The earliest document refers to the "Charcão", which is a toponymic derivative of charco (meaning: "a standing pool of water, which is not too deep, but filled with a mixture of unfiltered particulates").

[4] Early colonists to the area that is now Terra Cha (then part of the parish of São Pedro da Angra) were helped by a source of potable water.

[6][7] His lands covered a large area that extended along the coast, in the parish of São Mateus da Calheta, up to Silveira on the periphery of Angra, and into the interior, to the base of Charcão ("the cone").

Consequent to the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis, Sebastião Álvares, a rich Angrense merchant, and his wife Grácia Fernandes built a primitive chapel to fulfil their vow to the Virgin of Belém.

As gratitude for divine intervention from the assault, the wealthy merchant constructed a chapel where, today, the parochial church of Nossa Senhora de Belém is erected.

For this reason, there was a desire for a spacious temple, which made João Moniz Corte Real[9]) (a descendant of the original founder) cede lands around the chapel to construct a new church in its place.

[1] Being a densely forested zone with a labyrinth of small roads between its orchards and the residence of a Miguelist supporter (João Moniz Corte Real),[9] Terra Chã became a place of refuge for absolutist sympathizers after Liberals took power in the city of Angra.

[12] The evolution of the Hospital Militar da Terra Chã and its role during the war started when it was constructed in front of the parochial church and became functional on 6 October 1943.

As a consequence of the genesis, the soils are exclusively arid or semi-arid regosols, with a predominance of sedimentary basalts resulting in the easy degradation of clinker topography, known more commonly as biscoitos (in the Azores) or breccia.

The exceptions to this occur along the flanks of Charcão and the upper altitudes around Veredas and Matela, zones of older rock (greater than 3 million year), composed of trachybasalt and trachyte that correspond to the formation of the Guilherme Moniz-Cinco Picos volcanic complexes.

[18] This zone, which follows a visible contour in the transition to the flatter parts of the parish, corresponds to the coast of the proto-island of Terceira and is marked by weathering, presented by some boulder formations typical of trachybasalt evolution of the landscape.

This genesis and geomorphology in Terra Chã resulted in two types of landscapes: The urban structure is a mixed pattern of use, with a linear alignment typical of older rural Terceirense areas established around historical roads.

This structure has resulted in the following nuclei: The parish of Terra Chã has an extensive number of farms, which have historically been the place of residence and holiday homes of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy of Angra do Heroísmo.

The provision of kindling and wood, from the forests of the parish and from the hinterland of the Serra de Santa Bárbara, was an important economic activity until the last part of the 20th century, making Terra Chã a principal community of woodsmen on the island.

[4] Wood would be transported by bull carts to the centre of Angra for sale, or prepared in artesian sawmills located in the hinterlands, before being sent to town to be used in construction, or carpentry.

The decline of the wine culture began in the first decades of the 19th century, in part caused by problems in preserving plants infected by powdery mildew, but also by the growth in the lucrative exportation of oranges to the United Kingdom.

The loss of the orange's competitiveness in the Azores (due to falling prices in England) and the concordant appearance of citrus diseases,[24] forced the end of the lucrative business, causing most orchards to begin cultivating other fruits, sawmilling or reverting to the production of low-grade vineyards for public consumption.

[26] After an intense period of emigration to the United States and Canada, which reached its peak in the 1960s, the 1980 earthquake profoundly altered the socio-economic balance of the parish, destroying the social veil that had existed.

The construction of the Bairro da Terra Chã in lands that were originally intended for the Universidade dos Açores, for re-settlement of displaced families who had lost their homes in the earthquake, almost doubled the resident population in the parish.

Today, the economy of Terra Chã is dominated by salary jobs in the urban area of Angra, causing the disappearance of the last vestiges of rural life that persisted.