district of Portugal

The Districts of Portugal are the most important first-level administrative subdivisions of continental Portugal. Currently, mainland Portugal is divided into 18 districts. As an administrative division, each district serves mainly as the area of jurisdiction of a civil governor, who acts as the local delegate of the Central Government of Portugal. Overview The Districts of Portugal were established by a royal decree of 18 July 1835. On the Portuguese mainland, they correspond to the current districts, with the exception of Setúbal District, which is the result of a split of Lisbon District in 1926. This decree did not affect the then extensive colonial empire.