Did you know?

Did you know that the city of Porto was conquered twice by the Muslims?

The first conquest took place in 716 by Abde Alaziz Ibne or Abdelaziz.

Abdelaziz conquered several territories in the center of the Peninsula and submits to his domain the territory from the river Tejo to Galiza.

Portucale (old name of Porto) falls to the Muslims! During 50 years all this territory was in their hands.

In the Asturias kingdom, the Christian nobles gathered to reconquer back all this territories.. Alfonse I wins, but this city was abandoned by almost all the population…Portucale was sleeping for almost 100 years…

With Alfonse II the city of Porto is back to life, mainly due to the reoccupation of Portucale by the count Vímara Peres around 868!

This were difficult times… All this region was not safe from attacks from Norman pirates. That happened, when a Vicking leader called Gundered, attacked Galiza. He was defeated, but in 977 the city of Porto was again invaded by Mohâmed Abuamir (Al-mansor). He destroyed Compostela, Coimba and the region in the Douro valley near Lamego.

The city of Porto was not destroyed, and it´s not unusual that Cristian nobles made alliances with the Muslims, so the city was saved and life went on normally till Al-mansor was defeated and died.