Vila Nova de Gaia

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Vila Nova de Gaia Municipal flag Municipal coat of arms
Location
- Country	Portugal
- Region	Norte
- Subregion	Grande Porto
- District or A.R.	Porto
Mayor	Luís Filipe Menezes
- Party	PSD
Area	168.7 km²
Population
- Total	300,868
- Density	1,783/km²
No. of parishes	24
Coordinates	41º08'N 8º37'W
Municipal holiday	John the Baptist 24 June
Website: http://www.cm-gaia.pt

Vila Nova de Gaia, or simply Gaia, (pron. IPA: ['vilɐ 'nɔvɐ dɨ 'gaiɐ]) is a city in Portugal. It is located in the Porto district, south of the city of Porto on the other side(south) of the river Douro. The city proper has a population of 178,255^[1] and the municipality contains 24 parishes with a total population of 288,749 inhabitants, being the most populated municipality in Norte region. Gaia together with Porto and other 12 municipalities makes up the commonly designated Porto Metropolitan Area.

It is also well known for its "lodges" (locally known as "caves") where the world famous Port wine is stored and aged. The lodges have become a major tourist attraction.

[edit] Coat of Arms and Flag

The coat of arms consists of a grey crest with two golden-yellow bunches of grapes on the bottom with a black castle over the water, and with a person blowing the horn.

The flag is colored dark yellow to black in four each.

[edit] History of the municipality

Vila Nova de Gaia already existed under the Roman Empire as the city of Cale. It developed most likely from a preexistent Celtic Castro, or Neolithic settlement. The origin of the name Cale (or Gale, since in Classical Latin there was not always a clear distinction between the letters "g" and "c") is likely Celtic, from the root "Gall-" with which Celts referred to themselves, similarly to Galicia, Gaul or Galway. The river itself has a presumably Celtic name, Douro (Durus in Latin) maybe after Celtic "dwr", water.^{[citation needed]} In Roman times the bulk of the population probably lived south of the river Douro, and on the north side, there was a smaller settlement around the deep water port which now is the Ribeira neighbourhood of Porto. The name of Porto, in high medieval times Portus Cale, thus stood for the harbour ("portus" in Latin) of the city of Cale. With the important trade of the river Douro, which is easily navigable up to the Régua deep inland, the Porto part of the city came to overgrow Cale, and became the most important part of town, where the Bisphoric and the merchants were established.

With the moorish invasions in the eighth century A.D., the de facto frontier between the Islamic state and the Christian one came to rest for a considerable period of time on the river Douro, around the year 1000. With the constant raids and counter-raids, the town of Cale, or Gaia, was deserted and most of its inhabitants took refuge in Porto.

After the conquest and pacification of the southern side of the Douro river after 1035, with the exodus or expulsion of the Muslim populations, leaving behind semi-abandoned fertile lands, colonists from the north settled in exchange for better feudal contracts with the newly appointed lords. These migrants refounded the old city of Cale or Gaia under the name of Vila Nova de Gaia (new town of Gaia) around the old castle and ruins of "old Gaia".

The name of the double city of Oporto and Gaia was frequently referred to in contemporary documents as "villa de Portucale", and the county of the Kingdom of Leon which was centered around it was named Portucalense. This county was eventually expanded and after gaining its independence, became the Kingdom of Portugal.

In June 30, 1989, Pedroso became a village On July 12, 2004, Crestuma, Lever, Olival, Perosinho, Sandim, São Félix da Marinha and Serzedo became villages too.

View of Gaia from Porto

[edit] Parishes

Vila Nova de Gaia as seen from the other side of the Douro river, from the Torre dos Clérigos in central Porto, in July, 2005.

Apartment buildings in the parish of Mafamude

There are 24 parishes (freguesias) in Vila Nova de Gaia:

The most populous is Mafamude and the least is Sermonde, while the largest by area is Pedroso and the smallest is São Pedro da Afurada. In terms of populational density, the most dense is Mafamude and the least dense is Sandim.

[edit] Gallery

Vila Nova de Gaia city

[edit] References

1. ^ UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente - Cidades, 2004 Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)

[edit] External links

Portugal Portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Category:Vila Nova de Gaia

• Municipality official website
• Photos from Vila Nova de Gaia
• Gaia Extra - Local news site about Vila Nova de Gaia

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