Santa Bárbara de Nexe

Infobox Parish PT
official_name = Santa Bárbara de Nexe
image_coat_of_arms = FAR-sbarbaranexe.pngimage_location =
Municipality = Faro
area_total = 42,312
population_total = 4 119
population_density = 108,6
postal_code =
website =

Santa Bárbara de Nexe is a village ("freguesia", in Portuguese) in the municipality of Faro on the Algarve, in southern Portugal. It is located a few kilometers from Loulé. It has an area of 37.93 km² and a population of 4,119 (as of 2001). The economy is based on tourism and agriculture.

History

Human settlement in the area of Santa Bárbara de Nexe goes back to the Middle Paleolithic (around 30,000 years), and the area came to be inhabited by Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, namely the Cynetes. Later, the area had some Phoenician influence, was incorporate by Ancient Rome, become part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, and was conquered by the Moors and incorporated in the Al'Garb Al-Andalus.

The area would eventually be incorporated in the Kingdom of Portugal during the end of the Portuguese Reconquista against the Moors, in the 1272, by King Afonso III of Portugal. The eldest reference to a place called "Nexe" appears in 1291 in a chart about the boundaries of Faro and Loulé.

The oldest known inhabitant of the area was the Roman Citizen "Sexto Numisio Eros" (2nd century), mentioned on a local gravestone.

Trivia

The village is home of Eddie's Bar, a bar dedicated to the heavy metal band Iron Maiden and by Steve Harris, the bassist of Iron Maiden.