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Póvoa de Varzim is a Portuguese city in Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers. In 2001, there were 63,470 inhabitants, with 42,396 living in the city proper. The city expanded southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there are about 100,000 inhabitants in the urban area alone. It is the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in Portugal and the third largest in Northern Portugal. Permanent settlement in Póvoa de Varzim dates back to around four to six thousand years ago. Around 900 BC, unrest in the region led to the establishment of Cividade de Terroso, a fortified city, which developed maritime trade routes with the civilizations of classical antiquity. Modern Póvoa de Varzim emerged after the conquest by the Roman Republic of the city by 138 BC; fishing and fish processing units soon developed, which became the foundations of the local economy. By the 11th century, the fishing industry and fertile farmlands were the economic base of a feudal lordship and Varzim was fiercely disputed between the local overlords and the early Portuguese kings, which resulted in the establishment of the present day's municipality in 1308 and being subjugated to monastic power some years later. Póvoa de Varzim's importance reemerged with the Age of Discovery due to its shipbuilders and merchants proficiency and wealth, who traded around the globe in complex trade routes. By the 17th century, the fish processing industry rebounded and, sometime later, Póvoa became the dominant fishing port in northern Portugal. Póvoa de Varzim has been a well-known beach resort for over three centuries, the most popular in Northern Portugal, which unfolded an influential literary culture and historical-artistic patronage in music and theater. Casino da Póvoa is one of the few and prominent gambling venues in Portugal. Leisure and health benefits provided in large sandy beaches attracts national and international visitors. Póvoa de Varzim holds other landmarks, especially the traditional Junqueira shopping street, Garrett Theatre, the Ethnography and History Museum, Cividade de Terroso, the Medieval Rates Monastery, Baroque Matriz Church, city Hall and Portuguese vernacular architecture in Praça do Almada, and numerous Portuguese cuisine restaurants that make Póvoa de Varzim popular in all Northern Portugal, which started to attract an international following. Farol da Lapa, Farol de Regufe, the main breakwater of the Port of Póvoa de Varzim, Carvalhido and São Félix Hill are preferred for sightseeing. The city has significant textile and food industries.[1] The town has retained a distinct cultural identity and ancient Norse customs such as the writing system of siglas poveiras, the masseira farming technique and festivals.
[edit] History
[edit] Castro Culture and Roman conquestDiscoveries of Acheulean stone tools suggest Póvoa de Varzim has been inhabited since the Lower Palaeolithic, around 200,000 BC. The first groups of shepherds settled on the coast where Póvoa de Varzim is now located between the 4th millennium and early 2nd millennium BC. A Neolithic-Calcolithic necropolis, with seven known burial mounds, can still be seen around São Félix Hill and Cividade Hill. Widespread pillaging by rival and migrant tribes led the resident populations of the coastal plain of Póvoa de Varzim to raise a town atop the hill that stood next to the sea. The acropolis protection was reinforced by successive rings of walls and a trench at the base of the hill. Established by the 9th or 8th century B.C., the city area covered and had several hundred inhabitants. Its location near waterways helped it to maintain commercial relations with the Mediterranean civilizations, especially noticeable during the Carthaginian dominion of the southern Iberian Peninsula.[2] During the Punic Wars, the Romans became aware of the Castro region's rich deposits of gold and tin. Viriathus, leading Lusitanian troops, hindered the expansion of the Roman Republic north of the river Douro. His murder in 138 BC opened the way for the Roman legions. Over the following two years, Decimus Junius Brutus advanced into the Castro region from south of the Douro, crushed the Castro armies, and left Cividade de Terroso, in ruins.[2] The region was pacified during the reign of Caesar Augustus and the Castro people returned to the coastal plain, where Villa Euracini and Roman fish factories were built.[3] With the annexation by the Roman Republic, trading supported regional economic development, with Roman merchants organized in true commercial companies who looked for monopoly in commercial relations. [edit] Feudalism and municipalismWith the fall of the Roman Empire, Suebi populations established themselves in the countryside. It was first mentioned on 26 March 953 during the rule of Mumadona Dias, Countess of Portugal. The region was attacked by the Vikings in the 960s, by the Moors in 997 and again by Norman pirates in 1015–1016.[4] Hints indicate a Norse settlement in Villa Euracini after those invasions. During the Middle Ages, the name Euracini evolved to Uracini, Vracini, Veracini, Verazini, Verazim, Varazim and, eventually, Varzim.