Região Autónoma dos Açores Azores Autonomous Region
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos" (Portuguese for "Rather die free than in peace subjugated")
Anthem: A Portuguesa (national) Hino dos Açores (local)
Capital		Ponta Delgada1 Angra do Heroísmo2 Horta3
Largest city		Ponta Delgada
Official languages		Portuguese
Ethnic groups		Portuguese
Government		Autonomous region
-	President	Carlos César
Establishment
-	Settled	1439
-	Autonomy	1976
Area
-	Total	2,346 km² (n/a) 911 sq mi
Population
-	2006 estimate	243,018 (n/a)
-	2001 census	241,763
-	Density	104/km² (n/a) 266/sq mi
Currency		Euro (€)4 (EUR)
Time zone		UTC-1
Internet TLD		.pt
Calling code		+351
1	Location of the Presidency of the Regional Government (37°44′N, 25°40′W).
2	Location of the Supreme Court (38°39′N, 27°13′W).
3	Location of the Legislative Assembly (38°32′N, 28°38′W).
4	Prior to 2002: Portuguese escudo

The Azores (Portuguese: Açores pronounced [ɐˈsoɾɨʃ] or [ɐˈsoɾʃ]) is a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km (950 mi) from Lisbon and about 3,900 km (2,400 mi) from the east coast of North America. The two westernmost Azorean islands (Flores and Corvo) actually lie on the North American plate and are only 1,925 km (1,200 mi) from St. John's in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Azores' most significant industries are tourism, cattle raising for milk and meat, and fishing.

The nine major Azorean Islands and the eight small Formigas extend for more than 600 km (373 mi), and lie in a north west-south east direction. The vast extension of the islands defines an immense exclusive economic zone of 1.1 million km². The westernmost point of this area is 3,380 km (2,100 mi) from the North American continent. All of the islands have volcanic origins, though Santa Maria also has some reef contribution. The mountain of Pico on Pico Island, at 2,351 m (7,713 ft) in altitude, is the highest in all of Portugal. The Azores are actually the tops of some of the tallest mountains on the planet, as measured from their base at the bottom of the ocean. The archipelago forms the Autonomous Region of Azores, one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal.

Though it is commonly said that the archipelago is named after the goshawk (Açor in Portuguese), because it was supposed to be a common bird at the time of the discovery, the bird actually never existed on the islands. Some historians indicate the archaic Portuguese word "azules" (the plural of blue) because of the colour of the islands when seen from afar. Most, however, insist that the name is derived from birds, pointing to a local subspecies of the buzzard (Buteo buteo), as the animal the first explorers erroneously identified as goshawks.

History

Main article: History of the Azores

Sixteenth-century map of the Azores Islands.

The islands were known in the fourteenth century and can be seen incompletely, for example, in the Atlas Catalan. In 1427, one of the captains sailing for Henry the Navigator rediscovered the Azores, possibly Gonçalo Velho, but this is not certain. The colonization of the then unoccupied islands started in 1439 with people mainly from the continental provinces of Algarve and Alentejo. In 1583, Philip II of Spain as king of Portugal, sent his fleet to clear the Azores of a combined multinational force of adventurers, mercenaries, volunteers and soldiers who were attempting to establish the Azores as a staging post for a rival pretender to the Portuguese throne. Following the success of his fleet at the Battle of Ponta Delgada, the captured enemy were hung from yardarms, as they were considered pirates by Philip II (this was added to the "Black Legend" by his enemies). The Azores were the second to last part of the Portuguese empire to resist Philip's reign over Portugal (Macau being the last), Azores was returned to Portuguese control with the end of the Iberian Union, not by the professional military, which were used in the Restoration War in the mainland, but by local people attacking a fortified Castilian garrison (guarnición).

Pico viewed from Faial.

The 1820 civil war in Portugal had strong repercussions in the Azores. In 1829, in Vila da Praia, the liberals won over the absolutists, making Terceira Island the main headquarters of the new Portuguese regime and also where the Council of Regency (Conselho de Regência) of Mary II of Portugal was established.

Beginning in 1868, Portugal issued its stamps overprinted with "AÇORES" for use in the islands. Between 1892 and 1906, it also issued separate stamps for the three administrative districts of the time.

From 1836 to 1976, the archipelago was divided into three districts, quite equivalent (except in area) to those in the Portuguese mainland. The division was arbitrary, and didn't follow the natural island groups, rather reflecting the location of each district capital on the three main cities (neither of each on the western group).

