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 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.[3] 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,[4] which along with the location by the Tagus made CUF select the town for the establishment of one of the biggest industrial estates of its time.[5] 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, 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 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.[6]
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 profiled Barreiro as a "new home for refugees from Angola".
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Due to its industrial past, Barreiro residents have historically elected representatives from the Portuguese Communist Party in all local elections since the revolution (1976,[8] 1979,[9] 1982,[10] 1985,[11] 1989,[12] 1993,[13] 1997,[14] 2005,[15] 2009[16] and 2013)[17] except from the elections in 2001,[18] 2017[19] and 2021, won by the candidates from the Socialist Party.
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.
João Cancelo (born 1994) Portuguese footballer with over 300 club appearances and 48 Caps with Portugal
Neemias Queta (born 1999) basketball player at Sacramento Kings and the first Portuguese player to be drafted and play in the NBA.NBA champion with Boston Celtics 2024
Portugal
— ŁódźinPoland (since 1996) [24]
— Stara ZagorainBulgaria (since 1976)
