Caparica is a former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the municipality (''

concelho Concelho () is the Portuguese-language term for municipality, referring to the territorial subdivision in local government. In comparison, the word ''município'' () refers to the organs of State. This differentiation is still in use in Portugal ...

'') of

Almada Almada () is a city and a municipality in Portugal, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River, on the opposite side of the river from Lisbon. The two cities are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population of the municipality in 20 ...

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 ...

, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged with the civil parish of Trafaria into the new parish Caparica e Trafaria. The population in 2011 was 20,454, in an area of 11.02 km².Eurostat

Location

Caparica is situated on the Setúbal Peninsula, south of 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 ...

River. On the opposite bank of the Tagus lies

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

, a civil parish of Lisbon. Caparica lies west of the central part of Almada Municipality and west of the

25 de Abril Bridge The 25 de Abril Bridge (, 25th of April Bridge, ) is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tagus, Tagus River. It has a main span length of , ma ...

History

The name ''Caparica'' is probably derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''capparis'', which means

caper ''Capparis spinosa'', the caper bush, also called Flinders rose, is a perennial plant that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. The taxonomic status of the species is controversial and unsettled. Species with ...

. Caparica may have been founded during the Roman conquest of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. It became a parish in 1472, and it became a town on September 27, 1985.

Localities

The parish of Caparica includes the following localities: *Vila Nova de Caparica *Capuchos *Funchalinho *Areeiro *Granja *Fómega *Alcaniça *Raposo *Pera *Monte de Caparica *Torre *Fonte Santa *Serrado *Pilotos *Costas de Cão * Banática * Porto Brandão *Lazarim

Points of interest

*Convent of the Capuchins *Church of Nossa Senhora do Monte de Caparica * Forte de São Sebastião da Caparica

References

Former parishes of Almada {{Setúbal-geo-stub