Fundão Municipality, Portugal
| Fundão | |||
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| Municipality | |||
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| Coordinates: 40°08′N 7°30′W / 40.133°N 7.500°WCoordinates: 40°08′N 7°30′W / 40.133°N 7.500°W | |||
| Country |
 Portugal
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| Region | Centro | ||
| Subregion | Cova da Beira | ||
| Intermunic. comm. | Beiras e Serra da Estrela | ||
| District | Castelo Branco | ||
| Parishes | 23 | ||
| Government | |||
| • President | [Paulo Fernandes] (PSD) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 700.20 km2 (270.35 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2011) | |||
| • Total | 29,213 | ||
| • Density | 42/km2 (110/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | WET/WEST (UTC+0/+1) | ||
| Website | http://www.cm-fundao.pt | ||
Fundão (Portuguese pronunciation: [fũˈdɐ̃w]) is a city and a municipality in the Castelo Branco District in Portugal. Fundão proper is an old city with 8,369 inhabitants in 2001, situated at the point where the slope of the Gardunha range meets the Cova da Beira plains, 500 metres above sea level. The municipality population in 2011 was 29,213, in an area of 700.20 km². It is subdivided in 23 parishes. The film festival, IMAGO – Young Film and Video Festival, is organised in the town.
During the Iron Age, from about 1000 B.C. until its destruction by the Romans, there was a Celtic Lusitanian Castro or fortified village in nearby São Brás Mount. The remains of a villa or agricultural manor house, workers houses and other associated buildings from the time of the Roman Empire have been found in the underground of the centre of the current city. This villa was rebuilt as a fortified medieval mansion during the High Middle Ages.
The history of Fundão is intimately related to that of its originally Jewish, then New Christian or Marrano, population.
Although the place was already mentioned in documents from 1307 referring 32 houses, the bulk of the population only settled after the 1492 Expulsion of the Jews from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, mainly Spanish Jews (sephardic). Close to the border, and already home to significant Jewish minorities the Cova da Beira region, the region received many refugees. They settled in the community of Fundão, which their numbers swelled to that of a city. The influx of Jewish artisans and merchants quickly transformed it into an important commercial and industrial center. With the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition shortly thereafter, many Jews and New Christians were arrested, tortured, executed or had their possessions expropriated. The commercial dynamism of the city was affected.
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Wikipedia