[5] In 1033, Guterre Pelayo, a leading captain of the Reconquista for the County of Portugal, was recognized by Bermudo, Emperor in Gallaecia, as the Lord of Varzim, during the chaotic epoch following Almanzor's attack on the Christian realms. Henry, the Portuguese count, recognized his rule over the port of Varzim amongst several other possessions. Varzim overlords gained significant power and, when Portugal was already a stable kingdom, Sancho I of Portugal attacked the fief and seized the port, destroyed most of the properties and expelled the farmers. The northern area became known as Varzim dos Cavaleiros (Knights' Varzim) and belonged to the military order of the Knights Hospitaller, who inherited the wealth of the local overlords. Lower Varzim, the royal southern land, was the location of the port and contiguous farmlands.[6] According to a 1258 chronic, while Sancho II of Portugal was disputing the throne with his brother, Afonso, who was invited by the knights to take over the Portuguese throne, Gavião of Varzim used the opportunity to destroy the king's assets in Lower Varzim. He violently entered in the king's lands, destroyed it significantly, in such a way that no bread could be sowed, nor a car could cross that place as it often used to do. Sancho II was overthrown, Afonso became king and ordered the resettlement of the royal land and the king's chronicler explicitly stated that all the port was the property of the king. Gomes Lourenço, of the Honour of Varzim, was a very influential knight and godfather of King Denis.[6] He took advantage of his relationship with important people in the kingdom in order to get the recognition of the seaport, located in Lower Varzim, as his honour. He tried to convince King Denis, that the king's father, Afonso, took it from him unfairly. Justifying the attitude with the Honour of Varzim, Gomes and his descendants went to the port to get the tribute from the fishermen. In 1308, King Denis granted a charter, the Foral, giving the royal land to 54 families of Varzim; these had to found a municipality known as Póvoa around Praça Velha, siding Varzim Old Town, controlled by the knights. In 1312, King Denis donated Póvoa to his bastard son, Afonso Sanches, Lord of Albuquerque, who included it in the patrimony of the Monastery of Santa Clara, which he had just founded in Vila do Conde. In 1367, King Ferdinand I confirmed the charters, privileges and uses of Póvoa de Varzim. These were again confirmed by John I in 1387. But the domain of the monastery over the town grew stronger and the people asked King Manuel I to end the situation. In 1514, during the era of charter reform, the King granted a new charter to Póvoa de Varzim. Besides the town hall and square, the town gained a pillory, granted significant self-government, and involved itself in the Portuguese discoveries.[7] [edit] Shipbuilders, seafarers and fishermenIn the 16th century, the fishermen started to work in maritime activities, as pilots or seafarers in the crew of the Portuguese ships, due to their high nautical knowledge. The fishermen of the region are known to fish in Newfoundland since at least 1506.[8] During the reign of John III the Povoan shipmaking art was already renowned, and Povoan carpenters were sought after by Lisbon's Ribeira das Naus shipyard due to their high technical skills. The single-floored houses dominated the town's landscape, but there are indications of multiple floored habitations with rich architecture. The seafarers' social class, well-off gentlemen, was associated with this richer architecture around Praça Velha square.
In the beginning of the 18th century, there was a decline in the Ribeira shipyard activities, due to the aggradation of the Portuguese coast and the Povoan shipyard started to work in the construction of fishing vessels.[8] There was a significant increase of the fisher community in the middle of the century, becoming the main activity, and during the reign of Joseph I with the country in the middle of an economic crisis, Póvoa started a rapid development.[8] The Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon noticed their overwhelming notoriety in the Minho coast and considered Povoans to be the most expert fishermen from Cape St. Vincent to Caminha, with a sizable number of fishermen, ships and high sea fishing. The result was a very considerable quantity of caught fish. The community became wealthier and, following a royal provision by Queen Mary I in 1791, the inspector general Almada reorganized the town's layout, a new civic centre with a monumental city hall, streets and infrastructure were built, all of which provided the potential for a new business — sea baths.[7] [edit] The Baths of Póvoa and the modern citySince 1725, the iodine-rich seawaters of Póvoa, due to the peculiar high quantities of seaweed that ends up in Póvoa beaches from the sheltered bay to Cape Santo André, brought by ocean currents, lead that Benedictine monks choose to take sea-baths in there, searching cures for skin and bone problems. Still in the 18th century, other people went to Póvoa with the same concerns. In the 19th century, the town became popular as a summer destination for the wealthy of Entre-Douro-e-Minho province and Portuguese Brazilians, due to its large sandy beaches and the development of theaters, hotels and casinos. It then became renowned for its refined literary culture, artistic patronage in music and theater, and intellectual tertulia.[9]
Póvoa de Varzim developed a cosmopolitan style and became a service-sector city. It is one of northern Portugal's main urban centres. Póvoa is the focal point of a larger area, which includes Vila do Conde and Esposende.[10] |