Ilha de São Miguel, Açores, Portugal

Ilha de São Miguel

São Miguel

상미겔섬(포르투갈어: Ilha de São Miguel)은 포르투갈의 아소르스 제도에 있는 섬으로, 아소르스 제도에서 가장 큰 섬이다.

 

이 섬은 동서쪽으로 길쭉하게 뻗어있으며, '초록의 섬'이라 불릴 정도로 자연이 살아있다.

이곳은 화산섬으로 아구아드파우산과 푸르나스 화산이 있다. 최고점은 피쿠다바라산으로 해발 947m이다.

 

두 화산에는 각각 화구호가 있는데, 아구아드파우 화산에는 포구호, 푸르나스 화산에는 라고아다스푸르나스호가 있다.

지수 5의 화산 폭발이 두 차례에 걸쳐 일어나 생긴 섬이다. 라고아다스푸르나스호는 녹색이다.

 

São Miguel Island (pronounced [ˈsɐ̃w miˈɣɛl]; Portuguese for "Saint Michael"), nicknamed "The Green Island" (Ilha Verde), is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The island covers 760 km2 (290 sq mi) and has around 140,000 inhabitants, with 45,000 people residing in Ponta Delgada, the archipelago's largest city.

 

History

 

The landing of the Spanish Tercios at Terceira during the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580

 

An 1845 engraving of the island of São Miguel (west is up)

 

 

In 1427, São Miguel became the second of the islands discovered by Gonçalo Velho Cabral to be settled by colonists from continental Portugal. This date is uncertain, as it is believed that the island was discovered between 1426 and 1437 and inscribed in portolans from the middle of the 15th century. Its discovery was later recorded by Father Gaspar Frutuoso in the seminal history of the Azores, Saudades da Terra, as he began: "This island of São Miguel where...we are, is mountainous and covered in ravines, and it was, when we discovered it, covered in trees...due to its humidity, with its water showers and ravines warm with sun..."

 

It was sometime after the initial settlement of Povoação Velha (on the southeastern coast) that (between 1439 and 1444) a volcanic eruption occurred in the crater of Sete Cidades (then uninhabited). There are no records of the precise date, but Gaspar Frutuoso noted that navigators returning to São Miguel (soon after its discovery) encountered the western part of the island completely changed and tree trunks and pumice stone floating in the waters around the island. After docking in Povoação, the settlers reported feeling tremors and aftershocks; "...those settlers living in their earthen holes of straw and hay, heard almost within a year a great loud noise, roars and snorts that came from the earth with large tremors still proceeded the subversion and fire from the peak that had disappeared."

 

In the early 15th century, Prince Henry the Navigator first authorized the settlement of the Azores, and many settlers from the historical provinces of Estremadura, Alto Alentejo, Algarve and Madeira travelled to São Miguel, under the Carta Régia (a decree of the regency). The fertile soils and temperate climate attracted settlers from other countries, notably French and Flemish people. Cultural minorities such as Sephardic Jewish New Christians are believed to have comprised as much as 20% of the island's population (i.e., many had surnames such as 'Pereira, Pimentel, Dias, Menezes, Oliveira, Nunes, Mendes, Rodrigues, Pinto etc.), and some Moors were exiled to the island during the inquisition. Its geographic position and fertile soils permitted rapid economic development. The establishment of a military garrison made the island an obligatory port-of-call in the African and Asian commercial trade, while the export of sugar, and later orchil (a dye exported to Flanders for the making of cloth) stabilized the island's export trade.

The first capital of the island was Vila Franca do Campo, which was devastated by the 1522 Vila Franca earthquake and landslides. The tragedy helped to elevate Ponta Delgada to the administrative and economic status of capital and business centre from 1546.

 

During the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580, the people from São Miguel won the naval Battle of Vila Franca against a French squadron that supported the claims of the pretender António, Prior of Crato.

With the Portuguese Restoration War (1640), the island regained its position as a commercial centre, establishing new contacts in Brazil, which was heavily colonized during this period. Some of the island's historic buildings, including mansions and churches, date from this period; the island's architectural expansion and developed came from revenues from the export of oranges, mainly to Great Britain.

