Bairro Sul

Bairro Sul, literally the South Neighborhood, also known as Lapa, is the fishery district of the city of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal.

The Nossa Senhora da Lapa Brotherhood, founded in 1761, asked in 1767 for rights and privileges in "Chãos de Areia" (Sand ground) to establish their homes in there.

When the fishermen community became prosperous, still in the 18th century, the quarter grew to the area of Poça da Barca, still around Póvoa bay, that certain historical documents placed in the territory of the town of Vila do Conde.

On 15 March 1858 the Civil Government stated that the Póvoa should trade the locations of Cerca and Quintela of Argivai (because those are contiguous with Vila do Conde), for the one of Porça da Barca and Regufe, as it requested.

[2] At the end of the 19th century, the over-fishing by steamships authorized by the national government, namely with small mesh net that caught even the youngest fish, making the once abundant fish, that led to the prosperity of the community, starting to vanish significantly, creating severe social problems and emigration.