• Angra consisted of Terceira, São Jorge, and Graciosa, with the capital at Angra do Heroísmo on Terceira.
• Horta consisted of Pico, Faial, Flores, and Corvo, with the capital at Horta on Faial.
• Ponta Delgada consisted of São Miguel and Santa Maria, with the capital at Ponta Delgada on São Miguel.

Angra do Heroísmo.

During the Second World War, in 1943, Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar leased bases in the Azores to the British. This represented a change in policy. Previously the Portuguese government only allowed German U-boats and navy ships to refuel there.^[1]. This was a key turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic, allowing the Allies to provide aerial coverage in the middle of the Atlantic. This helped them to hunt U-boats and protect convoys.

In 1944, American forces constructed a small and short-lived air base on the island of Santa Maria. In 1945, a new base was founded on the island of Terceira and is currently known as Lajes Field. It was founded in an area called Lajes, a broad, flat sea terrace that had been a farm. Lajes Field is a plateau rising out of the sea on the north east corner of the island. This air force base is a joint American and Portuguese venture. Lajes Field continues to support US and Portuguese military operations. During the Cold War, the US Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine squadrons patrolled the North Atlantic for Soviet submarines and surface spy vessels. Since its inception, Lajes Field has been used for refuelling aircraft bound for Europe, and more recently, the Middle East. The US Army operates a small fleet of military ships - probably Maritime Prepositioning Ships - in the harbour of Praia da Vitória, three kilometres (2 mi) south east of Lajes Field. The airfield also has a small commercial terminal handling scheduled and chartered passenger flights from other islands in the archipelago, Europe, and North America.

In 1976, the Azores became the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Região Autónoma dos Açores), one of the Autonomous regions of Portugal, and the Azorean districts were suppressed.

Politics

Since becoming a Portuguese Autonomous Region, the executive section of the local authority has been located in Ponta Delgada, the legislative in Horta and the judicial in Angra do Heroísmo. The President of the Regional Government is Carlos César.

Azorean politics are dominated by the two largest Portuguese political parties—PSD and PS, the latter holding a majority in the Regional Legislative Assembly. The CDS/PP is also represented in the local parliament. Even though the PS dominates the administrative scene, the PSD is usually more popular in city and town council elections.

Municipalities

Panoramic view near Sao Mateus, Terceira, June 2004

The Azores are divided into nineteen municipalities (concelhos); each municipality is further divided into parishes (freguesias). The Azores have a total of 156 parishes.

The Central Group

• Terceira
  • Angra do Heroísmo and Vila da Praia da Vitória
• Graciosa
  • Santa Cruz da Graciosa
• São Jorge
  • Calheta and Velas
• Pico
  • Lajes do Pico, Madalena and São Roque do Pico
• Faial
  • Horta

The Western Group

• Flores
  • Lajes das Flores and Santa Cruz das Flores
• Corvo
  • Corvo

The Eastern Group

• Santa Maria
  • Vila do Porto
• São Miguel
  • Lagoa, Nordeste, Ponta Delgada, Povoação, Ribeira Grande, and Vila Franca do Campo.

Horta Faial.

Cities

There are fives cities in the Azores: Ponta Delgada and Ribeira Grande on São Miguel Island; Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória on the island of Terceira, and Horta on the island of Faial. Three of these Ponta Delgada, Angra and Horta are considered capital cities in the regional government, homes to the President (Ponta Delgada), the Judiciary (Angra) and the Regional Assembly (Horta).

Geography

The archipelago is spread out in the area of the parallel that passes between through Lisbon (39° 43' / 39° 55' N) and 37° N, giving it a tepid oceanic subtropical climate, with mild annual oscillation. The average annual rainfall increases from east to west and ranges from 700 to 1600 annual millimetres (27.6–63 in) on average, reaching 6,300 millimetres (250 in) in Pico mountain (the highest Portuguese mountain at 2,351 m/7,713 ft). The Azores high is named after the islands. Formigas (the Portuguese word for "ants") islands also called as Dollabarat Reefs, has very nice and rich maritime fauna, being like a swimming pool on the middle of the ocean, on which also grows exotic species as the black coral and swims jamantas, sharks, sea turtles and thousands of other different creatures.

Lagoa das Sete Cidades

The archipelago lie in the Palearctic ecozone, forming a unique biome the macaronesian subtropical laurissilva, with many endemic species of plants. The uniqueness of the islands gives them a very distinctive aspect.

