Olhao is a coastal town in the Algarve which grew out of the fishing industry in the seventeenth century. Olhão, located just ten kilometers east of Faro, is still one of the Algarve’s main ports. It was here that the first canning factory was established in 1882, sparking a trend that was to spread in both directions along the coast, with canned tuna and sardines quickly becoming the Algarve’s main source of income.

Olhão achieved its status as a town in 1808 after a group of seventeen Olhaneses sailed to Brazil in the Bom Successo, a sixty five foot fishing boat. They made the journey (without the benefit of navigation charts) in order to tell the exiled Dom João IV that the French had been defeated leaving the way clear for him to return to Portugal.