During antiquity, the region was occupied by the
Celts, then
Romans and finally the
Arab forces of the
Umayyad Caliphate, who dominated the region until the Christian
Reconquista. The Romans defeated the local hill tribes, and reorganized settlements in the region, influencing local culture and social administration. The territory east of the Tua River, from Mirandela until the confluence of the Douro (which almost represents the district of Bragança) was Romanized, as was all of Iberia. It was also associated with the knight (), Martim Gonçalves de Macedo, who saved John, the
Master of Aviz during the
Battle of Aljubarrota. During the battle on 14 August 1385, John was attacked by Álvaro Gonçalves de Sandoval, the Castilian striking down the nobleman. Macedo swiftly intervened, killing the assassin and saving the future King. King John recognized and was grateful to the knight, whose family coat-of-arms after the Battle began to appear with a blue sash and a silver apple. During the
Inquirições ( or
inventory) of King
Afonso, in 1258, the territory of Macedo belonged to the knights Nuno Martins and Mendes Gonçalves. At the time it was a small settlement, relatively unimportant if compared to neighbouring Nozelo, Vale Prados, Cortiços, Sezulfe and Pinhovelo, which received their
forals before Macedo de Cavaleiros. It was only after the 14th century that references to Macedo dos Cavaleiros began to appear in official documents. Around 1722, King
John V designated Macedo as a
Quinta, equivalent to a small estate, indicating the size of this region. The municipality of Macedo de Cavaleiros was created in 1853, from the administrative remains of Chacim and Cortiços municipalities, and ten years later the settlement of Macedo was proclaimed a
vila (). To this time, the space were listed as royal lands, then established by
John V for the
House of Braganza. ;Current affairs Growth during the 20th century has been the result of immigration, resulting from the expansion of raillines and interlinking of circulatory avenues in the northeast of Portugal. A boom in construction and expansion of services was the result of the return of Colonial troops/citizens () that occurred during the middle of the 20th century. As a consequence, the town of Macedo de Cavaleiros was elevated to the status of city in 1999. Macedo de Cavaleiros was formerly served by the
Tua line, a
narrow gauge railway running between Bragança and
Tua. The northern part of the line, including Macedo de Cavaleiros station, closed in 1991. ==Geography==