São Miguel island lies 850 kilometres from Madeira and 1,330 kilometres from Lisbon. Very elongated in shape, it is 66 kilometres long from the Ferraria headland to the Arne headland. This delightful island of every shade of green has appropriately become known as A Ilha Verde, ‘the Green Island’. Fertile soil and warm moist climate combine to produce ideal growing conditions for every kind of crop and semi-tropical vegetation. The characteristic landscape is an undulating patchwork quilt of fields and pastures, rising here and there in a knobbly volcanic cone. Volcanic activity in São Miguel is nowadays confined to more acceptable manifestations than the terrible earthquakes and eruptions of past centuries. Hot springs and sulphurous gases bubble and smoke from the Valley of Furnas floors, but in such glorious verdant countryside that any infernal associations seem to evaporate among the flowers and leaves of azaleas, camellias and ferns.
But São Miguel has much more than natural beauty. Of all the Azores islands, São Miguel is the most developed, the most populated and the most frequently visited by tourists. It’s also the largest island in the archipelago, about 290 square miles in area, and with Santa Maria forms the eastern district or province, the capital of which is Ponta Delgada.
It’s known that São Miguel had at least a few inhabitants by 1443 and one of the first communities was Povoacao (‘Settlement’) on the south-east coast. But not only Portuguese came to settle in this island. Bretons were among the early colonists, their presence remembered in various place names such as the village of Bretanha. Traces of their cultural influence are still perceptible today, most notably in the local accent.
Despite the rich soil and favourable climate, however, progress was slow for the early colonists. The first communities and villages grew up along the coasts, as access to the interior was impeded by dense natural vegetation, and repeated seismic activity and eruptions naturally tended to scare off potential settlers. In was Terceira that initially developed most rapidly of all the Azores, partly thanks to its excellent natural port at Angra, while São Miguel lagged far behind until the 19th century. Then, in the 1860s, the port of Ponta Delgada received a boost with the building of an artificial breakwater, and gradually São Miguel began to catch up. Most of the roads date from only 50 years ago, and the airport was inaugurated as recently as 1969 (though there had been an airstrip in use since 1946 on the north coast).
Today São Miguel is a flourishing success and Ponta Delgada is effectively capital of the archipelago, as well as one of the chief ports, the commercial heart of the Azores, and possessing the archipelago’s only university. And with its relative abundance of hotels and variety of natural attractions, this is potentially the most westerly tourist resort in Europe. The magnificent Valley of Furnas and Sete Cidades, which may be reached by car in a few hours, are the strangest and most beautiful sights in the Azores.
