T D S R V O L .

1 9 9 0 2 3 3 4

PORT U G U ESE TRADITION A L SET T LEM E N TS,

A RES U L T O F C U L TURA L M ISCE G E N ATIO N

MANUEL C. TEIXEIRA

The Portuguese built a maritime empire during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that

incorporated settlements along the coasts of Brazil, Africa, India and the Far East. The

architecture and urban spaces of these settlements reflected the dual influence and interbreeding

of Portuguese and local cultures. Overseas Portuguese towns shared the same models of

reference. These were the medieval towns of Portugal, particularly Lisbon and Oporto, which

contained features that can be traced back to the Muslim city and to European planned

frontier towns of the middle ages. Local cultural influences were felt at the level of

architecture, both in the adaptation of Portuguese models to local materials and climatic

conditions, and in the adoption by Portuguese builders of local typologies, forms, and models

of reference. The Portuguese left their mark in many parts of the world, most particularly in
architectural tradition. Knowledge and experience gained by local builders from the Portuguese

five centuries ago has in many places been passed down from generation to generation, and has

resulted in the preservation of building prototypes that embody today's traditional architecture.

For Europeans, the Portuguese voyages of the period were an important component of the

Renaissance and the emergence of a new vision of man.

The conquest of Ceuta in Morocco in 14 15 marked the

Manuel Teixeira is an A ssistant Professor at L 'A cadami a Nac. Belas
Artes, Lisbon, Portugal.
beginning of Portuguese expansion overseas. During the
next two centuries Portugal built and kept a maritime
empire in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans that
brought an effective monopoly ofnavigation and commerce
along the coasts of Africa, India, the Far East and Brazil.
Three successive Papal Bulls, in 1452, 1455 and 1456,
confirmed this monopoly. Prince D. Henrique - Henry
the Navigator - was the initial strategist of the enterprise;
he was also the Grandmaster of the Order of Christ, and
gave this Order spiritual jurisdiction over all lands discovered
by the Portuguese. The spirit of crusade against the infidels,
24 • TDSR 2
the expansion of the Christian faith, and more down-to­
earth commercial objectives were the main forces behind
the ambitious enterprise of the Portuguese Descobertas in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
For historians, the Portuguese expansion must be set within
the context of the European Renaissance, of which it was an
essential component. Georges Lefebvre has said, "De cene
aventure elargie, multiseculaire (a nos yeux), la Renais­
sance - quel a ete en gros Ie fait essentiel? Bien sur les
grandes decouvertes."l An important contribution of Por­
tugal to the Renaissance was a new vision of man brought
about by contact with new races and civilizations. The
tendency of the Portuguese to mix with the peoples they
encountered led to a miscegenation, or interbreeding, of
cultures. This trend is clearly visible in the architecture and
urban spaces of the Portuguese colonial settlements. The
composite models produced in them often were accepted as
new types of traditional architecture, replacing previously
established models.
RO UTES O F P O RTUGUESE EXPANS I O N AND
CHARACTERISTICS OF COLON IAL CITIES
The trade in gold, produced in the regions south of the
Sahara - and after 1442, the slave trade - were the main
initial objectives of Portuguese merchants. Portugal was
able to divert to its ships a substantial share of the trans­
Saharan trade formerly held by the Tuareg caravans. But
after the 1480s, the objective became India, especially the
discovery of a seaway around Africa. Until this time the
spice trade had been in the hands of Muslim merchants,
who sailed the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea and who
traveled overland to the Mediterranean coast, and Venetian
merchants, who shipped from the Mameluke ports of Syria
and Egypt to Europe. The commercial objective of Portu­
gal was to take hold of this monopoly, and in 1498 the fleet
of Vasco da Gama reached Calicut.
As Portugal progressed in its search for a seaway to India,
a string of forts and factories were built along the coasts of
Africa and Arabia. These settlements were located at
strategic points, serving either as bases from which to
protect the sea routes, ports of call for provisioning ships,
or trading stations. Some evolved into urban settlements,
and their urban structure and architecture came to reflect
both Portuguese culture and the cultures of the societies
Portugal came into contact with.
In 1 500, Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil on his way
to India. The colonization of this land was postponed for
many years because of the involvement of the Portuguese
Crown in the Indian trade, the gold of Guinea, and the wars
with Morocco. But during the second half of the sixteenth
century the casual trade with Amerindian tribes was re­
placed by the cultivation of, and commerce in, sugar cane.
Waves of Portuguese immigrants settled in Brazil after
1 570, giving rise to numerous settlements along the coast.
Some of these rapidly evolved into administrative, com­
mercial or agricultural centers.
In India, the Portuguese founded a number of important
cities on both coasts. These were fortresses and adminis­
trative and commercial centers for the trade in Asian spices.
From India, the Portuguese traveled as far as Japan, where
in 1561 the village of Yokoseura was founded with the
agreement of the local shogun. In the intervening half
century the Portuguese built a maritime empire that effec­
tively controlled commerce in the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans and in the China seas. Portuguese settlements were
built along the coasts of Brazil, Africa, Arabia, Persia,
India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Siam, the Malay Peninsula, the
East Indies, China and Japan.
Portuguese settlements fell into three main categories: the
factory, the fort and the city. These types were not tightly
fixed; rather, they tended to evolve one from the other.
Factories were trading stations that sometimes consisted of
little more than a house surrounded by a palisade. They
were located in privileged trading places, often at the mouth
of a river, making communication with the hinterland
possible. Forts were often fortified trading stations that
grew to accommodate a number of settlers' houses (FIG. 1).
Alternatively, forts were built in locations where no com­
mercial activity was justified but where strategic planning
called for a supply of food and water or a port of call for
ships in distress. Most cities evolved from factories or
forts, particularly in places where commercial activity was
intense. These settlements were founded by the state, or
were built under patronage of the state, and they became
stepping stones for the foundation of new Portuguese cities
in ever more distant places.
An important characteristic of towns built by the Portu­
guese overseas, and of the Portuguese colonial expansion
in general, was the gradual way that it occurred. Portugal
underwent the occupation of the Moors for over five

