Intermunicipal communities of Portugal in the context of "Ave Subregion"

The metropolitan area (Portuguese: área metropolitana) is a type of administrative division in Portugal. Since the 2013 local government reform, there are two metropolitan areas: Lisbon and Porto. The metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto were created in 1991. A law passed in 2003 supported the creation of more metropolitan areas, under the conditions that they consisted of at least nine municipalities (concelhos) and had at least 350,000 inhabitants. Several metropolitan areas were created under this law (Algarve, Aveiro, Coimbra, Minho and Viseu), but a law passed in 2008 abolished these, converting them into intermunicipal communities, whose territories are (roughly) based on the NUTS III statistical regions.

The branches of administration of the metropolitan area are the metropolitan council, the metropolitan executive committee and the strategic board for metropolitan development. The metropolitan council is composed of the presidents of the municipal chambers of the municipalities.

The Comunidade Intermunicipal da Região de Aveiro (Intermunicipal Aveiro Region) is an administrative division in Portugal. It was created in October 2008, replacing the previously existing Greater Metropolitan Area of Aveiro. Since January 2015, Região de Aveiro is also a NUTS3 subregion of Centro Region, that covers the same area as the intermunicipal community. The main city and seat of the intermunicipal community is Aveiro. The population in 2011 was 370,394, in an area of 1,692.86 square kilometres (653.62 sq mi).

Coimbra (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁɨʒiˈɐ̃w dɨ kuˈĩbɾɐ]) is an intermunicipal community of Portugal. It was created in October 2013, replacing the previously existing Greater Metropolitan Area of Coimbra. Since 2015, it is also a NUTS3 subregion of Centro region, that covers the same area as the intermunicipal community. The main city and seat of the intermunicipal community is Coimbra. The population in 2011 was 460,139, in an area of 4,335.57 km².

Greater Metropolitan Area of Minho (Portuguese: Grande Área Metropolitana do Minho) is a former administrative division in Portugal. Founded in 2004, it consisted of 12 municipalities in the north of the country: Amares, Barcelos, Braga, Cabeceiras de Basto, Fafe, Guimarães, Póvoa de Lanhoso, Terras de Bouro, Vieira do Minho, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Vila Verde and Vizela, all of them part of the former Braga District. It was disbanded in 2009, when the intermunicipal communities Ave and Cávado were formed.

The Comunidade Intermunicipal Viseu Dão Lafões (Portuguese pronunciation: [viˈzew ðɐ̃w lɐˈfõjʃ]) is an administrative division in Portugal. It replaced the previously existing Greater Metropolitan Area of Viseu. Since January 2015, Viseu Dão Lafões is also a NUTS3 subregion of Centro Region, that covers the same area as the intermunicipal community. The main city and seat of the intermunicipal community is Viseu. The population in 2011 was 267,633, in an area of 3,237.74 km².

Portugal is a unitary state with delegated authority to three levels of local government that cover the entire country:

• 2 autonomous regions (Azores and Madeira), and in Continental Portugal: 2 metropolitan areas, and 21 intermunicipal communities
• 308 municipalities
• 3091 civil parishes (freguesias) (except Corvo Island which only has a single municipality)

The Judiciary of Portugal has a separate geographic system. Portugal has a long history of complex, inconsistent and layered administrative geography. As a result, there is no single, unified layer of administrative units that spans the entire Portugal.

Viseu, officially the City of Viseu, is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal and the capital of the district of the same name, with a population of 103,502 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões intermunicipal community, with 267,633 inhabitants.

Settled during the period of the early Iberian Castro culture, the territory of Viseu was occupied by a series of other peoples including the Romans, Suebians, Visigoths and Moors. During the Roman occupation of Iberia, Viriathus, the rebel leader of the Lusitanians, is assumed to have lived for a time in the vicinity. During the Middle Ages, the city often served as a seat for Visigothic nobles (such as King Roderic), and based in the Chronica Gothorum is one of several probable birthplaces for Afonso Henriques, first King of Portugal.