The Douro is the river with the largest flow in the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near the town of Duruelo de la Sierra in the province of Soria in central Spain. Meanders briefly south and then flows mostly west through north-western central Spain and into northern Portugal, where it empties into Porto, Portugal’s second largest city. At its mouth it enters the Atlantic Ocean.
The river is notable for the Douro scenic railway line. More generally by tourism and in connection with the creation and production of port – a slightly fortified wine -. Grapes, ordinary wines and other agricultural products. On a small tributary of the river, in the Côa valley, there is a site of Palaeolithic art, which is considered an important archaeological prehistoric heritage, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Within Spain, it flows through the centre of the Autonomous Community of Castile and León. With its basin extending across the northern half of the Meseta Central. It includes wine-growing areas such as the Ribera del Duero DOP.
History of the Douro RivervHistory of the Douro River
The Latin name Durius was probably a Celtic name before the revolutionary Romanization of the two main Iberian languages. If so, the Celtic root is *dubro- (in this language family, the sound form of the final vowel often changes with context, as in Latin). 5] In modern Welsh, dŵr is „water“, which is related to dour in modern Breton, dobhar in Irish, and gives rise to Dover on the River Dour and the other modest rivers Dever and Deveron (Dubh Èireann) in the British Isles. In Roman times the river was personified as the god Durius.
Folk-etymological derivation suggests that the name derives from the Portuguese or Spanish word for „golden“.
The basin became depopulated in the 8th century. According to Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz, this was a deliberate act of Alfonso I. Asturias to defend his kingdom, which led to the naming of the area Repoblación.
The Vinhateiro (wine-growing area) in the Douro Valley in Portugal. Which has long been devoted to vineyards, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The wine was transported down the river in flat-bottomed boats called rabelos to be stored in barrels in cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia. On the other side of the river from Porto. Today, port is transported there in tankers.
Economy
These parts of the Douro have a microclimate that allows the cultivation of olives, almonds and, in particular, grapes, which are important for the production of port. The area around Pinhão and São João da Pesqueira is considered to be the centre of port, with quintas (farms/estates) on the steep slopes of the river valleys. In the 21st century, many of them are owned by multinational renowned wine companies.
More recently a thriving tourist industry has developed based on river trips from Porto to places along the upper Douro valley.
In 1887 the Douro railway line (Linha do Douro) was completed. Linking the towns of Porto, Rio Tinto, Ermesinde, Valongo, Paredes, Penafiel, Livração, Marco de Canaveses, Régua, Tua and Pocinho.
Pocinho is close to the very small town of Foz Côa. Which is close to the Palaeolithic art site in the Côa Valley. This is considered an important archaeological prehistoric site and has been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