centuries. When the Moors
werefmally expelledin 1249,
they left behind deep marks
on both the architecture and
urban c haracter of the
country' s south. Portuguese
cities in Alentejo and Algarve
were not much different from
Moroccan cities in terms of
physical character or popu­
lation (which included
Moors, Christians and Jews).
Thus, when the Portuguese conquered Ceuta in 1 4 1 5, they
were not faced with an alien experience. They met a
familiar reality with regard to people, urban spaces, climate
and geography - a situation that contributed to their easy
adaptation to North Africa.
But Morocco was just the first step. Portuguese seamen
progressed from one region to the next without discontinu­
ity, allowing progressive adaptation to ecological and cul­
tural conditions in Africa, Asia and South America. This
pattern of adaptation helps explain the remarkable continu­
ity of tradition that Portuguese colonial cities display de­
spite the immense variety of contexts in which they appear.
The different ecological conditions in which Portuguese
overseas cities were built, the different cultures they faced,
and the specific roles they were assigned gave each specific
"local" characteristics. Yet every Portuguese overseas city
had the same models of reference, predominantly drawn
from Lisbon - the metropolis - which gave them an un­
mistakable "national" character. This did not mean that
builders and architects took plans for the new settlements
overseas with them. Quite the contrary, the models of
reference were known by heart, and in every place were
freely adapted to local conditions. Despite the variety of
such local conditions and the apparently casual way the
new settlements were structured, the urban tradition was
strong enough to ensure a remarkable structural identity
between Portuguese settlements.
M O D ELS O F REFERENCE
Portuguese colonial settlements, either trading stations,
forts or cities, were the instruments of a global strategy of
RG. 1. The basic settlement fortofCoriate, GulfofOman, seventeenth century.
TEIXEIRA: P O R TU G U E S E T R A D I T I O N A L S ETTL E M ENTS • 25
domination of the seas. They
were located in key coastal
locations, either 'to service
and secure the sea lanes or to
tap important sources of
commerce. Whenever pos­
sible, they were builton hilly
land, thus maintaining the
castrensian tradition of de­
fense on high ground that
dated to pre-Roman times.
The settlements were basi­
cally defensive nuclei, adapted to the morphology of the
land; their main purpose was the control of territory. When
fortified places were associated with commercial activities
on the seashore or on the margin of a river, they were
organized on two levels: the port and commercial activities
at sea level and the administrative buildings, basic institu­
tions, and most of the housing on high ground. The two
areas were connected by a more or less straight road that
climbed the hilI, and in time would become the main street
of the settlement, the so-called Rua Direita.
The construction of an original citadel on the eminence of
a mount was a chief characteristic of the metropolitan
model of reference of these overseas settlements. In
Oporto, in Portugal, the original castrum was located on top
of a hill. The military character of the settlements was clear.
Both Oporto and Lisbon were surrounded by defensive
walls that had contained, successively, the Roman, Visi­
gothic, Muslim, and Christian cities. Also, both Lisbon and
Oporto, the ultimate references of colonial city builders,
were organized on two levels, uptown and downtown - a
structure that would be adopted whenever possible over­
seas.
Within the fortified city, the best places, usually the top of
thehills, were reserved forpublic buildings -the governor's
palace, the town hall, the hospital, the misericordia (the
public assistance building), and major churches and con­
vents. These buildings were solidly built, and they gave the
city a sense of community. They also played an important
role in organizing urban space. Together with the informal
squares associated with them, they became focal points for
the development of the urban tissue. The city was struc­
tured by the progressive articulation of these isolated nu-
26 • TDSR 2

clei. The irregular trajectories of the

streets connecting them were dictated by
their apparently casual location within
the urban structure. But, in fact, there
was nothing casual about their locations.
These corresponded to a strict order of
society and to established relations of
power between institutions.

