Faro: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Once a trading post used by both Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Faro became a major port under the Romans, who named it Ossonoba. Under the Moors, it became the cultured capital of a short-lived 11th-century principality founded by Mohammed ben Said ben Hárun, from whose name 'Faro' is said to have evolved. Afonso III took the town in 1249 (it was the last major Portuguese town to be recaptured from the Moors), and walled it. The first works produced on a printing press in Portugal came from Faro in 1487 - books in Hebrew made by a Jewish printer named Samuel Gacon. A brief golden age - heralded by an episcopal seat transferred from Silves in 1577 - was brought to an abrupt end in 1596, during the period of Spanish rule. Troops under the Earl of Essex, en route to England from Cádiz in Spain, plundered the city, burned most of it to the ground and carried off hundreds of volumes of priceless theological works from the bishop's palace. A rebuilt Faro was shattered by an earthquake in 1722 and, except for its sturdy old centre, flattened by the big one in 1755. Its present form dates largely from post-quake rebuilding.

Modern History

The Algarve has been the country's major tourist resort area since Faro airport opened in the 1960s, leading to a flood of package tours from the UK and, increasingly, Germany and France. The sunshine, beaches and tourist facilities are still the Algarve's major selling points, though rampant development during the late 1970s between Lagos and Faro destroyed much of the coastline's picturesque quality.

Recent History

In recent years tourism has gone upmarket, with more environmentally conscious developers and luxurious villa resorts complete with designer golf courses and marinas.

In the summer of 2004 forest fires hit areas of the Algarve around Loulé, Monchique and Silves, owing to a combination of high temperatures and the dry deadwood and timber in the surrounded forested hills. The well-publicised fires the following year did not reach the south of the country.

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