History of the Azores
Ancient writers such as Plutarch, Strabo and, more explicitly, Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy, testified to the real existence of the Canary Islands.
[7] In A History of the Azores (1813), by Thomas Ashe, the author talks of the discovery of the islands by Joshua Vander Berg of Bruges,[8] who landed there during a storm on his way to Lisbon.
But, generally, these stories highlighted that sightings were being made at the end of the 14th century, or, at least, that the peoples of Europe had a passing knowledge of islands in the Atlantic.
[14] However, geographer Simon Connor comments that a Viking settlement is not certain: "Thanks to widespread trade routes, a mouse from Scandinavia could easily have boarded a ship in what today is Portugal and sailed over to the Azores.
It could simply be derived from pure legend, possibly of Andalusian Arab origin e.g. al-Idrisi speaks of an Atlantic island of wild goats (the Caprera?)
[19] One hypothesis is that the Azores were discovered in the course of a mapping expedition in 1341 to the Canary Islands, sponsored by King Afonso IV of Portugal, and commanded by the Florentine Angiolino del Tegghia de Corbizzi and the Genoese Nicoloso da Recco.
[20] Although not quite described in the 1341 report, Madeira and the Azores might nonetheless have been seen from a distance on the expedition's return via a long sailing arc (volta do mar) from the Canary islands.
He added his own financial support to the efforts of the Portuguese crown and financed the construction of new ships, establishing naval schools to harness seafaring knowledge and promoting new technologies and their use.
Prince Henry hoped to establish communication by sea with India and the legendary realm of Prester John, thereby outflanking the hostile Muslim states in northern Africa and the Holy Land.
Prince Henry experimented with ships, navigational instruments, and maps, developing techniques that made oceanic travel possible.
It is clear that after 1420, regular expeditions captained by Gonçalo Velho Cabral, Diogo de Silves, and other mariners began exploring to the west and south of continental Portugal.
[24] The first expeditions, apart from coastal observations and an occasional landing were limited, and in most cases involved the deliberate disembarking of herd animals (sheep, goats and/or cattle), pigs and chickens on the discovered islands, as a way of providing future settlers with some means of subsistence.
Settlers quickly arrived from the provinces of Algarve and Alentejo as Gonçalo Velho's nephew and heir, João Soares de Albergaria, advertised and promoted settlement on the island.
By 1440, other settlements had developed along the river-valleys and coastal inlets of São Miguel, Terceira, Faial, and Pico, supported by game animals and fishing.
An abundance of potable water sources, along with fertile volcanic soils, made the islands attractive and easy to colonize, and the growing wheat market supported an export economy (along with various plant species that allowed the development of the dye industry in the colonies).
But while the first crew members were saying their prayers at the shrine, they were taken prisoner by the island's captain, João de Castanheira, ostensibly out of fear that they were pirates.
The fertility of the Azores contributed to its population expansion, as the islands were soon exporting wheat to the Portuguese garrison in North Africa and of sugar cane and dyes to Flanders.
The first capital was Vila Franca do Campo, but when it was destroyed in a massive landslide caused by a powerful earthquake in 1522, Ponta Delgada assumed the position.
Owing to the island's isolation and difficulties in communication his crops became difficult to export and van der Haegen left Flores in the late 1480s.
According to the 2003 maternal DNA study of the Azores by Santos et al., people from Flores exhibit high genetic ancestry (~90%) with the Portuguese mainland.
The residents of Terceira, who mostly settled in Porto Judeu and Praia da Vitória and along the coastline, took a brave stand against King Philip II of Spain upon his ascension to the Portuguese throne in 1580.
He sent his combined Iberian fleet to clear the French traders from the Azores, decisively hanging his prisoners-of-war from the yardarms and contributing to the "Black Legend".
In 1829, in Vila da Praia, the liberals won over the absolutists, making Terceira 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.
In the second half of the 19th century, Azores played an important role in the rebirth of Portuguese cod fisheries in Terra Nova (Newfoundland).
In fact, it was Azorean emigrants from the East coast returned to their homeland that taught the North American dory fishing technique to Portuguese that started to catch again cod in the Grand Bank after the middle of the 19th century.
During the Cold War, the US Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine squadrons patrolled the North Atlantic for Soviet submarines and surface spy vessels.
The US Army operates a small fleet of military ships in the harbor of Praia da Vitória, three kilometers southeast 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.
