Alcanena

TERRITORY AND COMMUNITY

Within the district of Santarém, Alcanena was founded as a municipality on May 8th of 1914. It's located in the transition area between the Maciço Calcário Estremenho and the Bacia Terciária do Tejo, which is characterized by fertile soils and significant water resources, and where is placed the Alviela River Basin, the most important karst spring in the country.

According to some historians, the origin of the village dates back to the Arab occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, from which may inherited the toponymy and the fixation and development of the work in tanning fur.

It is a land of republican ideals and its history is, above all, the history of tanneries, leaving hardly any doubt as to the decisive importance of this industry for its affirmation as an expressive population center since the 17th century.