The montado is one of the most emblematic landscapes in Portugal, especially in the Alentejo. It is a unique ecosystem, created by man, characteristic of the Alentejo. These are forests of holm oaks, cork oaks, oaks and chestnut trees, with a very delicate balance and which only exist in the Mediterranean, Algeria, Morocco and especially in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.
This multifunctional system has trees as its structural component, with two species of oak standing out: the cork oak and the holm oak. It is around them that this semi-natural ecosystem with high levels of diversity develops.
Livestock production in the Alentejo montado is very important, both at the farm level and on a regional scale. It is based on the silvo-pastoral system, with direct use of natural food resources by native breeds. The Alentejo Black Pig has a diet that consists of an extensive grazing regime in fields, in montados of holm oaks and cork oaks.
The fruits of the trees are the main food resource of the montados. In the montados with holm oak, the holm oak dominates, producing acorns, in the montados with cork oak, producing slurry, and in the mixed montados, both species exist. Acorns and slurry are the fundamental energy source for finishing the Alentejo pig.
The Montado is a cultural landscape shaped by human activity. Over the ages mankind has been able to mould and sustain a multifunctional agro-silvo-pastoral ecosystem located in the south of the Tagus Valley. These areas were originally occupied by Mediterranean woodlands and are now populated by cork oaks and holm oaks - legally protected species since the 7th century - which grow in extreme edaphic-climatic conditions and very poor soils.
Located in southern Europe, with a rich and wide variety of cultural influences, where the frontier between the Christian and Arab worlds was disputed during almost five centuries (up until the 13th century), the Montado has been influenced by a significant presence of military orders and a long period of feudal rule. Currently it still preserves remnants from previous epochs, in an economy that is sustained by the worldwide expansion of industrial cork production.
The enormous biodiversity of the Montado system turns this area into a buffer zone against the advance of the ongoing global process of desertification. (1) This has been possible through a sustainable management of the balance between its arboreal, shrubby and herbaceous elements, based on the traditional knowledge and in the preservation of traditional forms of settlement.