, where
Afonso III of Portugal legendarily rested after the "end of the Reconquista".
Reconquista During the
Reconquista, Portuguese, Castilian and Aragonese conquests went south, to retake lands that had been conquered by Muslim armies in the 8th century. Portugal conquered and secured much of its southern borders during the reigns of King
Sancho II of Portugal and King
Afonso III of Portugal.
First conquest In 1189, King
Sancho I of Portugal conquered
Silves, one of the most prosperous cities in Al-Andalus, aligned at the time with the
Almohad Caliphate. Portuguese control over Silves would be short, with the
Almohads conquering the city again in 1191 in a massive counter-attack led by
Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr the Almohad Caliph in person.
The conquest of the Algarve With the decline of the Almohads, the southern
taifa city-states united under a single Emir, Mūsā ‘ibn Muhammad ‘ibn Nassir ‘ibn Mahfūz, former governor of Niebla, and known among the Christians as
Aben Mafom. Ibn Mafūz, King of Niebla and Emir of the Algarve, trying to counter the achievements of the Portuguese in their territories, declared himself a
vassal to
Alfonso X of Castile (who thus titled himself the King of the Algarve). Through his vassals, Alfonso X hoped to claim dominion over the Algarve not yet conquered by the Portuguese. The Emir's vow of vassalage to Castile, however, did not stop the knights of the
Order of Santiago, under the command of the Grand-Master
Paio Peres Correia, from conquering most of the region city by city, between 1242 and 1249, including
Silves. In March 1249, King
Afonso III of Portugal captured
Faro, the last Muslim stronghold in Algarve, ending the Portuguese Reconquista. The entitlement of Afonso III of Portugal as
King of Portugal and the Algarve would serve as a reaction to Alfonso X of Castile's claim to the Algarve, and was meant to demonstrate the Portuguese monarch's rights over the region. The issue between the sovereigns of Castile and Portugal was eventually settled by the
Treaty of Badajoz (1267), where King Alfonso X gave up his claims of the Algarve, making his grandson
Dinis the heir to the throne of the Algarve, which dictated the terms of its absorption into the Portuguese crown. The treaty, though, allowed the use of the title of
King of the Algarve by King Alfonso X and his descendants, since King Alfonso X had acquired the territories of
Al-Gharb Al-Andalus on the other side of the
Guadiana River. The kings of Castile, and later Spain, would add the title to their repertoire of titles until the ascent of Queen
Isabel II of Spain to the throne.
Age of Discovery During the
Age of Discovery, many voyages started from the Algarve, mainly those funded by
Prince Henry the Navigator (Infante D. Henrique). Prince Henry also set up his school of navigation at
Sagres Point, though the idea of a real school building and campus is highly disputed. Most of the voyages set sail from
Lagos.
The Algarves of either side of the sea in Africa The name of the Algarvian Kingdom suffered some minor changes due to the Portuguese North African conquests, which were considered an extension of the kingdom of the Algarve.
John I of Portugal added to the title of "King of Portugal and the Algarve", the title "Lord of Ceuta", and his grandson
Afonso V of Portugal, in turn, styled himself "Lord of Ceuta and Álcacer-Ceguer in Africa" (after 1458). The 1471
conquest of Asilah, Tangiers and Larache, together with North African previous holdings, led to the creation of the term "Algarve-Beyond-the-Sea" (), leaving the European Algarve to become "the Algarve behind the sea" (). Thus, it was not until 1471 that "the Kingdom of the Algarve" led to "the Kingdom of the Algarves", due to the increase of Portuguese possessions in Northern Africa, which were made as possessions of the Kingdom of the Algarve. The
Portuguese monarchs therefore adopted the title that they would use until the fall of the monarchy in 1910: "Kings of Portugal and the Algarves of either side of the sea in Africa". The title would continue to be used even after the abandonment of the last North African holding in
Mazagan (
Portuguese:
Mazagão; lost by Portugal in 1769).
19th century and
Pedro IV of Portugal, which caused turmoil in the Algarve During the 19th century, a serious clash between pro-constitutionalism liberals and
pro-absolutism antiliberals, caused
a civil war in Portugal (1828–1834), and in Algarve an exodus of people from the Algarvian inlands to the coastal cities. José Joaquim de Sousa Reis, an antiliberal known as
Remexido, fought in the inlands and attacked the coastal cities, bringing the urban population into turmoil. The turmoil of the Algarve intensified in the years between 1834 and 1838, when the Algarve saw battles on a level it had never seen before. On November 26, 1836,
Miguel I of Portugal, already defeated and living in exile, named Remexido
Governor of the Kingdom of the Algarve and
Acting Commander in Chief of all the Royalist Troops, Regular and Irregular Armies, and the Operations in the South. Remexido, however, was captured near
São Marcos da Serra and shot in Faro on August 2, 1838, after being subjected to a
summary trial. The Kingdom of the Algarve was
de facto abolished in 1834 with the extinction of the post of Governor of Arms of the Kingdom of the Algarves. Ceasing to exist as a kingdom after the royal decree of 18 July 1835, which established a system of districts subject to civilian governors, with the territory of former Kingdom of Algarve being replaced by the
Faro District. In practice, this changed very little as the "kingdom" appellation was largely a formality and the territory was run like any other
Portuguese province throughout its formal existence. Portuguese and Spanish monarchs also continued to style themselves as "Kings/Queens of the Algarve". ==List of governors==