Impressive explanation of the situation - very thorough and cogent! Thank you.
MaryAnn On Wed, Sep 23, 2015 at 3:40 AM, David <[email protected]> wrote: > The identity of the capital of the Azores is actually an interesting > question, with an answer different than most people expect, I think... > > The capital is neither Angra nor Ponta Delgada. The Azores do not have an > official capital, even though nowadays Ponta Delgada is often called the > capital or assumed to be the capital (because the prime minister is based > there, and because it is by far the largest city and the major economic > center). > > The decision not to designate a city as the capital, made when the Azores > were granted autonomy in 1976, was (from what I have read) intentional. > Nations and regions that are composed of archipelagos or other collections > of islands are often especially susceptible to political disputes over > where to locate shared institutions, although that is also something even > non-island nations and regions experience... It's just that collections of > islands often have even more heightened local identities and perceptions > that (unlike with areas of contiguous land) notions of shared identity get > disrupted by the sea. > > This has been an issue that in previous generations held back the > development of a strong shared regional Azorean identity, as opposed to > being first a micaelense or picoense or corvino or faialense, etc -- > followed by being not "Azorean" but "Portuguese"... (Another example of > this phenomenon with islands is the several attempts that were made to > bring the former British colonies in the Caribbean together into a single > federal state, such as the failed effort to bring the West Indies > Federation as a single unit to independence from Britain; strong separate > island identities and competition over dominance doomed that effort.) > > In any event, the decision was made to share instead of concentrating the > government in a single city, and to disperse among the Azores' three major > cities (each of which is on a different island) the locations of the key > governmental institutions of the new Autonomous Region. Consequently, > since 1976, Ponta Delgada is where the prime minister and the rest of the > executive branch and agencies are based, but the judicial branch is > headquartered in Angra do Heroísmo and the Assembleia Legislativa, the > legislature, sits in Horta. > > Many on this list will of course immediately note that these three cities, > were also, prior to 1976, the seats of the three districts into which the > Azores were divided in 1836: Ponta Delgada covered São Miguel and Santa > Maria; Angra covered Terceira, Graciosa, and São Jorge; and Horta covered > Faial, Pico, Flores, and Corvo. > > If I recall correctly, even before the 1836 creation of the districts no > city was ever officially designated as the "capital" of the Azores, > although the primary governmental and church institutions of the Azores > were (again, if I recall correctly) mostly (or all?) historically based in > Angra, e.g., a royal council, the bishop, etc. Ponta Delgada was (as it is > to this day) the most populous city of the archipelago and the de facto > "business capital," but (at least according to what I have read) it was > Angra that traditionally hosted the top institutions of both church and > state. (Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I am about the earlier > periods can fill out the description of the pre-1836 picture?) > > David da Silva Cornell > Miami, FL > > Researching the following surnames: > > Faial - Terra (unknown freguesia(s)) > > Flores - Freitas, Lourenço, Coelho (unknown freguesia(s)) > > Pico - Silveira Cardoso, Macedo, Machado, Pereira Madruga, Ferreira, > Cardoso, Cardoso Machado, Vieira, Bettencourt, Dutra, Castanho, Homem, > Goulart, Quaresma, Moniz, Barreto, Silveira, Pereira, Álvares (all Lajes > do > Pico) > > S. Jorge - Silva, Botelho, Azevedo, Cardoso (Urzelina); Silva, Azevedo, > Cardoso (Santo António in Norte Grande) > > > > On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 12:22:30 PM UTC-4, Cheri Mello wrote: >> >> Many are signing with the cross, which pretty much looks like a +. >> >> The Azores were basically discovered from east to west. Yes, Santa Maria >> was the first (Wikipedia says 1439 was settlement) and Sao Miguel was the >> 1440s. Terceira was third (the translation of Terceira is Third). It was >> originally named Island of Jesus Christ, as it was discovered on Dec. 24th >> or 25th. As with any history coming from that time period, things weren't >> recorded and there are other theories on the name and discovery dates. >> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_Island >> >> You can use Wikipedia as a general guideline. Just remember that it may >> not be historians that wrote that article and there can be mistakes (I >> think I read somewhere that Angra is the capital of the Azores when it's >> Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel). >> >> Cheri Mello >> Listowner, Azores-Gen >> Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das >> Tainhas, Achada >> > -- > For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. > -- *MaryAnn Santos* Senior Advisement and Student Affairs Administrator Department of Art and Art Professions NYU/Steinhardt 212.998.5702 [email protected] Follow us at *Twitter / @NYUart <https://twitter.com/NYUart>Instagram / @nyuart <http://instagram.com/nyuart>* *Facebook / NYU Art Department <https://www.facebook.com/pages/NYU-Art-Department/53833145389>* -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
