São Miguel Island

São Miguel [ sɐu miɡɛɫ ] ( German for St. Michael ) is the largest island of the Azores. It belongs to the eastern group of the archipelago and has an area of ​​746.8 square kilometers. The island is 63.7 km long and 16.1 km wide. On São Miguel live more than 140,000 people, about 65,000 of them in the capital, Ponta Delgada.

Geology

Geologically the island consists of two parts that were connected only around 10,000 years ago by the still active volcanism. It is the western part, which consists essentially of the caldera Sete Cidades (highest point Pico de Barrosa, 924 m), and the 4 to 5 million years old, the eastern part of the massif of the Serra Agua de Pau, whose highest peak the Pico da Vara at 1105 m and the further the Pico do Fogo covers, which was created only in 1652 by a volcanic eruption. The effect of volcanism on São Miguel can be impressively experienced in Furnastal. Here there are hot, some sulfur-and iron-containing sources or geysers. The Furnas Lake, on whose banks are also active volcanic sources, consists of two related collapse craters. In the Sete Cidades caldera lie two lakes, which are connected to each other: Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde. The collapsed volcanic cone has a circumference of 12 km and a diameter of approximately five kilometers. The diverse countryside is criss-crossed by hiking trails.

The crater of Sete Cidades ( Seven Cities ) with Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde

Hot sulfur springs at Furnas

Azores, São Miguel, Furnas

History

The island was discovered probably 1426-1439. Henry the Navigator 1436 authorized the colonization of the Azores from the Estremadura, of Alto Alentejo, from the Algarve and Madeira. São Miguel is now the most developed island in the archipelago. Ribeira Grande, the 1507 became a city, with about 12,000 inhabitants, is the second largest city on the island. After initially water mills were built here, led the textile production in the 18th century to an upsurge of the place.

Geography

The capital city of Ponta Delgada is located on the southwest coast of the island. The second largest city of Ribeira Grande, located on the central north coast. Other important towns are located east of Ponta Delgada Lagoa, Vila Franca do Campo and Furnas. Very close to the botanical interest of Furnas Terra Nostra Park, the end of the 18th century is by the American Thomas Hickling was created. At the lush vegetation of the park include bamboo, araucaria, Baumstrelitzien, hydrangeas and water lilies.

Hydrangeas define the landscape of roads and paths

The Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Paz

One of many public barbecue areas

Management

The island of São Miguel is part of the Autonomous Region of the Azores and is part of the territory of Portugal.

The island is divided into six Concelhos (Portuguese circles):

• Lagoa
• Nordeste
• Ponta Delgada (Capital)
• Povoaçao
• Ribeira Grande
• Vila Franca do Campo

Economy

Sugarcane cultivation and orange plantations created by Hickling went under in the 19th century. Also led the frequent presence of American whalers to migrate a portion of the male population seeerfahrenen in the USA and Canada. Until the 60s of the 20th century, commercial whaling was operated on the island yet.

A large economic role for São Miguel play today in addition to tourism (including whale watching ) the dairy industry and the cultivation of fruits, especially pineapple. Further facilities on the island two of the only three tea plantations ( Cha Gorreana, Chá Porto Formoso ) within the European Union (the third plantation is situated in England at Truro ). The importance of fisheries in recent years, however, steadily declined. The forestry sector is systematically recycled to produce the original embossed by low vegetation landscape again.

Jose Bensaude founded in the 19th century in Ponta Delgada, a retail chain and a tobacco factory, which became the nucleus of a group of companies, which today includes a variety of activities in tourism, shipping, transport, trade and finance.