For three thousand years the mouth of the Arade River has been visited by distant nations in search of a safe haven and trade. The Phoenicians, who inhabited the eastern coast of the Mediterranean where Lebanon and Syria now lie, were the first, followed by the Greeks. Then the Carthaginians, from northern Africa, which is now Tunisia, giving up their dominion thereafter to the Romans. When the Arade River was dredged hundreds of Roman coins have been found dating from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD. The name ‘Arade’ probably dates from that period, when the Romans set up a successful fishing industry here.
From 1200 to 600 BC, the Phoenicians controlled trade along the coast of the Mediterranean and beyond. They sailed along the coast from Portugal to Brittany in France and even to the British Isles. They were a smart and enterprising people: they introduced, among other things, the alphabet and the production of olive oil and wine. Then first the Greeks took over the role of the Phoenicians, who were subsequently outflanked by the Carthaginians. They claimed the exclusive right of sea trade and sunk all rival ships. The Carthaginians are said to have founded Portus Hannibalis here, named after their famous general Hannibal who crossed the Alps with elephants to defeat the Romans. Ultimately, it did not end well with Carthage being torched and completely destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. This final blow meant that the Carthaginians had to surrender their overseas colonies to the Romans.
The name ‘Arade’ is said to be derived from the islet ‘Arwad’ off the coast of Phenicia. It was known as a safe haven and a trading place. In Latin, the language of the Romans, the island was called ‘Aradus’. A reasonable assumption is that the Romans also called the mouth of the river here ‘Aradus’, which later became ‘Arade’.
After the breakwaters in the mouth of the Arade river were completed in 1959, a stable shipping channel could be dredged. Praia da Rocha was widened with the sand that came out of the river (see map with locations B, C and D), and at Ferragudo Praia Grande was raised (E) and the fairway to the old cannery filled (A). Hundreds of Roman coins, from all parts of the Roman Empire, have been found in these landfills. Some date from the first three centuries BC, which suggests that the Romans were already here at the time. Most coins are from after Christ, culminating in the 4th century AD. The coins found on the Ferragudo side are from the first two centuries AD. Many of the objects found after dredging are privately owned. It is therefore not inconceivable that a Roman object will be offered for sale on the flea market of Ferragudo. And with a metal detector, there is a good chance that two thousand years old coins will still surface at the indicated landfills.