Almeida, Portugal the current name was first used, in the form of the Arabic "al-Ma'ida" ('the plateau'). The village of Almeida was captured from the Moors by the second king of Portugal, Sancho I in the 12th century because of its strategic position on the new country of Portugal's border with Spain. So important to the security of the country, Sancho had the village heavily fortified. The castle was refortified on three further occasions by King Dinis, King Manuel I and by King João VI. The present 12 pointed star fortification was constructed in 1641 to a Vaubanesque plan on which the
CTT Correios de Portugal, S.A. for the Portuguese government to raise money and comply with the European Union requirements for its bailout. In the previous year, 70% of the CTT shares had already been alienated. The CTT group includes the following subsidiaries: CTT Correios de Portugal, S.A. Postal Services of Portugal, plc () is the national postal service of Portugal. The acronym CTT comes from the former name of this department (, meaning "Post, Telegraph and Telephone"), which was also the designation of postal services for the former Portuguese Colonies and still for the Macau Postal Service nowadays. CTT has become a public limited company