Silves

37°11N 8°26W, pop (2000e) 10 500. Town in the Algarve, S Portugal; on R Arade, 23 km/14 mi NE of Lagos; former Moorish capital; Moorish castle, cathedral (12th–13th-c), Church of the Misericordia.

IPA: ['siɫvɨʃ]) is a town on the Portuguese Algarve, in the district (portuguese - distrito) of Faro. It is also the name of the region of the Algarve of which it is the capital, also called Silves (concelho do Silves)

The town was occupied by the Moors in 713 and became part of the Ummayad kingdom of Córdoba under the Arabic name of Shilb شلب. Silves became an independent taifa in 1027 under the rule of Ibn Mozaine and his son, who was dethroned in 1051 by al-Mu'tadid, the governor of Seville. After the Almoravid conquest the town became Almohad in 1156. In 1189 King Sancho I of Portugal conquered the town during the reconquista, but lost it again to the Almohads. The town was finally taken from the last Muslim king Ibn Afan by Paio Peres Correia, Grand-Master of the order of Santiago in 1242, after the Alentejo and most of the coast had already fallen in 1238.

Parts of the Almohad town wall, constructed from poured concrete, have been preserved, as well as the Almedina-gate (Porta de Loulé). Other sights include the Church Santa Misericórdia with a fine door in manuelitic style, the main body of the church was built in 1727/28, a museum for cork and the production of wine-corks in a defunct factory which is now also a centre for cultural events called "Fabrica do Ingles" (The Englishmans Factory) and the municipial museum (museu municipal de Arqueologia) with finds from the palaeolithic onwards.

The town is situated on a hill above the river Arade.

Silves is built on top of one of the largest underground aquifers in the south of Portugal, The Querença-Silves Aquifer, and is an important area for orange groves in the region, a fruit introduced by the Moors.

The Municipality of Silves is split into 8 "freguesias" or parishes as follows:

Alcantarilha Algoz Armação de Pêra Pêra São Bartolomeu de Messines São Marcos da Serra Silves Tunes