Wikipedia / Alferce
Wikipedia / Alferce
Alferce is a freguesia (parish) in the Monchique Municipality (Algarve, Portugal). The population in 2011 was 441, in an area of 96.12km².
Lies in this area remains of a medieval fortress from Muslim rule in Portugal known in Islamic sources ( Hillah Sirah of Ibn Abbar & others ) as حصن المرجيق - Monchique fortress.
The fortress was captured in 1144 by the followers of Ibn Qasi from the Almoravids. Less than a century later, it became part of the Kingdom of Portugal who seized the fortress from Ibn Mahfuz (Aben Mahfot in Spanish sources), then leader of the Algarve region & Niebla (Dawlah Islam fil Andalus - Abdullah bin Inan).