Costa da Caparica

A tour of the beaches and viewpoints of Arriba Fossil, getting to know some of the local traditions and being able to choose between several options for lunch or dinner.



History of Costa de Caparica
Background

The history of Costa de Caparica was closely linked to maritime activities, especially artisanal fishing, and subsistence farming, based on small gardens on the dunes, fertilized over several generations with fish species of lesser commercial and nutritional value. Records show that since the 17th century, the place was a destination for fishermen from the Algarve and the Ilhavos in October, November and December. Everything indicates that the Costa de Caparica was settled during the 18th century, and there is documentary evidence of human occupation and social activity on the Costa de Caparica:

In 1747, José Gomes, a resident of Costa de Caparica and a native of Ílhavo, presented a certificate to the Town Hall in order to be able to exercise his trade as a tailor and have an open store.
In 1761, following a fire in a stall, a criminal case was opened, involving testimony from local witnesses. This legal document reveals not only prior settlement, but also social life itself.



25/10/1747 Letter of Examination of the Tailor's Trade
Almada, Municipal Historical Archive, Almada Town Hall, Administrative Services, Fees and Licenses, License Registers, 1747-1753, folios 20 and 20v., no. reg. 1708

25/04/1761 Testimonies of Witnesses in the Criminal Case of Arson in a Barraca, on the Costa de Caparica
Almada, Municipal Historical Archive, Almada District Court, Records of briefs and complaints, book 1, 1759-1765, folios 58-60v., no. reg. 6018

The year 1770 is wrongly referred to as the year of the foundation, but it is no less important, since the first masters of fishing "companhas" gradually began to settle on the Costa de Caparica: the ílhavos neighborhood to the north and the algarvios neighborhood to the south.

If the fishermen from the Ílhavo/Ovar region were responsible for the architecture of the typical Costa de Caparica fishing boats known as "saveiros", also known as "meia-lua" (half-moon), we are sure that the celebrated vegetable gardens of the Costa lands with their pampering, and the acacia forests that populate the dunes along the coast, have the "hand" of the Algarvian "companha" who settled in the south of the territory, experts in the use of agriculture as an alternative or complement to the art of fishing. The techniques used to contain the advance of the dunes by planting acacias are centuries old, and these practices were assimilated during the period of Muslim occupation of the Algarve coastline. It is in this way that the acacia woodland is growing along the sea front in the municipality of Almada, holding back the sands, protecting agriculture and painting the landscape of the Atlantic region with its characteristic flowers.