Entroncamento

Municipality

Diesel unit of the Beira Baixa rail line at Entroncamento

Flag

Coat of arms

Coordinates: 39°27′55″N 8°28′5″W / 39.46528°N 8.46806°WCoordinates: 39°27′55″N 8°28′5″W / 39.46528°N 8.46806°W

Country

Portugal

Government

• President

Jaime Manuel Gonçalves Ramos (PSD)

Area

• Total

13.728 km² (5.300 sq mi)

Elevation

34 m (112 ft)

Population (2011)

• Total

20,206

• Density

1,500/km² (3,800/sq mi)

Time zone

WET/WEST (UTC+0/+1)

Postal code

2330

Area code

249

Patron

Sagrada Família

Website

http://www.cm-entroncamento.pt/

Entroncamento (Portuguese pronunciation: [ẽtɾõkɐˈmẽtu]) is a Portuguese municipality in district of Santarém in the Médio Tejo Subregion (Middle Tagus) of the Centro Region. The population in 2011 was 20,206, in an area of 13.73 km². Situated in the Ribatejo, it benefits from its geo-strategic position along the Tagus Valley, with important accessibility to the motorways and railway-lines that historically proportioned its growth and expansion.

Entroncamento originated in the middle of the 19th century, with the birth of the national railway network, as a simple train-stop, from two small railway construction camps: Casal das Vaginhas and Casal das Gouveias. The majority of the early rail workers/settlers were foreign, coming from different countries throughout Europe, but eventually workers from Beira Baixa and Alentejo moved to the region.

Its toponimc name Entroncamento literally mean junction, owing to being the junction of the two railway lines that developed in 1864: the Linha do Norte (Northern Line) and the Linha do Leste (Eastern Line). Hinged between its links with the east and Beira Baixa, the station at Entroncamento, for many decades, was the obligatory stop that moved goods and people to the north and east. During this time, many celebrated travellers from Europe used the Eastern, dining in the station en route, such as the literary celebrates Hans Christian Andersen, Ramalho Ortigão, Eça de Queiroz, Alberto Pimentel, Luísa de Freitas Lomelino and Eduardo Meneres. Political leaders also became frequent visitors both before and after the 25 April Revolution, such as João Chagas, politician and journalist, who travelled to Lisbon in order to assume the direction of the new government, after the dictatorship of General Pimenta de Castro. For a long time, the two settlements were divided between two neighbouring municipalities, because the rail-line itself determined its boundary. To the west of the lines were the parishes of Santiago (in Torres Novas) and to the east the territory was part of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Assunção da Atalaia (municipality of Vila Nova da Barquinha). The small settlement continued to growing, owing to the development of rail transport and support structures, later the installation of military quarters (after 1916) determined the geographic accessibility, resulting in further influx of families.

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Wikipedia