page_title: Belém (Lisbon)
section_title: Middle Ages
hierarchical_section_title: Belém (Lisbon) / History / Middle Ages
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: La torre di Belém vista dal fiume Tago
context_page_description: Belém is a freguesia and district of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Belém is located in western Lisbon, to the west of Ajuda and Alcântara and directly east of Lisbon's border with Oeiras. Belém is famous as a museum district, as the home of many of the most notable monuments of Lisbon and Portugal alike, such as the Belém Tower, the Jerónimos Monastery, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, and Belém Palace. The population in 2011 was 16,528.
context_section_description: With the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal by Afonso III, royal surveys, or inquirições gerais (general inquiries), were made at his command to inspect titles of lands claimed by the nobility and clergy, determined that the population around Lisbon was dispersed throughout the lowlands, which were suitable for agriculture. Consequently, Belém was connected to the neighbouring city by a bridge at Alcântara. Belém's proximity to the River Tagus also encouraged the development of commercial activities in the small village of Aldeia do Restelo, which attracted mariners and other seafarers seeking safe anchorage and protection from the winds when they entered the river. In the 14th century, Moors settled on and cultivated the surrounding lands, providing the city with produce; other Moors, both free and enslaved, worked in the fishing industry. Meanwhile, settlement in Restelo grew slowly towards Lisbon.
  It was "to give religious and spiritual support" to the villagers that Henry the Navigator, as governor in the military-religious Order of Christ, initiated construction near the fishing port of a small church dedicated to Saint Mary. Henry also ordered the construction of a fountain and water trough in 1460 to provide drinking water for the people and their animals. The foundation of the church and the Jerónimos Monastery by Manuel I around 1459 on the site of the older church resulted in its transfer from the Order of Christ to the Hieronymite monks, and at the same time in its being renamed Santa Maria de Belém. The existing structure was started on the orders of Manuel I (1469–1521) at the courts of Montemor-o-Velho in 1495, as a final resting-place for members of the House of Aviz, in his belief that an Iberian dynastic kingdom would rule after his death. In 1496, King Manuel petitioned the Holy See for permission to construct a monastery at the entrance of the Tagus. It was after the arrival of Vasco da Gama a year later with samples of gold he had discovered that the monastery became a symbol of Portuguese expansionism. The church became a house of prayer for seamen leaving or entering the port.
caption: Belém Tower, a Manueline military outpost built in the Tagus river.
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