History of Castro Marim
The first settlements in the Castro Marim area date back to approximately 5000 BC, the Neolithic period. During this time Castro Marim was closer to the sea than it is nowand according to geological research it was an island surrounded by shallow waters. Phoenicians and Romans where present here, and a Roman road connected this area with Lisbon, running in parallel to the Guadiana River passing Alcoutim, Mértola and Beja. For thousands of years Castro Marim was a port that offered shelter to the ships that sailed up the Guadiana River to collect the metals mined to the north in Alcoutim and Mértola.
During the time of the Moorish occupation the area possessed a defensive structure that occupied what was originally the core of the present castle. The Christian re-conquest in 1242 was followed, in the second half of the 13th century, by a policy of repopulating and reinforcing local defences in view of the town’s strategic position on the border with the Kingdom of Castile and attacks by Moorish raiders from North Africa. This explains why King Dinis (1261 — 1325) made Castro Marim the headquarters of the order of Christ which had been established in 1319 to replace the Order of the Knights Templar. Years later however the Order of Christ was transferred to Tomar and this marked the beginning of a period of waning fortunes for the town and its surrounding area, which saw its population decline.
To reverse this pattern, in 1421 King Joáo I granted Castro Marim the privilege of being a "sanctuary for fugitives". The period of stagnation due to the cut off from the sea and its economic basis, fishing, salt production and boat building only ended recently by the new dynamics of the last decades.
