Until the appearance of macadam roads and railroads, in the nineteenth century, waterway traffic was the safest, fastest and most economic form of communication and shipping of both people and cargo.
Rivers have always provided the appropriate conditions for the settling of human communities along their banks, as well as agricultural and fishing activities. Such is the importance of rivers that, simply by studying the shipped goods and the functions of waterway traffic in a specific region, one can analyse said region’s economic and social history.
This is the case with the Barco Rabelo in the Douro river, undeniably tied to the history of Port Wine, assuring the transport of barrels for centuries. In the Tagus estuary, with Lisbon in sight, the Varino and the Cacilheiro dinghy guaranteed the transport of goods and people respectively between the north and south banks of the river, up until the beginning of the twentieth century.
In this room, other river traffic activities beyond shipping are also represented, as is the case of the Moliceiro, used for harvesting and shipping aquatic vegetation in the Aveiro lagoon. The Barcaça da Areia, on the other hand, is used to collect sand in the Tagus river, near the town of Constância. Both vessels look to the river as a source of resources and as a form of communication.
Through the versatile Carocho of the Minho river, one can understand the place these vessels occupy in regional traditions. Several of the displayed ships are nowadays obsolete, and yet in many cases they still course the rivers today, maintaining their memory alive.