The suburb was in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belem and it gave its name to the "Torre de Belem", which you can see in the distance in this photo. Belem is Portuguese for Bethlehem.

The official name of the tower is the Tower of St VIncent, but no one seems to call it that.

"Henry was 21 when he and his father and brothers captured the Moorish port of Ceuta in northern Morocco. Ceuta had long been a base for Barbary pirates who raided the Portuguese coast, depopulating villages by capturing their inhabitants to be sold in the African slave market. Following this success, Henry started to explore the coast of Africa, most of which was unknown to Europeans. His objectives included finding the source of the West African gold trade and the legendary Christian kingdom of Prester John, and stopping the pirate attacks on the Portuguese coast. At that time, the ships of the Mediterranean were too slow and too heavy to make these voyages. Under his direction, a new and much lighter ship was developed, the caravel, which could sail further and faster, and, above all, was highly maneuverable and could sail much nearer the wind, or "into the wind". This made the caravel largely independent of the prevailing winds. With the caravel, Portuguese mariners explored the shallow waters and rivers as well as the open ocean with wide autonomy."

The caravel was vital in the early success of Portuguese explorers, like Vasco Da Gama.

The bridge we can see in the distance is the Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April). That date commemorates the Carnation Revolution which finally overthrew the dictatorship of the Estado Novo, which lasted from 1933 to 1974.

It was called the Carnation revolution because it started as a military coup, but when the population took to the streets, carnations were put into the muzzles of the soldiers' rifles, and no shots were fired. It also signified the end of the Portuguese colonial empire.

"The Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century, incorporating maritime elements and representations of the discoveries brought from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral. This innovative style synthesizes aspects of Late Gothic architecture with influences of the Spanish Plateresque style, Mudéjar, Italian urban architecture, and Flemish elements. It marks the transition from Late Gothic to Renaissance. The construction of churches and monasteries in Manueline was largely financed by proceeds of the lucrative spice trade with Africa and India.

"The style was given its name, many years later, by Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, Viscount of Porto Seguro, in his 1842 book, Noticia historica e descriptiva do Mosteiro de Belem, in his description of the Jerónimos Monastery. Varnhagen named the style after King Manuel I, whose reign (1495–1521) coincided with its development. The style was much influenced by the astonishing successes of the voyages of discovery of Portuguese navigators, from the coastal areas of Africa to the discovery of Brazil and the ocean routes to the Far East, drawing heavily on the style and decorations of East Indian temples."

It was completed just in time for Expo 98, which celebrated the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India from Europe.