named it Benavente, the same name as a castle of the same Military order in the Kingdom of León (Benavente, Zamora). It received its foral on March 25, 1200, given by D. Paio (or Pelágio), master of the Military Order of Santa Maria of Évora. The foral was confirmed in Santarém in 1218 by Sancho I. King Manuel gave it a new foral on January 16, 1516.The present Mayor is António José Ganhão, elected by the Unitarian Democratic Coalition (Communist and Green coalition).