Taro Revolt

On the eastern coast, which is characterized by the plain of Serra do Topo (800 m above sea level) and almost constantly covered in thick fog, made it difficult to cultivate cereal crops.

The taro was usually cultivated along the margins of the fields that were seeded with cereal crops and provided a guaranteed source of proteins for local settlers, until the potato was introduced later in the century.

In 1692, Francisco Lopes Beirão set the tithe for three years to 415$000 Portuguese real, and instructed his agents to "squeeze" peasants for the payment, as well as the costs associated with the transport of the tuber from field to the collection site.

This stipulation obligated the farmers to transport sacks of taro on their backs (which was common for the poor) from the fajãs where the root was harvested, to the settlements on the São Jorge plateau.

In a letter dated June 16, 1695, the King sent magistrate João de Soveral e Barbuda to the island of São Jorge in order to apprehend and sentence the responsible parties.

Owing to Jorgense resistance, in the spring of 1696 he solicited from military governor at the Castle of São João Baptista on Monte Brasil, in the city of Angra, troops to put-down the rebellion.

Considered the leader of the revolt, Gonçalo Pereira Machado, the respected Captain-major of Calheta and resident of Ribeira Seca was convicted and sentenced to the Limoeiro prison in Lisbon.

Consequently, many of the responsible parties were ruined: they were required to sell all their possessions in order to pay compensation, and those who failed were imprisoned in the Castle of São João Baptista, the prison in Angra or the jail in Horta, where many of them were to die of disease, famine or despair.

As a consequence of the Taro Revolt, relations between the Jorgense municipalities became tense while inter-island relationships expanded: Calheta and Topo were polarized towards Angra, while Velas became a satellite of the city of Horta.