Aveiro (Portuguese pronunciation: [aˈvejɾu] or ɐˈvɐjɾu) is a city in Aveiro Municipality in Portugal, with a total area of 199.9 km², a total population of 78,463 inhabitants, and 61,430 electors (2006). It is the second most populous city in the Centro Region of Portugal, after Coimbra. However, the city of Aveiro together with neighbouring Ílhavo, make one conurbation which has a population of 119,258 inhabitants, making it one of the most important by population density in the Centro Region.
The municipality is composed of 14 parishes (freguesias), and is located in Aveiro District and the chief city of Baixo Vouga. The present Mayor is Élio Manuel Delgado da Maia, elected by a coalition between the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Social Centre.
The municipal holiday is 12 May.
The seat of the municipality is the city of Aveiro, with about 73,003 inhabitants in the 5 urban city (cidade) parishes. Located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, Aveiro is an industrial city with an important seaport. The city of Aveiro is also the capital of the District of Aveiro, and the largest city in the Baixo Vouga intermunicipal community subregion.
Portugal i/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.