This was the traditional structure of the

Portuguese medieval city as rebuilt over­
seas. In Brazil, as elsewhere, the Portu­
guese re-created their European world.
S. Salvador da Bafa, which was the capi­
tal of Brazil from 1 549 to 1763, was a
faithful replica of Lisbon and Oporto.
Located atop a high scarp dominating a
vast expanse of water, it was surrounded
by fortified walls. Its hilltops were domi­ RG.2. Lisbon of the Orient Goa, westcoastoflndia, late seventeenth century.
nated by churches and palaces, while
., 1 1 I .�It t ""-' ".- :"',,'
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""'0' h 1_ " f� �

::':::�:: �-
_. . ... ... • •
A" � � ',_ ..
' ¥ _·�_ h'.�_
commerce took place at the lower level
'MIt -... -
.
I
along the quays.2 r.-.":.
:.1: -" . '--
-- II . ;� "
.
. __ 4 " _ �'
,:"... :�:'""
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.... .......-.. - ---
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t _ _ .. . ...

Goa, the political, commercial and reli­

gious capital of the Portuguese in Asia, is
probably the clearestexample ofthe struc­
ture and spatial characteristic of a Portu­
guese colonial city (FIG. 2). By the end of
the sixteenth century it had a population
of nearly 300,000 people, and it had been
dubbed the Lisbon of the Orient because
of its close resemblance to that city. In a
location strangely similar to Lisbon's on
the left margin of a river, Goa presented
an irregular semicircular plan. Its streets
described more or less symmetrical and
concentric arcs centered on the down­
town area. By the river were the quays,
the arsenal, the customs house, and -
most significantly - the palace of the RG. 3. lisbon, late six teenth century. The basic reference of city builders.

Viceroy. A large street, the Rua Direita (or High Street),
was both structurally and functionally the main street.
Important commercial functions took place along it, and it
connected a number of squares where significant edifices
were located. In the main square of Goa the Senatorial
Palace, the Archbishop' s Palace, and the Cathedral figured
prominently. The College of S. Paulo, run by the Jesuits,
the misericordia, the Hospital, and other churches and con­
vents were also situated in privileged locations, constitut­
ing other focal points in the urban structure.
Representations of Lisbon of the early sixteenth century
show the most prominent hill occupied by the old castle and
the Royal Palace, the seats of temporal power (FIG. 3). To the

