Riba de Ave (also known as Riba d'Ave) is a Portuguese town located in the municipality of

Vila Nova de Famalicão Vila Nova de Famalicão () is a Portuguese town with a population of approximately 133,048 inhabitants () in an area of 201,59 km2, subdivided into 49 parishes (Administrative Division of 11 Unions of Parishes and 23 Parish Councils,). Insert ...

. The population in 2011 was 3,425,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
/ref> in an area of 2.76 km².Áreas das freguesias, concelhos, distritos e país
/ref> The town has existed since before Portugal became a country, although it has never been more than a tiny village in the

Ave Valley The Comunidade Intermunicipal do Ave () is an administrative division in Portugal. It was created in 2009. It takes its name from the Ave River. The seat of the intermunicipal community is Guimarães. Ave comprises parts of the former districts o ...

. It's the only place in the region that has maintained its name since medieval times. The town only started to develop at the end of the 19th century when a textile industrial,

Narciso Ferreira Narciso Ferreira (1862-1933) was a Portuguese entrepreneur in the north of Portugal ( Riba d’Ave, in Vila Nova de Famalição). Biography He was the son of a farmers family. Since his father died when he was very young, his mother gave him ...

, settled there and created one of the first textile factories of the Ave Valley, Sampaio Ferreira. He was very successful and Riba de Ave was, for the better part of the 20th century one of the richest villages of the region. However the successive economic crisis proved fatal for most of the town's industry.

References

Towns in Portugal Freguesias of Vila Nova de Famalicão {{Braga-geo-stub