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The origins of Cascais, the formation of its land and the history of its people have been lost in the mists of time.

At the dawn of the second millennium Cascais was obviously poor, and only the stubborn dignity of the locals allowed them to call it theirs. Those that lived there were moors, when Dom Afonso's troops, in their hurry to create a kingdom, took over the much-sought Lisbon, a city of wide port and high hills, as well as many souls to be converted and the promise of a South that was calling. And Christianity set itself up here forever, with Dom Afonso Henriques granting Cascais a charter on January 9, 1154, which was confirmed by his son Dom Sancho I, in 1189. In the 13th century the location’s sea-faring vocation served to supply the capital with fish. By its own means, the prosperity of Cascais increased throughout the 14th century.

Since the Middle Ages Cascais had had fishing as its main source of income.  With time, and greater abundance, the port became an important hub for sea trade and was the place where ships stopped before mooring in Lisbon.

But a living was made not only from the sea. The land, which generously gave forth its fruits, its wine, olive oil and grains. Due to its location, at the opening of the Tagus estuary, the defensive importance of the place was soon discovered. After all, what better place for the first line of defence of the capital than that warm port nestled in the rocks? This is how Dom João II saw it, having ordered a small fortress to be built next to the sea, which over time became extended and consolidated, until it became the Citadel (Cidadela).

The most relevant historical fact linked to the town of Cascais occurred in the year 1580, in which Portugal lost its independence. Under siege by the Duke of Alba, Cascais defended itself heroically from the citadel, commanded on the Portuguese side by Dom Diogo de Meneses, a fervent supporter of Dom Antonio Prior do Crato. With the loss of independence, Cascais accompanied the nation on the night King Filipe came to rule, but always maintained the light of its identity and pride in its origins.

The following two centuries were ones of relative stagnation, particularly due to the earthquake of 1755 which devastated the town, but over time Cascais gained importance in relation to Sintra and, in the 19th century fought to be the first choice for rest and residence of the royal house, as of 1871, with Dom Luis having died there in 1889.

Cascais saw its apogee in the transition form the 19th to the 20th century, due to its becoming the preferred bathing and recreational resort of the Royal House, the court and the entourage of nobility that accompanied it. Also the most famous intellectuals of the time, belonging to the celebrated “Os Vencidos da Vida” (“The Vanquished of Life”) group, led by Eça de Queiroz sought out Cascais as a retreat from the tedious Lisbon Summers.

With time and the town’s progress, Portuguese noble families, and the bourgeois, began to summer in Cascais.

Because of its exceptional circumstances, Cascais came to have some distinctive traits that would forever mark its history. Blessed by the sun, the town was the first in Portugal to have electric lighting, in the Citadel, in 1878, and general installation was carried out in 1910. But a great step in developmentism – to use a word from the time – was made with the arrival of the railway.

With Dom Luis II the Citadel is transformed into a Royal House and the Cascais social scene saw a definitive change. It was now a favourite with genteel society for entertainment and socialising. Cascais can also pride itself on being the location of the first football game held in Portugal in 1888, at the influence of the Pinto Basto brothers, who introduced the game to our country.

But the nobility did not only expend its energy on entertainment. Dom Carlos I, a great lover of sea activities, set up the first oceanographic laboratory in Portugal in the Citadel, leading a total of 12 scientific expeditions until his tragic death, in 1908.

In the 20th century, the town, due to the neutrality of Portugal in the second world war, became a perfect refuge for members of many European royal houses, namely from Spain, Italy and Romania. Nowadays, in which the term jet-set has become generalised, Cascais is still, the Portuguese town with greatest Noble symbolic, which is in no small part due to the preservation of the best things time has given it and the birth of added motives of interest, such as the Marinha residential area, the world quality golf courses, the Tires aerodrome, the autodrome, the hippodrome, it larges shopping centres, a Casino, which, in Estoril, is constantly enhancing its prestige.

The former poor hamlet on a magnificent bay, at the meeting point between the river and the vast ocean had become the best jewel in a country full of precious treasures. Cascais is truly the jewel in Portugal’s crown.