Alcoa (river)

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Alcoa
The Alcoa River in Alcobaça

The Alcoa River in Alcobaça

Data
location Leiria District , Centro Região , Portugal
River system Alcoa
source above Chiqueda, Alcobaça district
muzzle south of Nazaré in the Atlantic Coordinates: 39 ° 34 ′ 49 "  N , 9 ° 5 ′ 5"  W 39 ° 34 ′ 49 "  N , 9 ° 5 ′ 5"  W

length 17 km
Small towns Alcobaça , Nazaré

The Alcoa is a river in Portugal that rises above Chiqueda in the Alcobaça district ( Leiria district ) and after just under five kilometers reaches the town of Alcobaça, where it meets the Baça river .

According to one opinion, the city ​​of Alcobaça derives its name from these two rivers, while according to another opinion the name is of Arabic origin (from Al-Cobaxa) and the two rivers that flow together in the city are named after him. Before that, the rivers Rio Seco and Rio Esperança and the Ribeira do Mogo stream flow into the Alcoa. In Alcobaça, the river was probably relocated during the expansion of the monastery . In Chiqueda, in the Middle Ages, the monks built their own water collection system in the course of the river (which was called Mãe da Água , mother of water). This was the starting point for a 3.2 kilometer long aqueduct - mostly routed underground in a channel - that supplied the monastery with fresh and clean water.

Although there is talk of a meeting of the rivers Alcoa and Baça in Alcobaça, the river continues on its further 12 km long way to the sea, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean south of Nazaré via various tributaries, some of which are artificially created for irrigation (in the Foz de Alcoa , the estuary of the Alcoa) its name Alcoa. Occasionally, as in old military maps, the name Rio Alcobaça or Rio de Fervença can be found as a name for the river after the inclusion of the river Baça , the latter after a village located seaward from Alcobaça, which belongs to the municipality of Maiorga , where it was still in the early Middle Ages the Pederneira lagoon and into which the river flowed. The official name, also in the public documents, is Alcoa.

literature

  • José Pedro Duarte Tavares: Hidráulica, Linhas Gerais de Sistema Hidráulico Cisterciense em Alcobaça , in: Roteiro Cultural da Região de Alcobaça. Pp. 39-109, Alcobaça 2001, ISBN 972-98064-3-8

Web links

  • Website of the Câmara Municipal de Nazaré, Carta de Ordenamento de PDM (corresponds to the zoning plan), (PDF; 1.1 MB)