Beira Litoral is a historic province (or natural region) located in the
Center of Portugal, formally established by an administrative reform that
took place in 1936. Its territory corresponds for the most part to that of
the former Douro Province that disappeared in the 19th century. It later
became part of the Province of Beira.
The provinces of 1936, however,
practically never had any practical attribution, and disappeared from the
administrative vocabulary (but not from the daily vocabulary of the
Portuguese) with the entry into force of the Portuguese Constitution of
1976, being a current historic province of Portugal.
It was also one
of the administrative regions of the regionalization proposal rejected in a
referendum in 1998.
It is bordered to the north by the Douro Litoral,
to the east by Beira Alta and Beira Baixa, to the southeast by Ribatejo, to
the southwest by Estremadura and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
It is then made up of 38 municipalities, comprising most of the districts of
Aveiro and Coimbra, half of the district of Leiria, and even one
municipality in the district of Santarém. It had its headquarters in the
city of Coimbra.
District of Aveiro: Águeda, Albergaria-a-Velha,
Anadia, Aveiro, Estarreja, Ílhavo, Mealhada, Murtosa, Oliveira de Azeméis,
Oliveira do Bairro, Ovar, São João da Madeira, Sever do Vouga, Vagos, Vale
de Cambra.
District of Coimbra: Arganil, Cantanhede, Coimbra,
Condeixa-a-Nova, Figueira da Foz, Góis, Lousã, Mira, Miranda do Corvo,
Montemor-o-Velho, Penacova, Penela, Soure, Vila Nova de Poiares.
District
of Leiria: Alvaiázere, Ansião, Batalha, Castanheira de Pera, Figueiró dos
Vinhos, Leiria, Pedrógão Grande, Pombal.
District of Santarém: Ourém.
Currently, this province forms part, almost entirely, of the Centro
region, including three municipalities located in the Norte region, a
sub-region of the CIM Region of Aveiro (which reintegrates part of the
extinct regions of Entre Douro e Vouga and Baixo Vouga ) - Oliveira de
Azeméis, São João da Madeira and Vale de Cambra. As for the municipalities
in the Centro region, they are distributed over the entirety of the
aforementioned sub-region of the CIM Region of Aveiro and the CIM Region of
Coimbra (except for the municipalities of Oliveira do Hospital and Tábua,
which belonged to Beira Alta, and Pampilhosa da Serra, integrated in Beira
Baixa), part of the CIM Region of Leiria (except the municipalities of
Marinha Grande and Porto de Mós) and, finally, a municipality of the Middle
Tejo Ourém.
Águeda
Aveiro
Castanheira de Pera
Coimbra
Figueira da Foz
Ílhavo, a capital portuguesa do Bacalhau
Luso
Conimbriga
Ovar
Penacova
Piódão
Santa Maria da Feira
Torre de Bera
Serra de Açor Protected Landscape
São Jacinto Dunes Nature Reserve
Paul de Arzila Nature Reserve