Torres Novas () is a Portuguese municipality in the district of Santarém, in the Médio Tejo of the Oeste e Vale do Tejo region. The population of the municipality was approximately 36,717 (from the 2011 census), in an area that encompasses . The city of Torres Novas proper (seat of the municipality) has about 15,000 inhabitants in an area located within the municipality.

History

thumb|235px|left|The ruins of the Roman villa of Cardílio

thumb|235px|left|The Roman bridge and water wheel over the River Almonda

thumb|235px|left|A view of the historic castle of Torres Novas

Pre-Monarchy

The earliest sign of human life in the Portuguese territory is the 400,000 year old skull discovered at the Cave of Aroeira in 2017. In it, archaeologists discovered coloured mosaics, coins, sculptures and Latin inscriptions, where one was inscribed with felicitous remarks to the villa da torre (town of the tower), an expression associated with the plausible origin for the toponymy Torres Novas.

Monarchy

During the 12th century, the territory that was known as Turris began to develop into its actual limits, with the expulsion of the ruling Muslims by forces loyal to Afonso I of Portugal in 1148. Later, King Fernando would reconstruct the castle with the same aim as his predecessor.

  • Assentiz
  • Brogueira, Parceiros de Igreja e Alcorochel
  • Chancelaria
  • Meia Via
  • Olaia e Paço
  • Pedrógão
  • Riachos
  • Torres Novas (São Pedro), Lapas e Ribeira Branca
  • Torres Novas (Santa Maria, Salvador e Santiago)
  • Zibreira

Four of the parishes were included in the city of Torres Novas. The union of Torres Novas (São Pedro), Lapas e Ribeira Branca concentrates the majority of the people of the municipality (over 8400 inhabitants), in contrast with the parish of Zibreira (with approximately 1000 people). The largest parish, with an area of , is the Torres Novas (Santa Maria, Salvador e Santiago), and the smallest is the parish of Meia Via, .

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!1864

!1890

!1911

!2009

!2010

!2011

!2012

!2013

!2014

!2015

!2016

!2017

!2018

!2019

|-

|Average resident population

|23282

|30041

|41432

|36876

|36825

|36701

|36464

|36926

|35897

|35663

|35504

|35314

|35089

|34952

|-

| colspan="15" |Note: 21st century data from,

International Relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Torres Novas is twinned with:

  • Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde, since 1997
  • Moreni, Romania
  • Rambouillet, France, since 2010
  • Manatuto, East Timor, since 2002

Politics

The present president of the municipality is Pedro Ferreira, elected by the Socialist Party.

City hall

{| class="wikitable"

|+City hall election results 1976 to 2017, based on CNE data

! rowspan="2" |Data

!%

!V

!%

!V

!%

!V

!%

!V

!%

!V

!%

!V

!%

!V

!%

!V

! rowspan="2" |Turnout

|-

! colspan="2" |PS

! colspan="2" |PPD/PSD

! colspan="2" |CDU

! colspan="2" |FEPU

! colspan="2" |APU

! colspan="2" |AD

! colspan="2" |BE

! colspan="2" |Others

|-

|1976

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |37.55

|3

|28.66

|2

! colspan="2" |FEPU

|23.09

|2

! colspan="2" |

! colspan="2" |

! colspan="2" rowspan="7" |

|5.36

|0

|61.0%

|-

|1979

|26.93

|2

! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |AD

! colspan="2" rowspan="3" |APU

! colspan="2" rowspan="11" |

|23.76

|2

| bgcolor="#2a52be" |42.24

|3

|3.92

|0

|68.6%

|-

|1982

|30.25

|2

|23.05

|2

| bgcolor="#2a52be" |40.38

|3

|1.87

|0

|65.5%

|-

|1985

|23.26

|2

| bgcolor="#f68a21" |36.53

|3

|19.47

|2

! colspan="2" rowspan="9" |

|16.80

|0

|60.0%

|-

|1989

|34.78

|3

| bgcolor="#f68a21" |36.61

|3

|15.40

|1

! colspan="2" rowspan="8" |

|8.13

|0

|60.2%

|-

|1993

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |39.53

|3

|39.15

|3

|13.50

|1

|2.67

|0

|65.2%

|-

|1997

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |49.26

|4

|28.16

|2

|13.18

|1

|4.35

|0

|63.8%

|-

|2001

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |47.58

|4

|24.54

|2

|17.02

|1

|2.90

| 0

|3.29

|0

|62.2%

|-

|2005

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |52.72

|5

|20.86

|1

|15.20

|1

|4.47

| 0

|1.60

|0

|62.9%

|-

|2009

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |53.80

|5

|20.90

|1

|13.00

|1

|5.85

| 0

|3.26

|0

|59.0%

|-

|2013

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |48.99

|4

|18.81

|1

|17.56

|1

|10.87

|1

|3.77

|0

|52.5%

|-

|2017

| bgcolor="#ff66ff" |51.56

|5

|15.74

|1

|9.83

| 0

|15.30

|1

|4.57

|0

|54.7%

|}

Economy

Renova – Fábrica de Papel do Almonda, SA, a well known paper company, is based in the municipality[https://myrenova.com/us/en/], as well as the Companhia de Torres Novas, a textiles company founded in 1845.

Culture

The municipal holiday is Ascension Day.

There are Municipal Museum Carlos Reis, Agricultural Museum of Riachos and Humberto Delgado Memorial House in the municipality.

Notable citizens

thumb|140px|Sebastião Baracho contributed to Portugal's first republican constitution

  • Sebastião de Sousa Dantas Baracho, (Wiki PT) (1844-1921) military man and politician during the end of the Portuguese Monarchy and part of the Constituent Assembly during the First Portuguese Republic.
  • Carlos António Rodrigues dos Reis, (Wiki PT) (1863-1940) naturalistic painter.
  • Maria Lamas (1893-1983) writer, translator, journalist, and feminist political activist.
  • Manuel António Vassalo e Silva (1899-1985) officer of the Portuguese Army and an overseas administrator. He was the 128th and last Governor-General of Portuguese India.
  • Humberto Delgado (1906-1965) General of the Portuguese Air Force, diplomat and politician.
  • Maria Lúcia Vassalo Namorado (1909-2000) writer, poet, journalist, teacher and social reformer, and director of the magazine Os nossos filhos (Our Children).
  • Carlos Cruz (born 1942) radio and TV journalist and talk-show host involved in the Casa Pia scandal.
  • José Luís Borga (1964) Roman Catholic priest and Christian contemporary musician.

Sport

  • José Torres (1938 - 2010) football centre forward and coach with 374 club caps and 33 for Portugal
  • Jim Aldred (born 1963), Canadian expatriate and coach of the Portugal men's national ice hockey team
  • Luís Fernando Quintas dos Santos (born 1965) known as Quintas, a former footballer with over 320 club caps.
  • Jorge Casquilha (born 1969) a former footballer with 458 club caps
  • Pedro Miguel Marques da Costa Filipe (born 1980) known as Pepa, a former footballer and current manager of Vitória S.C.

References

Notes

Sources

  • Flickr.com: Photos from Torres Novas