The archipelago of the Azores

Friday, 25 March 2011 - 06:53 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, Sustainability, Environment, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  4 minutes

Angra do Heroísmo - Terceira Island © Luissilveira

Angra do Heroísmo – Terceira Island © Luissilveira

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. The Portuguese archipelago is located about 1,500 km (930 mi) west from Lisbon and about 3,900 km (2,400 mi) east from the east coast of North America. The archipelago, and economic exclusion zone, forms the Autonomous Region of the Azores, one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal. Its main industries are: agriculture, dairy farming (for cheese and butter products primarily), minor livestock ranching, fishing and tourism, which is becoming the major service activity in the region. In addition, the government of the Azores is responsible for employing a large percentage of population directly or indirectly in many aspects of the service and tertiary sectors.

There are five cities in the Azores: Ponta Delgada and Ribeira Grande on the island of São Miguel; Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória on the island of Terceira, and Horta on Faial. Three of these Ponta Delgada, Angra and Horta are considered capital/administrative cities to the regional government: homes to the President (Ponta Delgada), the Judiciary (Angra) and the Regional Assembly (Horta). Angra also serves as the ecclesiastical centre of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Angra.

Angra do Heroísmo - Terceira Island © Luissilveira São Miguel Island © Luissilveira Sete Cidades Lake on the island of São Miguel © Ulrik Sverdrup Caldeirão Lake - Corvo Island © Luissilveira Caldeira - Povoação - São Miguel © Luissilveira Caravelle Vera Cruz © Luissilveira Maia - São Miguel Island © Luis Arruda Mount Pico © Bjoern.Hoernitz Mount Pico - São Jorge - Açores © Silveira São Jorge Island © Luissilveira São Mateus Panorama - Terceira Island © ericschockmel.net
<
>
Sete Cidades Lake on the island of São Miguel © Ulrik Sverdrup
In 1944, American forces constructed a small and short-lived air base on the island of Santa Maria. In 1945, a new base was constructed on the island of Terceira and is currently known as Lajes Field. This base is in an area called Lajes, a broad, flat sea terrace that had been a farm. Lajes Field is a plateau rising out of the sea on the northeast corner of the island. This Air Force base is a joint American and Portuguese venture. Lajes Field continues to support United States and Portuguese military operations. During the Cold War, the United States Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine squadrons patrolled the North Atlantic for Soviet submarines and surface spy vessels. Since its inception, Lajes Field has been used for refuelling aircraft bound for Europe, and more recently, the Middle East. The United States Navy operates a small fleet of military ships in the harbour of Praia da Vitória, three kilometres (2 mi) 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. In 1976, the Azores became the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Região Autónoma dos Açores), one of the Autonomous regions of Portugal, and the Azorean districts were suppressed.

To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facepage pages/Twitter accounts. Read more on Website of the Azores Regional Government (Portuguese), Azores.com, Wikivoyage Azores and Wikipedia Azoren. Learn more about the use of photos.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Sydney Road in Melbourne

Sydney Road in Melbourne

[caption id="attachment_206569" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © orderinchaos/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Sydney Road (in its northernmost part also known as the Hume Highway) is a major urban arterial in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Sydney Road starts at the northern end of Royal Parade at the boundary of Parkville and Brunswick and continues north through Brunswick, Coburg, Coburg North, Hadfield, Fawkner, Campbellfield, Somerton and Craigieburn, where it joins the Hume Freeway. The sec...

[ read more ]

Cape Ferret on the Atlantic

Cape Ferret on the Atlantic

[caption id="attachment_153200" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Cap Ferret Lighthouse © Larrousiney/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Cap Ferret (English: Cape Ferret) is a headland, situated at the south end of the commune of Lège-Cap-Ferret in the French department of Gironde and region of Aquitaine. The headland takes the form of a spit, which separates the Atlantic Ocean from Arcachon Bay. At the same time, the entrance to Arcachon Bay separates Cap Ferret from the resort town of Arcachon. Under Napoleon III. the oys...

