Sazes da Beira
Encyclopedia
Sazes da Beira is a Portuguese
parish, located in the municipality
of Seia
. It has a total area of 6,39 km² and 341 inhabitants (2001).
Sazes’ mines were already explored by the Romans in V b.C. The village was founded by families of shepherds who come from Sandomil and Corgas (closest town and village respectively) looking for fertile territories near water. The first definitive fixation of people was in the 15th century, in the place known since the 18th century as Sazes Velho (“Old Sazes” literally). In 1527 the village had 65 inhabitants. However, in the pursue of lands more near the water, it was founded the village of Sazes da Beira. We can’t know the date of the foundation of its freguesia
, existing however parochial registers since 1612, that makes us suppose that the parish should have been created in the second half of the 16th century. In 1731 its church is edified. Since its foundation, Sazes belonged to the concelho
of Sandomil until 1855, date when it was extinct and Sazes changed to the concelho of Seia. Only between 1836-40 Sazes belonged to the concelho of Loriga. The biggest change in the village’s social life come with the growing need of miners, especially for tungsten in the beginnings of the 20th century, which ended after World War II. The population was growing while the freguesia’s mines were explored. With the ending of the exportations of miners to Europe, the freguesia’s economy started to decline. In the 1960s, the freguesia had more than 670 inhabitants. As in the beginning of the 20th century, emigration returned as an alternative to the hard life of the fields and agriculture. But this time, neither Argentina nor Brazil were the destination of the people who left, but France, Germany and mainly, Luxembourg.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
parish, located in the municipality
Municipalities of Portugal
In Portugal, municipality or concelho is the most stable subdivision of Portugal since the foundation of the country.Portugal has an entirely separate system of cities and towns. Cities and towns are located in municipalities, but often do not have the same boundaries, even if built-up is continuous...
of Seia
Seia
Seia Municipality is located in Guarda District in Portugal. It has a total area of 435.7 km² and a total population of 27,574 inhabitants. Its urban population is about 7,000...
. It has a total area of 6,39 km² and 341 inhabitants (2001).
Sazes’ mines were already explored by the Romans in V b.C. The village was founded by families of shepherds who come from Sandomil and Corgas (closest town and village respectively) looking for fertile territories near water. The first definitive fixation of people was in the 15th century, in the place known since the 18th century as Sazes Velho (“Old Sazes” literally). In 1527 the village had 65 inhabitants. However, in the pursue of lands more near the water, it was founded the village of Sazes da Beira. We can’t know the date of the foundation of its freguesia
Freguesia
Freguesia is the Portuguese term for a secondary local administrative unit in Portugal and some of its former colonies, and a former secondary local administrative unit in Macau, roughly equivalent to an administrative parish. A freguesia is a subdivision of a concelho, the Portuguese synonym term...
, existing however parochial registers since 1612, that makes us suppose that the parish should have been created in the second half of the 16th century. In 1731 its church is edified. Since its foundation, Sazes belonged to the concelho
Concelho
Concelho , in the Portuguese language, is the word municipality, when referring to the territory. The word município is used when municipality means the organ of State...
of Sandomil until 1855, date when it was extinct and Sazes changed to the concelho of Seia. Only between 1836-40 Sazes belonged to the concelho of Loriga. The biggest change in the village’s social life come with the growing need of miners, especially for tungsten in the beginnings of the 20th century, which ended after World War II. The population was growing while the freguesia’s mines were explored. With the ending of the exportations of miners to Europe, the freguesia’s economy started to decline. In the 1960s, the freguesia had more than 670 inhabitants. As in the beginning of the 20th century, emigration returned as an alternative to the hard life of the fields and agriculture. But this time, neither Argentina nor Brazil were the destination of the people who left, but France, Germany and mainly, Luxembourg.