west and east, on top of the other hills, were the monasteries
of Gra�a, Carmo, Trindade and S. Vicente. On an interme­
diate plane, the representations show the housing tissue in
which symbolically distinguished collective buildings were
set: the hospital, the tribunal, the jail, monasteries, and
parish churches. The cathedral, although built half way up
the hilI, was given particular prominence so that it inter­
fered in the profile of the city. The first plane, by the river,
was occupied by the commercial zone and the port with its
wharfs, dockyards and warehouses, among which the cus­
toms house stood out. The town walls were highly visible,
and the old castle appeared as the key element of the
defensive structure of the city, corresponding to the impor­
tance that was awarded to secular power in the defense of
the city. Only the two main squares of Lisbon - Rossio
and Terreiro do Pa�o - were represented. In Rossio were
located the hospital and a second Royal Palace. In Terreiro
do Pa�o were located the market, the docks, the granary,
and, most importantly, the Casa da India, the warehouse
where all the spices and merchandise from India was
stored. Thus, at the beginning of the sixteenth century the
vertical order of society was apparent in the graphic repre­
sentation of Lisbon: the prominence of royal power, the
spiritual power of churches and convents competing with
it, and the subordinate role of commerce. Later in the
century, at a time when trading activities gained an increas­
ing importance in the life of the city and the country as a
whole, the Royal Palace would be built by the river - the
Par;o da Ribeira - in the heart of the maritime zone.
One notices in these representations the same basic struc­
ture and the same key elements that were present when new
cities were built overseas. Overseas cities were organized
on different levels, the highest corresponding to its domi­
nant secular and religious buildings, the lowest reserved for
its maritime and commercial activities. Great importance
was given to defense, as manifested in the choice of an
elevated location and the construction of town walls. Promi­
nence was accorded to community buildings. The squares
around which these buildings were located became focal
points in the organization of the urban structure. And the
Rua Direita played a structural role in connecting the port
and the commercial area to the main square.
Basic characteristics of this somewhat informal structure
can be traced back to the Muslim city. During their long
presence in Portugal, from the eighth to the thirteenth
centuries, the Moors left their imprint on the urban space
TEIXEIRA: PORTUGUESE TRADITIONAL SETTLEMENTS • 27
and architecture of many cities they occupied or founded.
Whereas the basic element of the Roman city was the street,
organized in a checkered pattern, the basic unit of the
Muslim city was the house. The layout of the street was not
defined beforehand as in the Roman city; it resulted from
the progressive joining of houses. This, the introverted
style of life, and the necessities of defense also contributed
to the intimate character of the streets- winding lanes with
different gauges and profiles, from which smaller streets
branched out, often as L-shaped alleys giving access to
small clusters of houses. Climatic conditions further deter­
mined that the streets be narrow and shaded. The houses
were turned inwards, and the rare openings into the street
were protected by elaborate screens and blinds.
Muslim concepts of urban space and architecture were still
very much alive in Portuguese cities of the sixteenth cen­
tury, and the urban spatial concepts of the Moors were
important to the urban references and life experiences of
those who built the new settlements overseas. Brazilian
cities of the sixteenth century were in all aspects similar to
medieval Portuguese cities, with narrow, irregular streets,
blind alleys, Moorish arches, and balconies protected by
wooden blinds - the muxarabis.3 These last, in particular,
similar to veiled faces, clearly reflected the Moorish influ­
ence that was exported to Brazil.
But the organic, somewhat irregular city was not the only
model of reference available to Portuguese city builders.
New kinds of settlements also emerged during this period,
planned frontier towns surrounded by walls and built in
elevated places. Despite the irregularity of the places in
which these new towns were built, their plans were regular,
following a geometric pattern. In Portugal a number of
such towns were built in the early fourteenth century,
particularly in Alentejo. Among these were Monsaraz,
Redondo and Vila Vi�osa. The main structural element of
these towns was a central street, the Rua Direita, that
crossed the town longitudinally, connecting two doors
opened in opposite walls of the town (or connecting the
main door of the town with the castle at its opposite
extreme). A small square was opened along this main street
at the center of the town, where the church, tribunal, and
other important collective buildings were located. Secon­
dary streets were built parallel to, or at approximately right
angles to, the main street, creating a regular urban pattern.
Whenever a new town was built and there was enough
centralized power to control its development, such geomet-
28 • TDSR 2

ric patterns were imposed. This was a radically different commerce in spices. Cities in India had to be built rapidly
kind of urban growth from that generated around informal and effectively to defend against Muslim traders and make
church and palace squares. Even so, the structural role of a show of diplomatic activity and ostentation toward
the main street in both types of development suggests a powerful Indian Maharajas. Cities inspired by Renaissance
continuity. Even the apparently most casual urban areas ideals fulfilled these objectives appropriately.
had a certain degree of planning and contained references
to the more erudite forms of urban structure that would be TH E CASE O F I LHA DE M O CAM B IQUE
fully developed in the next century.
Ilha de Mo�ambique on the east coast of Africa was first
When new cities did not develop slowly from forts or visited by the Portuguese in 1498 on their way to India. It
trading stations, but instead were built rapidly, tradition soon became a mandatory port of call for ships on the Indian
was abandoned and Renaissance ideals were embraced.4 route. It offered protection against the monsoons and, most
This happened particularly in India where a compromise importantly, was an important center for the trade in gold,
between medieval and Renaissance concepts was estab­ with which Asian spices could be bought in India. All the
lished. Damao and Ba�aim, built in the second half of the gold, silver and ivory that had been traded for cloth, metal
sixteenth century on the west coast of India, show a regular artifacts, and miscellaneous items on the coast of Mo�am­
checkered pattern of streets surrounded by bastioned walls bique had to pass through Ilha de Mo�ambique. The
that clearly denote erudite Renaissance influences (FIG. 4). strategic importance of Ilha de Mo�ambique to the Indian
Nevertheless, the center of Damao contains a fortress, a trade was emphasized by the fact that after 1509 it was
reminder of the traditional structure of the Portuguese administered from Goa and its governor was subordinate to
medieval city, instead of the regular square characteristic of the Viceroy of India.
Renaissance ideals.s
For decades the Portuguese
The urban structures of Por­ fought the Arab S wahilis for
tuguese overseas settlements trade supremacy in the area.
do not fall into pure types. In 1 507 the trading station
The Renaissance ideal ap­ was built. At first, this was
pears combined with medie­ only a small fort built with
val patterns in a work of syn­ stones from ships' ballast,
thesis. Each settlement de­ around which appeared the
notes a mixture of traditional Portuguese settlement and
vernacularelements anderu­ the first chapels. But the
dite elements. These vary continuing reaction of Ar­
depending on the time of abs and Indians to the Portu­
their construction, the fact guese intrusion in the Indian
of their evolution either from Ocean soon made necessary
previous settlements or vir­ the construction of heavier
gin territory, and the differ­ fortifications. The fortress
ent political attitudes and of S . Sebastiao was begun in
strategies that governed them. The cities of Brazil, which 1 558 on the northern tip of the Ilha, and by the end of the
had deep roots in Portuguese medieval tradition, were sixteenth century the trading station was an important
adequate to a policy of occupation that was made slowly settlement with two fortresses, a hospital, churches, con­
during the sixteenth century. In India, on the contrary, it vents, and many houses (FIG. 5). Religious orders played an
was necessary to proceed much faster and to mark an important role in the development of the settlement. Among
effective military and political presence to protect the them were the Dominicans, the Jesuits, and the monks of S .

