This parish was born from the recent Administrative Division of the Municipality of Ferreira do Alentejo, in 1988. Its settlement took place in very early times, perhaps in the Miocene period, according to some studies carried out by the City Council. The Romans left in this area evident marks of the new civilization that they transported to the Iberian Peninsula, and which, in the case of Canhestros, took place at a very late period. In addition to traces of an old Roman walkway, several fragments of common pottery, tegulae and imbrices were discovered. The Roman people, in the region where …

Alfundão is one of the oldest villages in the Alentejo, with 51.90 km2 of area and 998 inhabitants. There are some Roman remains, such as two inscriptions dedicated to the goddess Fortuna that demonstrate the importance of this land in the Roman period. Even without major documentary confirmations by the 13th century Alfundão would be a landlord with its own jurisdiction. In 1372, Ferdinand donated her term to Diogo Afonso de Carvalhal, a period from which happened to have, even in fleeting, the category of village.