History of Algarve
25 key events from prehistory to the present
The history of Algarve stretches back centuries, shaped by successive waves of settlement, conflict and change. This timeline covers the key moments and turning points that defined the area from its earliest origins to the modern day.
1st-4th century AD
The Roman villa at Milreu, situated near the town of Estoi roughly ten kilometres north of Faro, stands as the finest surviving example of Roman domes...
8th-12th century
During the centuries of Moorish rule, the inland town of Silves, known as Xelb or Chelb in Arabic, served as the capital of the Algarve and one of the...
15th-16th century
The Algarve port of Lagos occupies a unique place in world history as the launchpad for the Portuguese Age of Discovery, the era of maritime explorati...
18th-20th century
For centuries, the waters off the Algarve coast served as a migration corridor for Atlantic bluefin tuna, and the trapping and processing of these gre...
19th century
Before tourism transformed the Algarve's economy in the second half of the 20th century, the region's prosperity depended heavily on agriculture, and ...
19th-20th century
Portugal is the world's leading producer of cork, accounting for roughly half of global output, and the Algarve's mountainous interior, the serra, has...
c. 200 BC
The Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula brought the Algarve into the orbit of one of history's most powerful empires. By around 200 BC, Roman forc...
711 AD
In 711 AD, a Berber and Arab force under the command of Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and defeated the Visigothic King Roderic at th...
c. 1000 BC
The Phoenicians, a seafaring civilisation based in what is now Lebanon, were among the first Mediterranean peoples to establish regular contact with t...
1249
The Reconquista, the centuries-long Christian campaign to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Moorish rule, reached its conclusion in Portugal with the...
1415-1460
Prince Henry, known to history as Henry the Navigator, was the third surviving son of King Joao I of Portugal and his English queen, Philippa of Lanca...
1444
On 8 August 1444, a fleet of six caravels under the command of Lancerote de Freitas arrived at Lagos harbour carrying 235 captive Africans seized from...
1755-1790
In the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake of 1 November 1755, the task of rebuilding Portugal fell to Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, the Mar...
1774
Vila Real de Santo Antonio, the easternmost town of the Algarve, was founded in 1774 on the direct orders of the Marquis of Pombal as a purpose-built ...
1889
The arrival of the railway in the Algarve in 1889 marked a turning point in the region's connectivity with the rest of Portugal. The Linha do Algarve,...
1910
On 5 October 1910, a republican revolution in Lisbon overthrew the Portuguese monarchy, ending eight centuries of royal rule and establishing the Firs...
1933-1974
The Estado Novo, or 'New State', was the authoritarian regime that governed Portugal from 1933 until the Carnation Revolution of 1974. Founded and dom...
1960s-1970s
The emergence of mass tourism in the Algarve during the 1960s and 1970s represented the most rapid and comprehensive economic transformation in the re...
1965
The opening of Faro Airport in 1965 was the single most consequential event in the Algarve's modern economic history. By providing direct air access f...
1986
On 1 January 1986, Portugal became a member of the European Economic Community, alongside Spain, in a double accession that brought the Iberian Penins...
2003
The A22 motorway, officially named the Via do Infante de Sagres in honour of Prince Henry the Navigator, runs east to west across the Algarve, connect...
2009
In 2009, the Portuguese government introduced the Regime Fiscal para Residentes Nao Habituais, the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) tax regime, a programme...
2012
Portugal launched its Golden Visa programme, formally known as the Autorização de Residencia para Atividade de Investimento (ARI), in October 2012. Th...
1 November 1755
At approximately 9:40 on the morning of 1 November 1755, a massive earthquake struck the Atlantic seabed southwest of Cape St Vincent. Estimated at ma...
25 April 1974
In the early hours of 25 April 1974, a military coup led by the Movimento das Forcas Armadas (MFA, Armed Forces Movement) overthrew the authoritarian ...