FIG.4. Th e Renaissance influence: Damiio, west coast o f India, begin·

ning ofthe seventeenth century.

Joao de Deus, to whom large donations of land were given.
The Jesuits managed to become the owners of most rental
houses on the Ilha.
Ilha de Mo�ambique presented a very rich ethnic composi­
tion. There were three main factors behind this: the loca­
tion of the island near the African continent, the important
role it played in the commercial network of the Indian
Ocean, and the integration of the island into the larger
Portuguese empire.6 The
population consisted of
Bantus (the original inhabi­
tants of the island), Arab
merchants and seafarers ,
Portuguese, mixed Portu­
guese-Indian Christian im­
migrants from Goa, and
Hindu and Muslim Indians.
Finally, there was a constant
transit and settlement of
people from all the other
parts of the Portuguese
empire - from Macao,
Timor, West Africa and
Brazil. All these groups left
their ethnic and cultural imprint on the Ilha. But in terms
of the urban form and the form of housing, the Portuguese
contribution predominated.
At the beginning of the Portuguese occupation, settlers '
houses were temporary constructions similar to local ver­
nacular buildings both in terms of form and in use of
materials. In the decades that followed, however, Euro­
pean houses began to be more solidly built and began to
distinguish themselves from local buildings. Nevertheless,
by the middle of the eighteenth century huts with palm leaf
(macutl) roofs were still freely located among stone houses.
The basic structure of the town was characterized by
narrow, irregular streets that connected the fulcral points of
the urban network: churches, convents, the Jesuits' college,
the residence of the Captain-General, the hospital, and the
squares usually associated with them. Along the coast were
located the commercial buildings. These faced both the
sea, for loading and unloading cargo, and the street, where
goods were traded. The increasingly rapid development of
FIG. 5. IIha de MOfambique, beginning of the seventeenth century. The basic structure of the
settlement
TEIXEIRA: PORTUGUESE TRADITIONAL SETTLEMENTS • 29
the town coincided with the establishment of the town
council in 1761 and the beginning ofland-leasing to private
individuals. By 1800 the town had grown considerably
toward the south, following the classical urban pattern
typical of the time with regular blocks and broad, straight
streets. The cottages with straw roofs began to concentrate
in the southern part of the llha. By the end of the nineteenth
century there was a clearly differentiated European "stone­
built" town, and a "macuti" town for local inhabitants.
These were constructed of
different materials, had dif­
ferent forms, and occupied
different locations. The
stone-built town on the
north and the macuti town
to the south were sharply
divided by a line across the
island.
One may conclude that in
the beginning of the Portu­
guese presence and in the
first centuries that followed
there was a great deal of
cultural assimilation. This
went as far as the adoption by the Portuguese of local
vernacular house-forms and materials. Despite the pro­
gressive separation of the two basic housing types, there
still persists an important element of kinship between them.
The basic plan-type has been preserved through the years,
and, remarkably, it can be found in both types. In fact, the
basic arrangement of the plan is the same for all houses, old
and new, big and small, masonry or mud-built (FIG. 6). This
plan-type is not purely Portuguese or Arabian, Indian, or
Swahili. Apparently, it emerged as the most adequate
solution, taking into account the available local materials,
the local climate, and the natural living conditions of the
island.? Nevertheless, one finds more than casual similari­
ties with house plans of vernacular houses from the south
of Portugal. Therefore, it is likely that the Portuguese
influence was the strongest component of the cross-cultural
and ecological process that gave rise to it.
Externally, the houses also reflect the multiple influences
represented in them, but the most notable influence comes
30 • TDSR 2