[ read more ]

Europe's End: The North Cape

Europe's End: The North Cape

[caption id="attachment_151704" align="aligncenter" width="590"] North Cape © W. Rebel[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Nordkapp (or North Cape in English) is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Honningsvåg. Nordkapp (originally named Kjelvik) was separated from Porsanger on 1 July 1861. The western part of the island of Magerøya was transferred from the municipality of Måsøy to Nordkapp on 1 January 1984. The municipality encompasses mainly the island of Mager...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Outer Hebrides - North Uist

Theme Week Outer Hebrides - North Uist

[caption id="attachment_236509" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Traditional cottage © geograph.org.uk - Tom Richardson/cc-by-sa-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]North Uist (Scottish Gaelic: Uibhist a Tuath; Scots: North Uise) is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. North Uist is the tenth-largest Scottish island and the thirteenth-largest island surrounding Great Britain. It has an area of 117 square miles (303 square kilometres), slightly smaller than South Uist. North Uist is connected by causeways...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Rome - Castel Sant'Angelo, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon

Theme Week Rome - Castel Sant'Angelo, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon

[caption id="attachment_152615" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Castle Sant'Angelo © Andreas Tille[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]CASTEL SANT'ANGELO The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Rome. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The popes converted the structure into a castle, from the 14th century; Pope N...

[ read more ]

Grand Synagogue of Paris

Grand Synagogue of Paris

[caption id="attachment_237345" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Luiza Fediuc/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Grand Synagogue of Paris (French: Grande Synagogue de Paris), generally known as Synagogue de la Victoire (English: Synagogue of Victory) or Grande Synagogue de la Victoire (English: Grand Synagogue of Victory), is situated at 44, Rue de la Victoire, in the 9th arrondissement. It also serves as the official seat of the chief rabbi of Paris. The architect was Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe (1834–1895) ...

[ read more ]

Scicli on Sicily

Scicli on Sicily

[caption id="attachment_232416" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © trolvag/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Scicli is a town and municipality in the Province of Ragusa in the south east of Sicily, southern Italy. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Ragusa, and 188 kilometres (117 mi) from Palermo, and has a population (2017) of 27,051. Alongside seven other cities in the Val di Noto, it has been listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. The municipality borders with Modica and Ragusa. The economy of Scicli is mostly ag...

[ read more ]

Corinth Canal in Greece

Corinth Canal in Greece

[caption id="attachment_168794" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Nicholas Hartmann/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland, arguably making the peninsula an island. The builders dug the canal through the Isthmus at sea level; no locks are employed. It is 6.4 kilometres (4 mi) in length and only 21.4 metres (70 ft) wide at its ...

[ read more ]

Putbus on the island of Rügen

Putbus on the island of Rügen

[caption id="attachment_160987" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Putbus © Klugschnacker/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Putbus is a town on the southeastern coast of the island of Rügen, in the county of Vorpommern-Rügen in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, close to the Baltic Sea. The town has 4,741 inhabitants and is a significant tourist destination with numerous seaside resorts. It is the oldest resort on the island and has been formally recognised by the state as a resort town since 1997. Putbus ...

[ read more ]

The Dartmoor National Park in Devon

The Dartmoor National Park in Devon

[caption id="attachment_151353" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Dartmoor from Hay Tor © Steinsky/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status as Dartmoor National Park, it covers 954 square kilometres (368 sq mi). Dartmoor is managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority, whose 22 members are drawn from Devon County Council, local district councils and Government. Parts of Dartmoor have been used as military firing ranges for over 200 years....

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
Green Belt Germany map © Lencer
German Green Belt

The German Green Belt (Grünes Band Deutschland in German) is a project of Bund Naturschutz (German only), one of Germany's...

PiazzaBlob Eindhoven © Curt Woyte
Brainport Eindhoven

Eindhoven is a municipality and a city located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands,...

States Theater © Andreas Praefcke
Stuttgart, city between forests and grapes

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a...

Schließen