Kingdom of the Algarve
Kingdom of the Algarve (before 1471) Reino do Algarve Kingdom of the Algarves (after 1471) Reino dos Algarves | |||||||||
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| 1242–1835 | |||||||||
Kingdom of the Algarves within the Kingdom of Portugal on a map published in 1561 (west is at the top) | |||||||||
| Status |
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| Capital | Silves (until 1576) Lagos (1576–1755) Tavira (from 1746) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Portuguese | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy
(1249–1820; 1823–1825; 1828–1834) Constitutional monarchy (1820–1823; 1825–1828; 1834–1835) | ||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||
• 1249–1279 | Afonso III | ||||||||
• 1826–1835 | Maria II | ||||||||
| Legislature | Cortes (1820–1835) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| March 1242 | |||||||||
| 16 February 1267 | |||||||||
• Conquest of Asilah and Tangiers | August 1471 | ||||||||
| 23 June 1661 | |||||||||
| 13 February 1668 | |||||||||
• Last North African outpost abandoned | 1769 | ||||||||
| 29 August 1825 | |||||||||
| 18 July 1835 | |||||||||
• Faro District established | 18 July 1835 | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1820 | c. 500,000 | ||||||||
| Currency | dinheiro, real | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Portugal Spain Morocco | ||||||||
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The Kingdom of the Algarve (Portuguese: Reino do Algarve, from the Arabic Gharb al-Andalus غَرْب الأنْدَلُس, "Western al-'Andalus") was a nominal kingdom within the Kingdom of Portugal, located in the southernmost region of continental Portugal. From 1471 onwards it came to encompass Portugal's holdings in North Africa, which were referred to as "African Algarve" (Algarve Africano) or "Algarve-Beyond-the-Sea" (Algarve d'Além-Mar), in contrast with "European Algarve" (Algarve Europeu; Algarve d'Aquém-Mar, literally "Algarve on this side of the sea"), as such, the name of the kingdom was pluralized to Kingdom of the Algarves (Portuguese: Reino dos Algarves), even after Portugal's last North African outpost was abandoned in 1769.
Despite the name implying a degree of separateness from the rest of Portugal, it lacked any unique institutions, special privileges, or notable autonomy, and was politically very similar to other Portuguese provinces, with "King of the Algarve" being a simple honorific title, based on the Algarve's history as the last area of Portugal to be conquered from the Moors during the Reconquista.
The title King of Silves was first used by Sancho I of Portugal after the first conquest of the Algarvian city of Silves in 1189. At the time of his grandson, Afonso III of Portugal (1210–1279), the rest of the Algarve had finally been conquered, so "King of Portugal and the Algarve" then became a part of the titles and honours of the Portuguese Crown.
In 1835, the Kingdom of the Algarves ceased existing territorially, when, as part of wider administrative reforms, it was replaced by the Faro District, though the title of "King/Queen of the Algarves" remained in use by subsequent Portuguese. Castilian (and later Spanish) monarchs have also claimed the title of "King/Queen of the Algarve" following Alfonso X of Castile's conquest of the region in 1253, though this title has only been held in pretense ever since the 1267 Treaty of Badajoz confirmed Portugal's hold of the regions west of the Guadiana. Ceuta, formerly part of the so-called "African Algarve", was ceded by Portugal to Spain in the 1668 Treaty of Lisbon, as the city had refused to side with the House of Braganza in the Acclamation War, and it remains part of the Kingdom of Spain to this day.