from Algarve, the southern region of Portugal. 8 The houses

ofAlgarve have features that are very similar to those on the
Ilha: rendered and limed facades, detailed cornices, white
painted window and door surrounds, a composition of
facade with rectangular, well-proportioned, rhythmically
placed windows, pilaster strips that emphasize comers, and
flat roofs for collecting rainwater (FIGS. 7,B). Arabian and
Indian features can also be found in the details of other
buildings, for example in church facades, but rarely in
houses. It is internally, in decoration and furnishings, that
the Indian influence was most clearly felt in the houses of
the IIha.

TH E CASE O F O L I N DA AND RECIFE

Like other towns built by Portugal in Brazil, the urban

layout of Olinda had its medieval roots imprinted in it. The
apparent disorder of the urban structure was, in fact, a

FIG. 6. (left) Plan

typesofhouses
in IIha de
MOfambique.
RG. 7. (top right)
Housing
typologies: IIha
de MOfambique,
"stone-built"
town.

Olinda was founded in 1537 in the region of Pernambuco,

the center of a vast hinterland of sugar plantations. Follow­
ing the Portuguese tradition, the top of a steep hill was
chosen for the site of the town despite its being five miles
RG. B. (bottom
right) Housing from the sea. To compensate for this location, the small
typologies: settlement of Recife was founded on a plain at the conflu­
AlgalVe.
ence of the Capaberibe and Beberibe Rivers. Recife pro­
vided the necessary fishing and port activities of Olinda.
planned organization that accorded to medieval principles. Unlike Portuguese colonies that lived from the sea trade,
Such principles, although not explicitly codified, belonged the economic basis of Olinda was agriculture and the
to a rich urban tradition, both Christian and Muslim, that the industrial activities related to the processing of sugar cane.
architects and builders carried with them. Nevertheless, its urban layout was basically the same as
 TEIXEIRA: PORTUGUESE TRADrTlONAL SETTLEMENTS • 31

other colonial cities. Important administrative buildings
and monumental churches were located in prominent places,
structuring the urban space. There were clear affinities
with the urban structure of other cities, namely Goa and S .
Salvador d a Baia.9 Recife, located o n flat ground and with
limited functions mostly related to the port and the domes­
tic needs of its workers, had a rather simpler layout.
consisted of a checkered pattern of nearly regular blocks
and streets around a central square where the church was
located.
Both Olinda and Recife were destroyed following the
Dutch invasion of 1630. Of the two complementary settle­
ments, the Dutch preferred Recife, and they installed their
government there. The commercial and urban develop­
ment of Recife promoted by the Dutch meant that Olinda
lost its role as capital of Pernambuco. To Olinda was
reserved the role of historical capital,
allowing the crystallization of its ur­
ban structure in a way that was charac­
teristic of a model of urban develop-
ment.
these new areas in later years was not rare. Houses built in
Recife in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the char­
acteristic houses of today ' s Recife, had strong Portuguese
roots. They soon replaced, or were literally built upon,
what the Dutch left, further contributing to the Portuguese
character of Recife and the effacement of the Dutch legacy.
It
The duality between Olinda and Recife is further expressed
in the house typologies and architecture that grew up in
them. The houses of Olinda have their roots in the Portu­
guese rural tradition: thick stone walls, one or two floors,
stone comers, thresholds and jambs, a dominant horizon­
tality of line, hipped roofs, and the overall squat look of
Portuguese Baroque buildings (FIGS. 10, 1 1). This house-type
was fully developed in the large mansions built by planta­
tion owners.!O These mansions were direct heirs to the
country manors of noble landowners in Portugal. Since

