Manadas was the birthplace of the ethnographer João Teixeira Soares de Sousa, who greatly contributed to the histo-cultural development of the island.

The remodelled architecture, which dates back to the 18th century, includes rare golden ornamentation and is one example of the Baroque-style, popular in the Azores.

Located 15 kilometres from the municipal seat of Velas, on the municipalities southern border with (Calheta); it is delimited by the São Jorge Channel (on the southern coast), the civil parish of Urzelina (along the Ribeira Large) and the ridge of Pico da Esperança (in the civil parish of Norte Grande.

The parish is populated by older cottages, orchards and fields in scattered settlements dispersed by mountainous cliffs, and highlighted by small coastal plains.

Its semi-planar surface is in contrast with the cliffs to the east which front the São Jorge Channel, and has produced a micro-climate that has sustained many orchards and fields that produce coffee, wine, tropical fruits and species of Dragon trees (Dracaena draco) typical of the Canary Islands, Cape Verde and Madeira.