Estremadura is a historic province (or natural region) of Portugal,
established in the Middle Ages and extinct in the 19th century, and its name
derives from the Latin Extrema Durii (extremes of the Douro), as it
designates the territories acquired following the Christian Reconquest, to
the south of the Douro (such is also the etymological origin of the name of
the Spanish region of Estremadura); with the progression of the reconquest
to the south, the notion of Estremadura, as a frontier land, was also
widening, in such a way that, in the 15th century, Estremadura roughly
corresponded to the districts of Lisbon, Setúbal, Santarém and Leiria .
Throughout history, Extremadura's boundaries have changed many times. In
the 19th century, when it ceased to have administrative significance, its
boundaries roughly corresponded to the current districts of Lisbon and
Setúbal, and the southern part of the district of Leiria.
Alcobaça
Alcochete
Almada
Amiais de Baixo
Barreiro
Caldas da Rainha
Ericeira
Lisboa
Lourinhã
Mafra
Marinha
Grande
Nazaré
Óbidos
Peniche
Sacavém
Setubal
Sintra
Torres Vedras
Protected Landscape of the Fossil Cliff of Costa de Caparica
Sintra-Cascais Natural Park
Berlengas Nature Reserve
Tagus Estuary
Nature Reserve
In the administrative reform that took place in 1936,
a Province of Estremadura was again created. This new province, however,
encompassed only a fraction of the territory of the former homonymous
region. Part of the territory of former Estremadura was incorporated
into the new provinces of Ribatejo and Beira Litoral. On the other hand,
the new Estremadura included part of the current District of Setúbal
that traditionally belonged to the former province of Alentejo.
However, the 1936 provinces had practically no practical attribution,
and disappeared from the administrative vocabulary (although not from
the daily vocabulary of the Portuguese) with the entry into force of the
1976 Constitution.
It was bordered to the northeast by Beira
Litoral, to the east by Ribatejo and Alto Alentejo, to the south by
Baixo Alentejo and the Atlantic Ocean and to the west by the Atlantic.
It was then made up of 29 municipalities, comprising almost the
entire District of Lisbon and parts of the districts of Leiria and
Setúbal. It had its headquarters in the city of Lisbon.
District
of Leiria: Alcobaça, Bombarral, Caldas da Rainha, Marinha Grande,
Nazaré, Óbidos, Peniche, Porto de Mós.
District of Lisbon: Alenquer,
Arruda dos Vinhos, Cadaval, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Lourinhã, Mafra,
Oeiras, Sintra, Sobral de Monte Agraço, Torres Vedras.
District of
Setúbal: Alcochete, Almada, Barreiro, Moita, Montijo, Palmela, Seixal,
Sesimbra, Setúbal.
If the province in question still existed
today, it would probably have 31 municipalities, since two new
municipalities have since been created in the Lisbon district area:
Amadora (created in 1979, by division of Oeiras)
Odivelas
(created in 1998, by division of Loures)
Currently, the province
in question would be divided into the regions of Lisbon, Center and
Alentejo. The municipality of Azambuja would belong to Alentejo,
integrated in the sub-region of Lezíria do Tejo; the whole of the
Setúbal Peninsula sub-region and, almost entirely, Greater Lisbon
belonged to the Lisbon region (the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira
was located in Ribatejo); finally, the entire West sub-region belonged
to the Center region, as well as two municipalities in Pinhal Litoral
(Marinha Grande and Porto de Mós).