Recife was rebuilt by the Dutch with a

strong defensive structure and a pre­
cise and erudite plan of orthogonal
blocks. The erudition of the Dutch
plan of Mauricio de Nassau repre­
sented (as far as Brazil was concerned)
a new concept of urban space and
urban structure radically different from
Portuguese conceptions (FIG. 9). After
the restoration of the sovereignty in
1654, the traditional practice ofPortu­
guese city-building was resumed.
Olinda's urban network, closely tied
to topographical conditions, had re­
mained unchanged, and it was rebuilt
following original principles. In
Recife, the regular Dutch layout was
FIG. 9. The Dutch plan of Recife, Brazl1, late seventeenth century.
maintained, but further developments
of the town were determined by the
location of new churches and the structuring of squares in Olinda was a center for a region of sugar plantations, it was
close association with them. The resulting urban tissue of not surprising that this originally rural house-type took root
Recife is a mixture of erudite and organic growth, and, in there. The type was easily adapted to tropical conditions
the end, is not altogether different from the layouts of other through local innovations: higher ceilings, walls that did
Brazilian towns that occupied coastal areas adjoining their not reach the roof, lattice windows, shady verandahs and
original locations. The adoption of geometrical layouts in internal courtyards.
32 • TDSR 2
The houses of Recife are radically different. They are
rather slim, are built to five or six stories, and have narrow
frontages, high pitched slate roofs, and an extremely accen­
tuated verticality. The typical house of the merchant in
Recife combined a shop on the ground floor with dwelling
quarters aboveY This house-form derived from similar
types of structure in Portugal, particularly merchant houses
in Oporto. The slim houses of Recife are similar to the
bourgeois houses of Oporto both externally and in terms of
internal organization. Their internal order featured draw­
ing rooms on the first floor, dining room and kitchen on the
top floor (on account of smells and the danger of fire), and
sleeping rooms in between. Accommodations for servants
were located in the attic. Stairs in the middle of the house
were illuminated by elaborate skylights (FIGS. 12, 13). The
houses of the poorer strata of society, both in Oporto and
Recife, were basically the same, although smaller and less
structured. A convergence of ecological, functional and
cultural factors led to the adoption of this house-type in
Recife. On the one hand, slim, tall buildings on narrow lots
were the obvious solution to a scarcity ofland. On the other,
a house-type that combined commercial and residential
FIG. 10. (top left) Country manor in
Portugal.
FIG. 11. (bottom left) Stately manor in Brazil.
FIG. 12. (below) Urban houses in Dporto.
FIG. 13. (facing page) The continuity of
tradition: houses in Recife.
uses best fitted the needs of the merchants. The house of
Oporto, developed in similar circumstances, was easily and
successfully adopted.
The cultural influence of one society on another, by itself,
does not rriean much. Unless deliberately imposed, cultural
influences usually only take root if they find local ecologi­
cal, social and cultural circumstances to which they can be
adapted - particularly if these are meaningful to the
society being influenced. One finds in Olinda and Recife
two completely different typologies of housing that had
origins in Portugal. The house of Olinda, a town founded
by Portuguese nobility and the center of a rural area, was
heir to the tradition of a rural house-type. The house of
Recife, a mercantile city par excellence, was derived di­
rectly from the house of the merchant bourgeoisie in
Oporto. Both types had to find an intrinsic logic with
respect to local conditions as well as adequate grounds for
development. Neither occurred as the result of blind
acceptance of available models.

The cultural influence of architectural models is a two-way
process, and we find a good illustration of this in the Casas
de Brasileiros built in Oporto and throughout the north of
Portugal in the nineteenth century. These were the houses
of former Portuguese immigrants to Brazil who returned
rich to their homeland. These mansions, no matter how
naive or over-decorated, were the heirs of the B aroque
manors that had been introduced from Portugal to Brazil
three centuries before. In this case the tradition was brought
back to Europe, rich with acculturations as a result of
meetings and miscegenations with other cultures in Brazil.
CO NCLUSI O N: A TWO-WAY I NFLUENCE
The marks of the Portuguese presence are felt to this day in
many parts of the world in religion, myth, tradition, lan­
guage, art and architecture. Of these influences, the build­
ing activities of the Portuguese had the greatest impact.
This accounts for the persistent influence of Portuguese
designs and building techniques in popular architecture. In
many parts of the world Portuguese buildings were the first
durable homes of the common folk. Aside from temples,
palaces and aristocratic residences, in many places no built
TEIXEIRA: PORTUGUESE TRADITIONAL SETTLEMENTS • 33
remains have been identified previous to the Portuguese
presence. Knowledge and experience in the building
trades, acquired from the Portuguese nearly five centuries
ago by local builders, have been passed down from genera­
tion to generation. This has often corresponded with the
preservation of building prototypes that embody today's
vernacular architecture.
Material realities and specificity oflocal culture led in each
Portuguese colonial settlement to a symbiosis of a unique
character. Local ecological conditions in their broadest
sense were responsible for transformations in the built
environment, both through the adapting of Portuguese
models to local materials and climate, and the adopting of
local typologies, forms, and models of reference. The
composite models thus elaborated were often accepted as
new types of vernacular architecture, and came to replace
previously established models. These models were in turn
carried to other places where they became archetypes in the
creation of new forms. Such new vernacular forms were to
a large extent the result of stimulant contacts with other
cultures and values of reference. The transformations the
34 • TDSR 2

