Alcantara

Alcantara (Arab, the bridge), a town in the province of Caceres, Spain, situated on the steep bank of the Tagus. It was known as Narbo Caesarea to the Romans, who built in honour of Trajan, 104 A.D., the superb granite bridge, 670 feet long and 210 feet high, that spans the river. This noble structure was partially destroyed by the English in 1800, and again in the Carlist War of 1836. The Spaniards, too supine to restore it, now use a ferry. The Knights of Alcantara, an Order founded for resistance to the Moors in 1156, derived their name from the defence of the town in 1213. For nearly six centuries they maintained their position as a religious body, but since 1833 have existed only in a civil capacity. .