 

In 1831, during the Liberal Wars, following the landing of troops loyal to Queen Maria II in Nordeste (sent by future Duke of Terceira), a resistance to the Absolutist regime on the Island was organized. In 1832, this militia declared allegiance to the Charter (constitutional monarchy) and Queen Maria, forming a contingent that sailed to the continent where they were involved in the liberation of Porto.

 

Following the Liberal Wars, the period of Devourism allowed the economy to flourish, and the port of Ponta Delgada expanded, through the export of new crops such as tea, pineapple, and tobacco. The development of the fishing industry, cultivation of food staples and expansion of the dairy industry permitted the growth of many of the population centres on the island.

Following the Carnation Revolution, the island received the seat of the Presidency of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, located in Ponta Delgada, while its economic, social and political importance continued to grow within the archipelago.

 

 

Geology

 

São Miguel is bisected by many faults from the northwest to southeast in the direction of the Terceira Rift, a triple junction of the African, Eurasian, and North American tectonic plates. This system is best expressed in the western part of the island with extensive geological formations, such as the Mosteiros Graben (along the western flank of the Sete Cidades Massif), the Ribeira Grande Graben (along the northern flank of the Água de Pau Massif), and the many cones and fissural structures along the interior of the island. In the ancient crater of Furnas the faults are aligned west-northwest to east-southeast.

 

Zbysewsky (1959), among others (note references) identifies eight geomorphological structures on São Miguel that correspond to the formative features that built the island, including:

Lagoa do Fogo (English: Lake of Fire), as seen from Miradouro da Serra da Barrosa, along the Água de Pau Massif

Água de Pau Massif - Wikipedia

Lagoa_das_Furnas,_ilha_de_São_Miguel,_Arquipélago_dos_Açores,_Portugal

 

 

Sao_Miguel_Green_Island

Pasturelands in the Picos region: the debris field that joined the Sete Cidades Massif and Água de Pau Massif that united the island of São Miguel.

 

 

Detailed map of São Miguel Island

Ginetes, situated in the westernmost part of the island, near the coast

 

A species of common dolphins seen during one of whale watching tours

 

Biome

The ancient laurisilva forest has mostly been replaced by cultivated fields and imported trees and plants, such as the ubiquitous cryptomeria trees. There are some hot springs (caldeiras), generally located in the center of the island, in the area stretching from Povoação to Nordeste. There is also an ocean hot spring called Ponta da Ferraria.

 

The highest elevation on São Miguel is the Pico da Vara at 1,103 metres (3,619 ft). Lying at the eastern end of the island, it is the focus of a Special Protection Area containing the largest remnant of laurisilva forest on the island, which is home to the endemic and critically endangered bird, the Azores bullfinch.

 

Whale watching tours, starting from Ponta Delgada and Vila Franca do Campo are available. One may see sea turtles, dolphins and humpback whales.

 

 

Ilha-de-Sao-Miguel-nos-Acores-–-tudo-o-que-voce-precisa-saber

 

 

Lagoa do Fogo - Ilha de São Miguel, Açores 

 

The twin blue and green lakes of Sete Cidades from the Vista do Rei viewpoint 

 

 

 

Viewpoint Rasa Lagoas, Santiago, Green and Blue in Ponta Delgada

 

Panoramic view of two crater lakes Lagoa de Santiago and Lagoa Rasa at volcanic massif of Sete Cidades in western region of Sao Miguel Island, Azores

 

Lagoa Rasa, Lagoa de Santiago e Lagoa das Sete Cidades num registo fantástico! Ilha de São Miguel

 

 

 

A steaming hot spring in Furna

 

 

 

 

lagoa-do-fogo

 

 

 

 

walking-path-to-the-lakes-of-sete-cidades-azores-portugal-

 

 

Lagoa-das-Sete-Cidades

Visitar a Ilha de São Miguel, Açores

 

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