Valencia de Alcantara - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

VALENCIA DE ALCANTARA, a town of western Spain, in the province of Caceres; on the Madrid-Caceres-Lisbon railway, near the right bank of the Sever, a small stream which here divides Spain from Portugal. Pop. (1900) 9417. Valencia de Alcantara is the most important custom-house for direct traffic between the Peninsular kingdoms except Badajoz, and has a flourishing trade in farm produce of all kinds, and in phosphates from the neighbouring mines. The town is occupied by a garrison, and retains its old-fashioned loopholed walls and dismantled citadel. A Roman aqueduct still brings water to the main street, and there are other Roman remains in the district; the courtyards and windows of many houses are Moorish in style. The interesting church of Roqueamador dates from the 1 4th century, the church of Encarnacion, the town hall and a fine convent, from the 16th. From the 16th century to the 18th Valencia was a celebrated border fortress; it was captured by the Portuguese in 1664 and 1698.