SEIXAL

town in Setbal distrito (district), southeast of central Lisbon, Portugal. The town lies across the mar de palha (straw sea) of the Tagus (Tejo) River and is connected to Lisbon by a modern highway through nearby Almada. Originally a fishing village, Seixal grew into an important fishing port and received town status in 1836. The establishment there of Portugal's first primary steelmaking plant (built after World War II) effected the development in the area of the country's most important industrial complex, which now includes machine-tool and engineering factories as well as shipbuilding and repair facilities. Pop. (1981) town, 2,956; concelho (municipality), 87,344.