About Ponte da Barca

Ponte da Barca is a municipality in the district of Viana do Castelo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 11,267, in an area of 97.58 km². It is bounded in the north by the municipality of Paredes de Coura, in the east by Vinhais, in the south by Arcos de Valdevez, and in the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The municipality includes several civil parishes: Barca Cossourado Covo Cunha Gondoriz Lajes Rosende São Lourenço Serpins Sever Vilar de Mouros, including the seat of the municipality, is one of the oldest human settlements in northern Portugal, with vestiges of human occupation dating back to the 5th millennium BC. It was an important centre during the Iron Age, and the site of a major Celtic settlement. In the 1st century AD, the Romans established a military outpost in the region, which they called Bracara Augusta. This settlement grew into the city of Braga, which became an important regional centre in the centuries that followed. During the Moorish occupation of Portugal, the region around Ponte da Barca was known as the " kingdom of Grellones", and was ruled by a Moorish governor. After the reconquest of the region by the Christians in the 12th century, the area came under the control of the Count of Barcelos. Ponte da Barca was granted town status in 1769, and in 1836 it was made a municipality. The municipality is home to the Núcleo de Arqueologia e Etnografia do Minho (NAEM), a museum and research centre dedicated to the study of the region's history and culture. The municipality is also home to the Parque Natural da Peneda-Gerês, a protected area which covers 73,100 hectares of mountains, forests and rivers.