Palmela () is a town and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 62,831,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
/ref> in an area of 465.12 km². The municipality is located in the

Lisboa Region Lisbon Region ( pt, Região de Lisboa, ) is one of the seven NUTS II designated regions of Portugal, which coincides with the NUTS III subregion Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The region covers an area of 3001.95 km2 (the smallest region on mai ...

and Setúbal District, about south of Lisbon. The municipal holiday is 1 June.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 4 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): * Palmela * Pinhal Novo * Poceirão e Marateca * Quinta do Anjo

General information

The area has been settled since at least Neolithic times, as evidenced by excavations at places such as the

artificial caves of Casal do Pardo The four Artificial caves of Casal do Pardo ( pt, Grutas artificiais do Casal do Pardo), also known as the Caves of Quinta do Anjo, were neolithic tombs. They are situated in Palmela municipality in the Setúbal District, of Portugal, about so ...

and the Castro of Chibanes. The town's name comes from its Roman founder, Cornelius Palma (''Palmella''). Palmela, once a fortress, was conquered by the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

in the 12th century. A semi-rural town, it is located up a hill in the Arrábida area, within Portugal's largest urban area. Many people are moving in from big cities like Lisbon. Wild fires in the region are a threat to the environment. The castle, Castelo de Palmela, offers a unique over the whole region of the

Setúbal Peninsula The Setúbal Peninsula ( Portuguese: ) is a peninsula in the Lisbon Region of Portugal. The peninsula is named after one of its larger cities, Setúbal, and is bordered by three bodies of water, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and southwest, the Ta ...

, Lisbon, and the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Coast. It was a strategic place in past centuries, and today it is still a main juncture of Portugal's road and rail networks. Palmela is home to many multinational industrial units like

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

, and a significant number of foreign families live in the area. The local radio often broadcasts in Ukrainian. Palmela's traditional products are its wine, which has achieved international awards in several festivals like that of Bordeaux, and the '' Queijo de Azeitão'' ( Azeitão cheese). There are several festivals dedicated to these products, the most famous being the ''Festa das Vindimas'' (Harvest' Festival) and the ''Festival do Queijo, Pão e Vinho'' (Festival of Cheese, Bread and Wine). Palmela is the birthplace of the Portuguese explorer Hermenegildo Capelo. Some other famous individuals such as Hans Christian Andersen were briefly hosted there.

Economy

The municipality is famous for its production of fruit and wine. In the 1990s, the joint-venture

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

AutoEuropa vehicle production plant opened, to produce the Mk1 MPV sold under three

marque A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

s: Volkswagen Sharan,

SEAT Alhambra The SEAT Alhambra is a seven-seater minivan that was built from 1996 to 2020. It was manufactured under the SEAT brand from June 1996 onwards at the Volkswagen Group's AutoEuropa plant in Palmela, Portugal. It shares the same platform with the Vo ...

and

Ford Galaxy The Ford Galaxy is a seven-seater car produced by Ford of Europe from June 1995 to April 2023. Considered in the motor industry to be a large multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), it was the first Ford-brand MPV produced and marketed outside of North Ame ...

. After Ford left the joint venture, the plant has since continued to produce the Volkswagen and SEAT products, and added the

Volkswagen Eos The Volkswagen Eos was a sport compact cabriolet coupé produced by the German automaker Volkswagen from 2006 to 2015. Assembled at AutoEuropa in Portugal, it was a convertible only compact coupé introduced as the successor of the Volkswagen Gol ...

Volkswagen Scirocco The Volkswagen Scirocco is a three-door, front-engine, front-wheel-drive, sport compact hatchback manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen in two generations from 1974 to 1992 and a third generation from 2008 until 2017. Production ended without a ...

and

Volkswagen T-Roc The Volkswagen T-Roc is a subcompact crossover SUV (B-segment) manufactured by German automaker Volkswagen since 2017. It is based on the Volkswagen Group MQB A1 platform, and positioned between the Tiguan and the slightly smaller T-Cross. Ov ...

Notable people

* Hermenegildo Capelo (1841 in Palmela - 1917) an officer in the Portuguese Navy and an explorer, charted territory between Angola and Mozambique * Hugo José Jorge O'Neill (1874 – 1940 in Palmela) the head of the Clanaboy O'Neill dynasty * Octávio Machado (born 1949) a retired footballer and coach with 307 club caps and 19 for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

* Ricardo Pateiro (born 1980 in Palmela) a Portuguese retired footballer with 270 club caps

References

External links