The nine islands have a total area of 2,346 km² (906 sq mi). Their individual areas vary between São Miguel's 759 km² (293 sq mi) and Corvo's 17 km² (7 sq mi). Three islands (São Miguel, Pico and Terceira) are bigger in size than Malta (composed of three different islands), São Miguel Island alone being twice as big.

The nine islands are divided into three groups:

• The Eastern Group (Grupo Oriental) of São Miguel, Santa Maria and Formigas Islets
• The Central Group (Grupo Central) of Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico and Faial
• The Western Group (Grupo Ocidental) of Flores and Corvo.

Geology

The islands are located atop an active triple junction between three large tectonic plates: the North American Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate. Volcanism associated with the formation of the islands arises from the fact that the Azores Triple Junction involves rifting, a process whereby the crust is spreading along three ridge legs radiating out from the triple junction. The volcanism is also related to the Azores hotspot. The islands began forming during the Tertiary period. Pico, a volcano that stands 2,351 metres (7,713 ft) high on the island of the same name, has the highest altitude in the Azores.

The last volcano to erupt was the Capelinhos Volcano (Vulcão dos Capelinhos) in 1957, in western part of Faial island, increasing the size of that island. Santa Maria Island is the oldest Azorean island presenting several limestone and red clay extensions.

The Gruta das Torres, Algar do Carvão, Gruta do Natal, Gruta das Cinco Ribeiras are some of the many caves of the Azores.

Demographics

On 31 December 2002, the Azores' population was 238,767 at a density of 106 inhabitants per square kilometer (274.5/sq mi).

Ethnic groups

Main article: Portuguese people

The vast majority of the inhabitants of the Azores are Portuguese, descendants of 15th century immigrants from Algarve (Southern Portugal) and from the Minho (Northern Portugal), with a minor Dutch admixture (particularly from Flanders).

Since the 17th century, many of them emigrated, mainly to Brazil, the USA and Canada.^[2]

See also

Portugal Portal

• Canary Islands
• Cape Verde
• Madeira
• Macaronesia
• Postage stamps and postal history of the Azores

References

External links

• Wikimedia Atlas of the Azores
• Azores.gov.pt Azores Regional Government
• Wikitravel
• Azores Tourism Board
• History from an American Military source
• Azores Virtual Tour
• Azores Weathercams (Projectos Climaat e Climarcost)
• Azores Paper Money
• Azores (Portugal), coat of arms Coat of arms eps, svg
• azoreantours.com Azores Taxitours

Azores Islands - Arquipélago dos Açores Eastern Group: Santa Maria | São Miguel Central Group: Terceira | Graciosa | São Jorge | Pico | Faial Western Group: Flores | Corvo Islets: Formigas | Vila Franca Islet | Sabrina Island | Mosteiros Islets | Cabras Islets | Fradinhos | Topo Islet | Rosais Islets | Praia Islet | Baixo Islet | Madalena Islets | Monchique Islet Reefs, banks and seamounts: Dollabarat | Princess Alice Bank | Dom João de Castro Bank | Hydrothermal vents of the Azores Caves: Gruta das Torres | Algar do Carvão

Geographic locale
Administrative divisions of Portugal Districts Aveiro · Beja · Braga · Bragança · Castelo Branco · Coimbra · Évora · Faro · Guarda · Leiria · Lisboa · Portalegre · Porto · Santarém · Setúbal · Viana do Castelo · Vila Real · Viseu Autonomous regions Azores · Madeira Geography of Europe Sovereign states Albania · Andorra · Armenia1 · Austria · Azerbaijan2 · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus1 · Czech Republic · Denmark4 · Estonia · Finland · France4, 5, 6 · Georgia2 · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Republic of Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan3 · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Republic of Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia3 · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain6 · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey3 · Ukraine · United Kingdom (England • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales) · Vatican City Dependencies, autonomies, other territories Abkhazia 2 · Adjara1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Åland · Azores · Crimea · Faroe Islands · Gagauzia · Gibraltar · Greenland7 · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Kosovo · Isle of Man · Madeira8 · Nagorno-Karabakh1 · Nakhchivan1 · Northern Cyprus1 · South Ossetia 2 · Svalbard · Transnistria Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country. 1 Entirely in Southwest Asia.  2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the border definitions.  3 / 4 / 5 / 6 Has part of its territory in Asia / North America / South America / Africa.  7 / 8 Entirely on the North American Plate / African Plate.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Azores". Image Credit.

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