BEYRA or BEIRA, a province of Portugal, bounded on the north by the provinces of Traz-os-Montes and Minio; east by Spain; south by Alentejo and Portuguese Estremadura; and west by the Atlantic. Area about 5900 square miles. Pop. (1850) 631,416. The surface is very mountainous; its highest point, in the Serra de Estrella, being 7524 feet. It is divided into Beira Alta and Beira Baixa; the former comprising the district between the Douro and the Sierra de Estrella, and the latter the remaining portion of the province between these mountains and the Tagus. The principal river is the Douro, which receives the waters of numerous smaller streams. The other chief rivers are the Aguada, the Mondego, the Vouga, and the Zerez. Agriculture is in a neglected state, and before the general introduction of the potato an annual importation of foreign corn was necessary for the support of the inhabitants. On the mountains and in the valleys, however, sheep are pastured in great numbers, and the olive is extensively cultivated; olive-oil and fruit forming the principal exports of the province. Good wine also is produced, and the cheese of the Sierra de Estrella district is famed. Silver and lead ores exist in some of the mountains, but the mines have not been wrought since a remote period. Iron, coal, and marble, are worked to some extent. There are few manufactures, the chief employment being the cultivation of the vine, the olive, the chestnut, the orange, &c.
The province comprehends 7 bishoprics, 22 judicial districts, 85 communes, and 860 parishes. The chief towns are Coimbra, Viseu, Aveiro, Ovar, and Lamego. The heir-apparent to the throne of Portugal has the title of Prince of Beira.