The Captain and his crew explored the island, collecting various examples of the native and unfamiliar plants, as well as canisters of earth and water to give to the Infante as proofs to their discovery.

In settling the Azores, the crown applied a system that was successful on the island of Madeira in 1425: the new lands would be administered by title grants (donatário) to a noblemen and men of confidence (donatary-captains) that would oversee security and colonization, while enforcing the King's law.

[8] The master or Donatário for the Azores was the Infante Henry the Navigator (in his role as governor of the Order of Christ and Duke of Viseu), who was granted carte blanche to enforce the King's dominion (except to coin money and some judicial authority).

In one of the principal engagements, a Castilian carrack with 40 men disembarked in the port of Vila do Porto (in 1480), where they were confronted by residents under the command of the Captain-Major João Soares (nephew of Gonçalo Velho and heir to the Captaincy of Santa Maria and São Miguel), who took to hurl rocks from the cliffs above Calhau da Roupa at the invaders.

By the following year, several Marienses joined the expeditionary force disembarking on the continent along Arnosa de Pampelido beach (near Mindelo, Vila do Conde) during one of the crucial battles of the Civil War.

On 8 February 1989, an American chartered Boeing 707 of Independent Air Flight 1851 crashed at Pico Alto, killing all 137 passengers and 7 members of the crew.

Its volcanic origin is characterized by a substratum of basalt deformed by a series of fractures that run along a northwest to southeast orientation (interlaced with lode and deposits of mafic silicate material), resulting in the following volcano-stratigraphic layers:[25] Successive periods of sea rise have given rise to sediments of marine fossils discovered on the island (in Prainha and Lagoinhas), mollusks that date back approximately 2.7 to less than one million years (the Pleistocene epoch), and others (in Ponta do Castelo) dating back 5 millions of years (to the end of Miocene and beginning of the Pliocene).

The fossil deposits, usually located approximately 40 metres (130 ft) above sea level, have been the subject of several palaeontological studies including Georg Hartung (1860), Reiss (1862), Bronn (1860), Mayer (1864), Friedlander (1929) and José Agostinho (1937).

[30] The hiking circuits allow the user to experience a range of diverse ecosystems and protected areas of the island that are not easily accessible to most tourists.

[31] The "sunny island of the Azores", as its nickname suggests, receives on average around 2000-2200 hours of sunshine[32][33] which is a considerable amount for the relatively dull archipelago it is in, though not a lot when compared to other places at the same latitude (like the Algarve in mainland Portugal).

The mountain range east of the island and the northeast coast are much more humid, reaching in some locations values as high as 1,800 mm (71 in) of precipitation per year.

The same tropical cyclone also passed previously in 2006, crossing the Azores on Sept. 19-20 as a Category 1 hurricane, producing a wind gust of 82 km/h (51 mph) on Santa Maria island.

Due to the varying geomorphology, the population built homes dispersed throughout the island, forming small nuclei along zones with access to potable water (in the west) and in the valleys (in the east).

Generally isolated from the traffic between the New World and Europe, the island depended heavily on agriculture until the 20th century, when the U.S. military established the airport in Ginjal.

The European Space Agency (ESA) established a satellite tracking station at the end of the 20th century, rekindling the debate on the island's dependency on the aviation sector.

[41] This continued the island's importance as a technological and communications hub in the Atlantic, following the installation of the Rede Atlântica de Estações Geodinâmicas e Espaciais (Atlantic Network of Geodynamic and Spatial Stations) VLBI antenna, on the heels of the protocol signed on 29 April 2010, between the Secretário Regional da Ciência, Tecnologia e Equipamentos (Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Equipment) and the Diretor Geral do Instituto Geográfico Nacional de Espanha (Director-General of the National Geographic Institute of Spain).

There are several commercial species of fish in the waters around Santa Maria, such as sheepshead, vejas, red snapper, grouper, wrasse, mackerel, anchovies, needlefish and frigate tuna.

Direct flights to the continent (Lisbon) are provided primarily by Azores Airlines out of Santa Maria Airport located close to Vila do Porto.

The Power Authority is installing a 70 kW flywheel storage system taken from another island to increase wind proportion to deal with frequency excursions.

[citation needed] There are many examples (public buildings, churches and auxiliary structures, military constructions) of Santa Maria's cultural heritage that have been remodelled, conserved and preserved for their important histo-cultural value.

Since Santa Maria was the first island to be colonized, there are older examples of these buildings and structures that have lasted longer, due to no historical volcanism and fewer earthquakes.

On 15 August each year, the municipality also celebrates a festival in honour of Nossa Senhora da Assunção (Our Lady of the Assumption), the patron saint of Vila do Porto.

The beach community is regularly overrun with tourists and local visitors, who travel to the island to listen to world music acts, which in the past have included John Lee Hooker Jr., Kíla, Skatalites, Angélique Kidjo, Rui Veloso and Gentleman.

The handicraft industry in Santa Maria is centred on pottery, ceramics and wool sweaters, ornate sheets, blankets, towels and other embroidery.

Similarly, straw hats, baskets and various other objects traditionally made from wood, fish scales, corn flask and metal are sold as souvenirs.

Tourists generally favour the white sand beaches and rock pools in the communities of Anjos (Vila do Porto), Praia Formosa (Almagreira), Maia (Santo Espírito) and São Lourenço (Santa Bárbara).