Angústias is one of the three freguesia ("civil parish") that comprise the urban area of the city of Horta, on the island of Faial in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.

Along the southern coast, the area of Pasteleiro, became the site of the first commercial businesses associated with the pastel or woad industry (first started by van Huerter).

On the western edge of Horta Bay, the first homes were constructed, around the small chapel of Santa Cruz (where Josse van Huerter and his wife, Beatriz de Macedo, were buried).

With the end of the religious orders in 1835, the convent was donated to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, which installed its hospital and Asilo de Mendicidade.

Between 1839 and 1969, due to the developments in the telegraph industries, Horta (and Angústias in particular) was the central node in the trans-Atlantic submarine cable network.

The western border follows Calço da Fugeuira for several metres before extending westerly into the pasturelands of Pasteleiro, where it plunges south through the industrial zone, crossing the Via-Rápida and the Rua do Lajinho until reaching the sea.

The parish is part of the Horta-Flamengos-Feteira geomorphological zone referred to as the Horta Platform localized along the southeast portion of the island, and characterized by a low altitude, smooth relief created from several lava flow covers.

[6] These volcanic cones are linked together by smoothly planed areas which consist of lava flows with pumice or sedimentary materials.

Many of the important civic, cultural or regional buildings are located in Angústias, including the islands only secondary school (EBS Escola Secundária Manuel Arriaga), the only hospital (Portuguese: Hospital da Horta) on the island, the headquarters of the police, the commercial marina, dock and container terminal, the principal installations of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia (the benevolent society that homes the elderly) and the supermarket (Modelo).

Some of these have been renovated and reused for other purposes (for example the Fort of Santa Cruz), while others have become important as tourist attractions (for example Peter's Cafe) or continued to be active in the community (such as the Church of Nossa Senhora das Angústias).