Barreiro () is a city and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the Setúbal District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 78,345,Pordata
/ref> in an area of . It is a region belonging to the

Lisbon Metropolitan Area The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (; abbreviated as AML) is a metropolitan areas in Portugal, metropolitan area in Portugal centered on Lisbon, the capital and largest city of the country. The metropolitan area, covering 17 List of cities in Portuga ...

. Barreiro has a view of the city of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

from Avenida da Praia and a riverside area called Alburrica. The mayor since 2017 has been Frederico Rosa, elected by the Socialist Party. The municipal holiday is June 28.

History

There are records of the village of Barreiro from as far as the 13th century, when the

Military Order of Saint James of the Sword The Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (), formerly known as the Ancient, Most Noble and Enlightened Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, of the Scientific, Literary and Artistic Merit (), is one of the four former ancient Portu ...

promoted its settlement. Due to the village's location, the main occupation of the population was harvesting salt and fishing. By the time the Portuguese reached India and Brazil (early 16th century), it was in Barreiro that shipbuilding was concluded, since it started in Lisbon during summer and when the rougher weather arrived the construction had to be moved to somewhere with more sheltered conditions. It was also in Barreiro that the bread for the ships' crew was baked. These activities put Barreiro on the map and in 1521 the village became a town. In the 19th century, the railway lines from Setúbal and Vendas Novas were extended to Barreiro, which along with the location by the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

made CUF select the town for the establishment of one of the biggest industrial estates of its time. Quickly, thousands of people from all over the country arrived looking for work; a substantial number of people migrated to Barreiro from the region of

Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...

, where rural workers had very few rights (work from sunrise to sunset and child labour were still normalised) but which was now well connected to Barreiro via the railway. After the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

that overthrew a 41 years long dictatorship, many factories were nationalised all over the country and so was the industrial estate in Barreiro. Without the former regime to restrict imports and control the national production, the business started to decline and the factories in Barreiro were gradually shut down. Also with the fall of the dictatorship, Portugal withdrew from the overseas territories and gave them their independence back. After the change in political powers abroad, thousands migrated to Portugal in order to flee violence; at this time Barreiro received many refugees, mostly from Portuguese and Angolan ethnic backgrounds. In autumn 1975

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

profiled Barreiro as a "new home for refugees from Angola". Due to its industrial past, Barreiro residents have historically elected representatives from the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

in all local elections since the revolution (1976, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2005, 2009 and 2013) except from the elections in 2001, 2017 and 2021, won by the candidates from the Socialist Party. In 1984 Barreiro became a city.

Population

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 4 civil parishes ('' freguesias''): * Alto do Seixalinho, Santo André e Verderena * Barreiro e Lavradio * Palhais e Coina * Santo António da Charneca

Sports

* F.C. Barreirense is the local team and plays at Campo da Verderena. G.D. Fabril, another local team, plays at Complexo Desportivo Alfredo da Silva.

Notable people

* Álvaro Velho (15th-16th century) sailor or soldier, accompanied

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

on the first Portuguese expedition by sea to India in 1497 * Henrique Galvão (1895–1970) military officer, writer and politician * Augusto Cabrita (1923–1993) photographer, cinematographer and film director * Isabel do Carmo (born 1940) doctor, writer, former university professor and political activist * Maria Guinot (1945–2018) singer, sang in the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest * Eduardo Cabrita (born 1961) legal professional and politician *

Heloísa Apolónia Heloísa Augusta Baião de Brito Apolónia (born 26 June 1969 in Barreiro, Portugal, Barreiro, Setúbal District) is a Portuguese politician and jurist who is secretary of the Ecologist Party "The Greens". She was first elected to the Assembly of ...

(born 1969) Portuguese Green politician and jurist * Leonor Andrade (born 1994) singer and actress, represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Leonor Andrade, IMDb Database
retrieved 25 June 2021.

Sport

* Manuel Vasques (1926–2003) footballer with 280 club caps and 26 with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

* José Augusto (born 1937) footballer with over 344 club caps and 45 with

* Vasco Campos (born 1988), footballer * Joaquim Carvalho (1937–2022) former footballer with 168 club caps and 6 with

* Fernando Chalana (1959–2022) footballer with over 270 club caps and 27 with

* Paulo Fonseca (born 1973) former footballer, currently a club manager * Nuno Espírito Santo (born 1974 in São Tomé), brought up in Barreiro, started youth football in 1985 with the Barreiro teams Santoantoniense and G.D. Fabril. * Paulo Jorge Camões Martins (born 1983) known as Paulinho futsal player with 76 caps with the Portugal national futsal team * João Moutinho (born 1986) footballer with over 500 club caps and 134 for

* Bruno Martins Indi (born 1992) Dutch footballer with over 200 club appearances 34 with the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

; was born in Barreiro to Bissau-Guinean parents * João Cancelo (born 1994) Portuguese footballer with over 300 club appearances and 48 Caps with

* Neemias Queta (born 1999) basketball player at

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

and the first Portuguese player to be drafted and play in the NBA. NBA champion with Boston Celtics 2024

International relations

Barreiro is twinned with: * —

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

''(since 1996)'' * —

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora (, ) is a city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, near the cities of Kazanlak, Plovdiv, and Sliven. Its population is 121,582 making it the sixth largest c ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

''(since 1976)''

References

External links

Town Hall official websiteFacebook Page
* Android App : VisitBarreiro {{Authority control Port cities and towns in Portugal