Santa Maria Island
Santa Maria is an island in the eastern group of the Azores archipelago and the southernmost island in the Azores. The island is known for its white sand beaches, distinctive chimneys, and dry warm weather.
History
The first records of a group of islands in the Atlantic came from the voyages of Portuguese sailors during the reigns of King Denis and his successor King Afonso IV. These were unsubstantiated accounts and unofficial, until 1427 when navigator Diogo de Silves found the island of Santa Maria during his journey to Madeira. Myth tells that on the day of the island's discovery, Gonçalo Velho Cabral and his crew were celebrating mass, when one of the lookouts spotted the distant island, declaring "Santa Maria": this name would become linked permanently to the island. Santa Maria's discovery was attributed to Gonçalo Velho Cabral in 1432, since discoveries were not "recognized officially" until they declared so by the Portuguese Crown, who registered them in Cabral's name, as commander of the voyage.According to legend Cabral's crew disembarked on a small beach in the northwestern Ponte dos Canestrantes, where he encountered a population of Eared seals, proclaiming the beach Praia dos Lobos. The Captain and his crew explored the island, collecting various examples of the native and unfamiliar plants, as well as canisters of earth and water to give to the Infante as proofs to their discovery. The Infante received these "gifts" in 1432, and immediately ordered that herds be sent to the island, while he organized a plan for its colonization. In settling the Azores, the crown applied a system that was successful on the island of Madeira in 1425: the new lands would be administered by title grants to a noblemen and men of confidence that would oversee security and colonization, while enforcing the King's law. The master or Donatário for the Azores was the Infante Henry the Navigator, who was granted carte blanche to enforce the King's dominion. The donatário also had the responsibility of selecting or sub-contracting local administrators to represent him, as some historians referred to as captains of the donatary; for his part, Gonçalo Velho, with the support of D. Isabella, was nominated the first captain of the island of Santa Maria and São Miguel, where he arrived in 1439 with colonists, bringing their families and some cattle. By 1460, the chronicler Diogo Gomes de Sintra identified the island as Ilha de Gonçalo Velho, with the choicest lands in the hands of their commander.
Colonization progressed between 1443 and 1447, principally from settlers from the Portuguese Alentejo and Algarve, who populated the northern coast along the Baía dos Anjos and later in the area of Vila do Porto. This area would attain the title of Vila do Porto for the nestled anchorage that developed there, and the municipality would also adopt the name, by 1470. By the end of the 16th century, Santa Maria was divided into three parishes: Nossa Senhora da Assunção, Santa Bárbara and Santo Espírito. The governing classes, the families which controlled the politico-administrative organs of the municipality and parishes were all intermingled by marriage and class, and after the Iberian Union this concentration increased.
Similar to other islands of the archipelago, Santa Maria was a victim of repeated attacks by privateers and pirates. In one of the principal engagements, a Castilian carrack with 40 men disembarked in the port of Vila do Porto, where they were confronted by residents under the command of the Captain-Major João Soares, who took to hurl rocks from the cliffs above Calhau da Roupa at the invaders. João Soares was eventually captured by the Spaniards, who took him in irons as a prisoner to Castile. After successive pirate attacks, the population was very hostile to travellers: in February 1493, the travelling Christopher Columbus was greeted harshly by its residents, when he and his crew were forced by a storm to land on the island in the Baía dos Anjos on their return from their famous discovery of the New World. Several of his crew were captured, and complex negotiations were undertaken to liberate them. Thankful for their liberation, a mass was celebrated by him and his party in the old chapel before he returned to Spain. Although relatively far from the routes used by ships traveling to India, the island was repeatedly attacked by French pirates, the island assaulted by French troops, the English. By the 17th century, a series of fortifications were constructed along the coast to defend the populace from these attacks, including the Fort of São Brás and the Fort of São João Baptista in Praia Formosa.
When the 1580 crisis of succession ushered in the Iberian Union in Portugal, the island initially supported António of Crato, but with pressure from Philip II of Spain in the Azores, António declined even to disembark in Santa Maria. During this period, the island came to depend on the Governor General of the Azores. After the Portuguese Restoration War, the news was greeted with celebrations and excesses by the Captain-Major Brás de Sousa.
