Flores (Azores)

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Flores
Map of Flores
Map of Flores
Waters Atlantic Ocean
Archipelago Azores
Geographical location 39 ° 26 ′  N , 31 ° 13 ′  W Coordinates: 39 ° 26 ′  N , 31 ° 13 ′  W
Location of Flores
length 17 km
width 12 km
surface 143.1 km²
Highest elevation Morro Alto
914  m
Residents 3692 (2016)
26 inhabitants / km²
main place Santa Cruz das Flores

Flores (German: flowers; Portuguese name: Ilha das Flores ) is the fourth smallest island of the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores in the Atlantic at 143.1 km² . The capital is Santa Cruz das Flores with about 1600 inhabitants.

About 3800 people live on the island. The official and colloquial language is Portuguese , but many residents also speak English or French .

In 2009, UNESCO added the island to the list of biosphere reserves .

geography

View of Fajã Grande

Flores measures 17 km in length and approximately 12.5 km at its widest point. The highest point is the extinct volcano Morro Alto with 914 m. The last volcanic activity was around 3000 years ago. Large parts of the island around Morro Alto are nature reserves .

Like the neighboring island of Corvo , in contrast to the other Azores islands, Flores lies on the North American plate . It is the westernmost European island, making Fajã Grande the westernmost village in Europe . The straight line distance to mainland Portugal is 1,863 kilometers and to Ponta Delgada about 520 kilometers.

history

Previous names of Flores were São Tomás and Santa Maria . The island was named after its unique floral landscape . In 1452 Diogo de Teive discovered the islands of Flores and Corvo , and the island was first settled around 1470 by the Flemish Wilhelm van der Haegen . However, he left Flores a few years later because the island was too isolated and there were no regular boat connections to Europe that could have ensured the export of the valuable dye plant woad (pastel).

Reference to the western end of Europe

Around 1500 the first settlers from Portugal followed, who founded the villages of Lajes das Flores and Santa Cruz das Flores . They cleared the island and planted grain , maize and vegetables . In the next centuries the inhabitants lived largely isolated; Due to the remote location, merchant ships rarely came from the Azores islands of Faial and Terceira to exchange whale oil , butter and honey for fabrics . Despite the isolation, Flores was often pillaged by pirates .

A turning point came in the mid-19th century when American whalers hunted sperm whales in the waters of the Azores . Many Flores residents hired the whalers. The American whaling ship Wanderer hunted whales until 1924.

In 1963 the French set up a telecommunications station on Flores. A hospital, a power station and an airport were built in the following years and brought financial growth to the island. The development of tourism has been accelerated since the French withdrew in 1994 .

administration

The island of Flores belongs to the autonomous region of the Azores and is therefore part of the national territory of Portugal .

Mountain range above Fajãzinha

The island is divided into two concelhos ( Portuguese districts):

Web links

Commons : Flores  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Flores (Azores)  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of all UNESCO biosphere reserves on the homepage of the German UNESCO Commission , accessed on July 25, 2018.