page_title: Miranda do Douro
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Miranda do Douro / History
caption_attribution_description: Fresno é o nome do rio que passa em Miranda do Douro. Era um pobre rio com pouca ou nenhuma água, invadido pelo mato selvagem, vazadouro de trapos e cangalhos, uma vergonha ali, ao lado de uma terra linda com 462 anos de cidade e muitos mais de povoação de gente orgulhosa e rija. Por isso mesmo a Câmara, numa visão progressista e dignidade, decidiu alterar a situação e transformar o foco de poluição que era o Fresno, num lugar de lazer e pulmão purificador. Após três anos de trabalhos, com muitas e avultadas despesas, recuperou-se o rio e as margens, arranjaram-se equipamentos, fez-se um Parque Urbano, no qual apetece andar e ficar. Bom para o aspecto da cidade, bom para os residentes, bom para os turistas. Parabéns, Miranda, vocês aí, bem no Nordeste, merecem. &lt;a href="http://ntmad.wordpress.com/2007/09/18/sintese-noticiosa-de-setembro-2/" rel="nofollow"&gt;ntmad.wordpress.com/2007/09/18/sintese-noticiosa-de-setem...&lt;/a&gt; Fresno is the name of the river that passes in Miranda of the Douro. It was a poor river with little or no water, invaded for the wild weeds, drain of rags and cangalhos, a shame there, to the side of a pretty land with 462 years of city and many more than population of proud people and rija. Therefore the Chamber, in a progressive vision and dignity, decided to modify the situation and to transform the focus of pollution that was the Fresno, into a place of leisure and purificador lung. After three years of works, with many and avultadas expenditures, the river recovered and the edges, had arranged equipment, became an Urban Park, in which apetece to walk and to be. Good for the aspect of the city, good for the residents, good for the tourists. Congratulations, Miranda, vocês there, well north-eastern, deserve. &lt;a href="http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt" rel="nofollow"&gt;babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://loc.alize.us/#/flickr:4324877456" rel="nofollow"&gt;See where this picture was taken.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/geotagging/discuss/72157594165549916/"&gt;[?]&lt;/a&gt;
context_page_description: Miranda do Douro or Miranda de l Douro is a town and a municipality in the district of Bragança, northeastern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 7,482, in an area of 487.18 km². The town proper had a population of 1,960 in 2001. Referred to as the "Cidade Museu" of the Trás-os-Montes region, it is located 86 kilometres from Bragança, preserving many of its medieval and Renaissance-era traditions and architecture. It has a language of its own, Mirandese, which enjoys official status in Portugal, in addition to cultural and historical discontinuity with the rest of the Portuguese state. The town is located on the border with Spain, with the Douro River separating the two countries. The nearest town in Spain is Zamora.
  The present mayor is Artur Manuel Rodrigues Nunes. The municipal holiday is on July 10.
context_section_description: The origin of Miranda do Douro as a populated place is still discussed by historians, but archeologist discoveries give evidence that inhabitants had been living there during the Bronze Age. Around AD 716, the Moors defeated local Visigothic tribes, and occupied some of the lands, calling the area Mir-Hândul.
  By the late 11th century, Castile coveted the region as a stepping-stone to Portugal. The settlement of the village of Miranda developed through the initiative of King Denis, in an area that lay between the lateral slopes of the Douro and Fresno Rivers. It was in Miranda that the Treaty of Alcanices was signed between Denis and Ferdinand IV of Castile, setting the border between the two kingdoms. Miranda was founded on 18 December 1286, and immediately elevated to the status of vila (English: town), with one of its prerequisites declaring that the administrative division would be a Crown fief. From that period forward, Miranda became progressively one of the most important towns that skirted the Trás-os-Montes region.
  The Castilians finally occupied Miranda do Douro during the late 14th century, and would remain there until they were expelled by John I of Portugal. On 10 July 1545, King John III elevated Miranda do Douro to the status of city, at the same time becoming the first diocese in Trás-os-Montes (in a papal bull on 22 May 1545 by Pope Paul III, which segmented a major part of the archdiocese of Braga. Miranda, therefore, became the capital of the Trás-os-Montes, seat of the bishopric (that included the residence of the bishop, canons and ecclesiastical authorities), military governorship and civil centre.
  In 1762, during the Seven Years' War, the army of Charles III of Spain invaded the Trás-os-Montes. During the course of his invasion, the gunpowder magazine (with over 500 barrels of powder) was hit by a cannon, destroying the four towers of the castle and many of the barrios in the vicinity. Approximately a third of the city's population (about 400 residents) were killed, resulting in the ruin of the religious, demographic and urbanized portion of Miranda. It was almost two years later (1764) that friar Aleixo Miranda Henriques (then the twenty-third bishop) would abandon Miranda, moving to Bragança, which had become a rival episcopal seat in the northeast part of Portugal. By 1680, it was the only ecclesiastical seat in the region.
  The area was served by a narrow gauge railway, the Sabor line (Linha do Sabor), which ran over 100 km between Duas Igrejas-Miranda and the southern terminus at Pocinho, where connections could be made to the main line to Oporto. The Sabor line closed in 1988.
caption: Urban park.
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