During the Portuguese Civil War the citizens supported the rights of Maria II to the throne of Portugal, which differed immensely from the Governor General of the Azores who supported Miguel. The Captain-major even attempted to raise arms from Terceira, insofar as sending a carrack to collect the weapons. In the interim, the São Miguel administration changed sides in the conflict. By the following year, several Marienses joined the expeditionary force disembarking on the continent along Arnosa de Pampelido beach during one of the crucial battles of the Civil War.
During World War II the United States used Santa Maria Airport as a base.
On 8 February 1989, an American chartered Boeing 707 of Independent Air Flight 1851 crashed at Pico Alto, killing all 137 passengers and 7 members of the crew. There was confusion between tower and pilots as to the appropriate altitude during their approach.
Geography
Physical geography
The island is located in the southeast corner of the Azores archipelago, south of São Miguel, and from the island of Flores. The island of Santa Maria is oblong and measures, extending from the northwest to southeast. Geologically, it is the oldest island in the archipelago, with formations that are 8.12 million years old. The island emerged during the Miocene, with volcanic activity extending until the Pliocene, alternating between phases of effusive and explosive, sub-aerial and submarine eruptions. Between these were periods of sedimentary sequences between the volcanic series, that dated from the final Miocene until the Quaternary. Due to its age, and no historical evidence of volcanism, the geography of the island tends to be more mature and includes larger deposits of sediments than can be found on the other islands of the archipelago. Generally, Santa Maria is known for the lack of volcanism during period of human intervention, although seismic events are common due to its proximity to the Glória Fault.Its volcanic origin is characterized by a substratum of basalt deformed by a series of fractures that run along a northwest to southeast orientation, resulting in the following volcano-stratigraphic layers:
- The Cabrestantes Formation, at the island's base, corresponding to the probable emergence of the island during multiple submarine eruptions;
- The Anjos Complex, a sub-aerial and effusive formation created from eruptions between 8–5.5 million years;
- The Touril Complex, a formation created during an intermittent period of eruptions, when fossil deposits and sediments accumulated on the island, around 5 million years ago;
- The Facho-Pico Alto Complex, an intense volcanic period of both submarine and sub-aerial eruptions between 5-3 million years ago concentrating the aforementioned Facho and Pico Alto mountains;
- A period of coastal erosion during the Pliocene period resulting from a sea rise;
- The Feteiras Formation, resulting in the formation of three sub-aerial escoria cones along the coastal erosion platform ; and
- A secondary coastal erosion period during the Quaternary.
The island is marked by two geomorphological regions:
- A dry clay plain lies in the west, occupying two-thirds of the island, with its highest point above sea level. Due to the impermeability of the soils, this regions is arid with fewer leafy plants or grasses. To the north and south the principal points of colonization occurred, and 65% of the current population resides in this region, which includes the parishes of Vila do Porto, São Pedro and Almagreira. Airport lands represent the largest use of the space, as the Santa Maria airport is located along the western coast taking advantage of the plain and lack of natural obstacles. River valleys along the north and south divide many of the communities.
- The eastern one-third of the island is composed of eroded hills and mountains, covered by areas of thick vegetation, pasture lands and river valleys. The tallest points on the island, Pico Alto, Cavacas and Caldeira are located in this region, which includes the parishes of Santa Bárbara and Santo Espírito, the more rural and agricultural lands on the island. This is a region of higher levels of humidity, with greater instances of wind, fog and precipitation, resulting in rich vegetation and endemic plant species.
Soils in the drier western region are predominantly red clay, a consequence of natural alterations associated with pyroclastic deposits during the Palaeocene period, when the island's climate was warmer and more humid, and the median sea level was below current sea levels. These conditions allowed the formation of a fine clay, used later to support the pottery industry and export market. In addition, several protected bays along the coast shelter white sand beaches or are guarded by many rocky islets. These include the villages of São Lourenço, Praia Formosa or the craggy islet of Lagoínhas in the north coast. Forestry, covering about, is confined to high-density Cryptomeria trees planted along the slopes of Pico Alto, and unkept parcels of wild plants dominated by mock orange, common juniper, and laurel.