Portuguese brought in this field are further evident in the
continued use of Portuguese words in .the building trades in
many places where Portuguese settlement ended centuries
ago and where Portuguese is no longer spoken.
All these things are strong reminders of the penetration 9f
Portuguese culture around the world. The Portuguese were
the first Western society most peoples of Africa, Asia, or
South America came into contact with. These contacts
were the first meetings between European and African or
Asian concepts, and led to great cultural change on both
sides.
Colonial settlements were vehicles for the transmission of
Portuguese culture and civilization. Besides being poles of
defense and emporiums of commerce, they laid the ground­
work for cultural transfer and the symbiosis of peoples and
civilizations. New concepts of space and architecture were
introduced through them. The new functional meanings
associated with these concepts carried an implicit new
cosmology.
The architecture and urban spaces built by the Portuguese
overseas are probably the clearest evidence of the impor­
tantrole the voyages of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
played in the meeting and cross-fertilization of the cultures
of the East and the West. That experience, of crucial
importance for both societies, was in the West an essential
component of the European Renaissance.

REFERENCE NOTES I would like to express my thanks to Prof. 328.

Augusto P. Brandiio - Ana Figueiredo, Isabel
G. Lucas, Margarida Valla, NUno Ludovice,
and Paula Ramos - who dedicated much time
to the study of this subject and organized the
3. P.F. Santos, Formacao de Cidades no
Brasil Colonial (Coimbra: G.<ifica de
Coimbra, 1968), p. 19.
..
4. Chic6. "A 'Cidade Ideal. p. 324.
•

First Congress of the Lusitanian Built 5. Santos. Formacao de Cidades. p. 40.

Patrimony in the World, in March 1987. All 6. Secreteria de Estado da Cultura de
the above-mentioned colleagues were most M�ambique. lIha de MOfambique (Maputo.
generous in their help. n.d.), p. 16.
7. Ibid p. 64.
.•

1 . G. Lefebvre, La Naissance de 8. Ibid p. 58

.•

L'Historiagraphie Moderne (paris: 9. M.J.M. Rodrigues. Olinda e Recife. Uma

Flarnmarion, 1971), p. 53.
2. M.T. Chic6, "A 'Cidade Ideal' do
Renascimento e as Cidades Portuguesas da
India," Garcia de Orta - Revista da Junta das
Missoes Geogrtificas e da investigafao do
Ultramar Numero especial (1 956), pp. 319-
situafao de Polaridade no Urbanismo
Colonial Portuguis (lisboa. 1979). p. 77.
10. E.V. de Olivera and F. Galhano. Casas
Esguisas do Porto e Sobrados do Recife
(Recife: Pool Editorial S/A. 1 986). p.22.
1 1 . Ibid p. 24.
.•
 T 0 S R V O L . , 9 9 0 35 . 47

S E V E N CHARAC T E RIS TICS O F T RADI T IO N A L

U R B A N FOR M IN S O U TH E A S T CHI N A

PU MIAO

This paper aims at giving tangible meaning to the concept of traditional Chinese urban form,

to begin to dispel the vagueness that has hampered efforts by Chinese (and other) architects

and urban designers to draw lessons from Chinese urban tradition. It describes the formal

structures of the pre-industrial cities of Southeast China, including Nanjing,Suzhou, Hangzhou

and Shanghai as examples, and it formulates seven characteristics of Chinese traditional cities:

the influence of an orthogonal model, the absence of the "square," the prevalence of the walled

residential street, the definition of two city centers, the establishment of the canal system, the

dominance of low buildings and evenly distributed small open spaces, and the use of tower and

topography to generate town identity.

Since the cities of Southeast China represented the final stage in the development of

urban areas in pre·industrial China, the paper can claim to be a general study of traditional

Chinese urban form. The determination of seven characteristics was not based on any

property of the number seven; the author imagines that additional formal characteristics (with

similar value and significance) may be discovered by other authors. The characteristics have

been defined in contrast to features of the European medieval and Renaissance city, because

most architects and urban designers are acquainted with this system. After presenting each

characteristic, the paper explores its social, economic and cultural implications. The paper

concludes by noting five traditional Chinese values embodied in the formal characteristics.

S ince the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1978, Chinese

Pu Miao. a Chinese Architect amd planner, currently resides in San
Francisco. California, U.S.A
architects and urban designers have resumed debate on the
possibility of borrowing from China's built heritage to
design the environment of today. However, the use of the
term "traditional form" in these discussions remains vague.
Even though everyone involved seems to bear specific im­
ages of an old Chinese village or city in his or her mind, few