Alcácer do Sal, Setúbal, Portugal Genealogy

This is a historical and genealogical guide to the municipality of Alcácer do Sal.

History

 * Alcácer do Sal is a municipality in the District of Setúbal in Portugal.
 * Alcácer do Sal dates back 40,000 years to the Mesolithic Period.
 * In the Copper Age the principal settlements were abandoned and later repopulated during the Iron Age.
 * In the 1st and 2nd Century B.C. Alcácer was annexed to the Roman Empire. The municipality became known as Urbs Imperatoria Salaciz in honor of the sea god Neptune's wife.
 * In 743-745 Alcácer do Sal came under the Ummayad rule for recruitment of troops, and for the rising power of Yemeni clans in southern Portugal.
 * Later the entire region was administered by Egyptian Arab troops.
 * Until 844, Alcácer functioned as center for the collection of taxes, primarily from the Christians who chose to remain in the valley.
 * In this same year, the first Viking raids forced a political reorganization, and Alcácer became an important outpost of Al-Andalus.
 * In 888, after an internal victory over Muladi rebels, the city was offered as reward to the Abu Denis clan, and its keep was renamed Qaşr Abī Dānis or Castle Abu Denis.
 * The village of Al Qasr was the base for a large fleet and arsenal used during the Christian-Moorish Reconquista.
 * During the Almoravid dynasty Al Qasr became the administrative regional seat of an area that extended along the Atlantic coast until Trujillo, Cáceres.
 * In 1107 to 1110 the Norwegian Crusade records show, the First Crusade led by Norwegian King Sigurd I, winning the battle in the town of Alkassee which is probably refrence to Al Qasr, where they killed such a large number of people that the town was left empty. Many inhabitants who were left remained Muslim.
 * In 1218 King Afonso II gave Alcácer it's foral.
 * 1495, Manuel I was acclaimed King by the residents of the village.
 * By the 16th century, they had an important African Immigration. Then in the 18th century a new wave of slaves was recruited to Alcácer do Sal to work the salt fields and cultivate rice.
 * In 2010 through a genetic study they found in Alcácer do Sal the highest frequencies of Sub-Saharan maternal lineages reported so far in Europe.
 * Alcácer do Sal is divided into 4 civil parishes.
 * The population of Alcácer do Sal is roughly 13,000 people.

Online Records
After 100 years, all civil registration records are sent to the municipality's district office.

To view online civil registration records, visit Setúbal Civil Registration.

Contact a Civil Registration Office
The following is a list of civil registration offices within the municipality.

Conservatória do Registo Civil de Alcácer do Sal R. Palácio Justiça Alcácer Sal 7580-509 Alcácer do Sal PORTUGAL Phone: 265622139 Fax: 265612023 Email: [mailto:crcpcom.alcacer-sal@dgrn.mj.pt crcpcom.alcacer-sal@dgrn.mj.pt]

Communicate your request in Portuguese whenever possible. For writing a letter or email in Portuguese, use the translated questions and phrases in this Portuguese Letter-writing Guide.

Online Records
In 1910, the Portuguese government transferred all birth, marriage, and death records from all the country's parishes to the district offices. These records are now in either District or National archives. Many of these records have been digitized and can be viewed at the District Archive's website or on FamilySearch.

To view online records, visit Setúbal Church Records.

Contact a Parish
If you are seeking church records created more recently than 1910, it is possible to obtain them by writing to the parish where the record was created. Writing to a parish is not always a reliable way to obtain information, because officials may or may not respond.

Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa lists websites for the 20 Dioceses of Portugal. Once on the Diocesan website, use the listing of parishes (paróquias) to locate contact information for the parish in question.

Communicate your request in Portuguese whenever possible. For writing a letter or email in Portuguese, use the translated questions and phrases in this Portuguese Letter-writing Guide.

Cemeteries
Cemeteries did not become popular in Portugal until the late nineteenth century. Prior to this, individuals were buried in their parish church cemetery, and their bones were later removed to an unmarked burial place.

Family History Centers
Setubal Portugal Family History Center Rua General Daniel de Sousa 48-50 SETUBAL 2900-343 PORTUGAL Phone: +351 351-65772693 Email: [mailto:PT_Setubal@familyhistorymail.org PT_Setubal@familyhistorymail.org] Website: Setubal Portugal Family History Center