ALCANENA
N 39.45977; W 8.66404
The municipality of Alcanena, with 127.33 km² of area and 13 868 inhabitants (2011), is subdivided into 7 parishes. The municipality is limited to the northeast by the municipality of Ourém, to the east by Torres Novas, to the south and southwest by Santarém, and to the northwest by the municipalities of Porto de Mós and Batalha.
Headquarters of county and county, is the SO of the Serra de Aire and 3 km from the so-called "Olhos de Água", the springs of the river Alviela.
It has a thriving tanning industry. Minde, a village belonging to the municipality, is a center of the textile industry and its population uses a special language, minderic. The Minde Lagoon, which measures 4Km long and 2Km wide, is in its area.
The progressive development of the soles, footwear, machinery, and clothing industry has attracted a large number of industrialists to the region, with an industrial conversion progressively taking place, based on the modernization of manufacturing techniques and industrial machines. This modernization has put an end to the majority of small producers in the Alcanena region, placing it at the forefront of the production of this kind at the national level.
Alongside this development of the tanneries and knitwear industries, there has recently been the implementation of several units for the manufacture and assembly of machines (and even repair) to support them.
The textile industry (especially established in the region of the parish of Minde) was an intrinsic part of the history of the municipality of Alcanena, alongside that of tanneries. Since the most remote times, the production of blankets, saddlebags, rugs, and carpets has made this region popular. From the middle of the present century, the manufacture of outer mains began, a fact that brought new areas of development to this region.
