Harmony in Solitude: Ecological and Cultural Forces Shaping the Religious Community of the Convent of Arrábida Settlement

Abstract From the perspective of the history of science and technology, this article explores the reasons that lie behind the choice of the Serra da Arrábida, located on the Setúbal Peninsula south of Lisbon, for the settlement of a longstanding religious community. It argues that the biophysical characteristics of the landscape’s southern slope subunit, and the cultural meaning and historical evolution of the landscape, fostered the establishment of a convent as well as of a spiritual desertum .