Póvoa de Varzim ( , locally ) is a Portuguese city in the Northern Region and sub-region of Greater Porto, with a 2007 estimated population of 66,463. According to the 2001 census, there were 63,470 inhabitants with 42,396 living in the city proper. The urban area expanded, southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there are about 100,000 inhabitants in the urban agglomeration alone. It is located in a sandy coastal plain, just south of Cape Santo André, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers.
Permanent habitation 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 a fortified city. The ocean has played an important part in its culture and economy, through maritime trade, and later through fishing, leading it to acquire a Foral in 1308 and to become, in the 18th century, the main fishing port in northern Portugal. Since the late 19th century, its beaches have helped it become one of the main tourist areas of the region.
Póvoa de Varzim is one of the few legal gambling areas in Portugal, and has significant textile and food industries. The town has a rich seafood cuisine, and retains ancient customs such as the writing system of siglas poveiras and the masseira farming technique.
History
Discoveries 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. Their dead were deposited in tumuli, which are the oldest monuments found in the municipality.
Widespread pillaging by rival tribes led the resident populations of the coastal plain of Póvoa de Varzim to raise a fortified town atop the hill that stood next to the sea. The city area covered 12,000 m 2 (3.0 acres) and had several hundred inhabitants. It maintained commercial relations with the Mediterranean civilizations, during the Carthaginian dominion of the southern Iberian Peninsula.
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.
The region was incorporated into the Roman Empire and pacified during the reign of Caesar Augustus. The Castro people returned to the coastal plain, where Villa Euracini was constructed. Fishing developed with the cetariæ , a Roman fish factory, for the production of garum, an Ancient Roman fish sauce condiment.
With the fall of the Roman Empire, Suevi populations established themselves in the region. Starting in the 9th century, Viking fishermen originating from Brittany raised a peaceful colony in Villa Euracini. In the following century, Viking raids took place throughout north-western Iberia. It was first mentioned as a Portuguese town in March 26, 953 during the rule of Countess Mumadona Dias in the Era of the first County of Portugal. During the Middle Ages, the name Euracini evolved to Uracini , Vracini , Veracini , Verazini , Verazim , and eventually Varazim .
The natural wealth of Varazim's coast attracted aristocrats and nobles to the land. The northern area belonged to the military order of the Knights Hospitaller. It was named Varazim dos Cavaleiros (Knights' Varazim). The southern division of Varazim, the royal land, was important for fishery and agriculture, and disputes arose over the income brought in by fishing.
In 1308, King Denis granted a charter (known in Portugal as a Foral ), giving the royal land to the 54 families of Varazim; these had to found a type of medieval town known as Póvoa . In 1312, King Denis donated the town to his bastard son, Afonso Sanches, Lord of Albuquerque, who included it in the patrimony of the Convent of Santa Clara, which he had just founded in Vila do Conde. In 1514, during the era of charter reform, King Manuel I gave a new charter to Villa da Povoa de Varzim . The town gained a Town Hall, public square and a pillory, and involved itself in the Portuguese discoveries.
In the 17th century, the brine preservation business transformed Póvoa into the biggest fish market in northern Portugal. The 'Poveiros became known as "the people who worked the hardest and best knew the seas." The community became wealthier; following a royal provision by Queen Mary I, Corregedor Almada reorganized the town's layout to make it more attractive and thus provided potential for a new business — sea baths.
In the 19th century, the town became popular as a summer destination for the upper classes of Porto and Minho due to its large beaches and the development of leisure and private gambling businesses. In the end of that century, there were 17 casinos. On February 27, 1892, a tragedy devastated the community. Seven lanchas poveiras wrecked in a storm and 105 fishermen were killed, just metres off the shore.
The thriving textile, food and tourist industries and the rail connection to Porto in 1875; and its development into the most popular holiday destination in northern Portugal, led to a major growth between the 1930s and 1960s.
In modern times, the fishing industry has lost much of its importance. Póvoa de Varzim is a service-sector city, but unlike other urban areas of Porto, it is not a dormitory community for commuters. Being one of northern Portugal's main locations, it developed a cosmopolitan style and serves as a centre for neighbouring towns.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Póvoa de VarzimOccupying an area of 82.1 km 2 or 31.7 sq mi (82 km 2 ), Póvoa de Varzim lies between the Cávado and Ave rivers, or, from a wider perspective, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers on the northern coast of Portugal — the Costa Verde . It is bordered to the north by the municipality of Esposende, to the northeast by Barcelos, to the east by Vila Nova de Famalicão, and to the south by Vila do Conde. To the west, it has a shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean.
Wandering along the coast one discerns Cape Santo André, the Avarus Promontory referred to by Ptolemy, geographer of Ancient Greece, in the territory of the Callaici. The rocky cliffs, common features downstream of the Minho's estuary, disappear in Póvoa de Varzim, giving way to a coastal plain. The plain originates from an old marine plateau conferring a sandy soil to the lands that cross the coast, and forming sand dunes, mainly in northern Aguçadoura.
São Félix Hill (202 m, 660 ft) and Cividade Hill (155 m, 510 ft) rise above the landscape. Despite their modest rise, the expanse of the plain makes them easy reference points on the horizon. The mountain chain known as Serra de Rates divides the municipality in two distinctive areas: the coastal plain and hills where the forests become more abundant and the soils have less sea influence. In this landscape dominated by the plain and low hills, only the hill of Corga da Soalheira (150 m, 490 ft) in the interior, is easily recognizable.
The municipality has no large rivers, but abundant small water courses exist. Some of these courses are permanent, such as the Este River, which feeds into the Ave. The source of the Esteiro River is located at the base of Cividade Hill and empties at the beach of Aver-o-Mar, while the Alto River's source is at the base of São Félix and reaches the Atlantic at Rio Alto Beach. The land is well-irrigated, and springs and wells are very common, since underground water is often close to the surface.
The forest areas suffer from strong demographic pressure and intensive agriculture. Forests are still important in parishes surrounded by the Serra de Rates, whose flora is distinguished by the pedunculate oak or the european holly. In the 18th century, the monks of Tibães planted pines, which now characterize the civil parish of Estela. In the past the Atlantic forest predominated, with trees such as oaks, ash trees, hazels, strawberry trees, holm oak, and alders. The rocks throughout the entire coastline are home to large populations of clams, fish and seaweed. These rocks and the dunes form rich ecosystems, but are threatened by holiday-makers, dune sports and waterfront construction.
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