Porto Formoso

	Porto Formoso
	Civil Parish
	The expanse of tea fields from the regional roadway looking towards the coastal community of Porto Formoso
	Official name:Freguesia do Porto Formoso
Country	Portugal
Autonomous Region	Azores
Island	São Miguel
Municipality	Ribeira Grande
Localities	Ladeira da Velha,Porto Formoso
River	Ribeira dos Moinhos
Center	Porto Formoso
- elevation	35 m (115 ft)
- coordinates	37°49′19″N25°25′32″W / 37.82194°N 25.42556°W Coordinates: 37°49′19″N25°25′32″W / 37.82194°N 25.42556°W
Highest point
- location	Espigão da Ovelha
- elevation	884 m (2,900 ft)
- coordinates	37°46′42″N25°26′28″W / 37.77833°N 25.44111°W
Lowest point	Sea Level
- location	Atlantic Ocean
Area	12.79 km2 (5 sq mi)
- urban	.37 km2 (0 sq mi)
Population	1,265 (2011)
Density	99/km2 (256/sq mi)
Settlement	fl. 1509
- Parish	2 June 1509
LAU	Junta Freguesia
- location	Rua Padre João B. Couto
- elevation	28 m (92 ft)
- coordinates	37°49′22″N25°25′39″W / 37.82278°N 25.42750°W
President Junta	Emanuel Janeiro Faria
Timezone	Azores (UTC-1)
- summer (DST)	Azores (UTC0)
Postal Zone	9625-429
Area Code & Prefix	(+351) 292 XXX-XXXX
Patron Saint	Nossa Senhora da Graça
	Wikimedia Commons: Porto Formoso (Ribeira Grande)
	Geographic detail from Instituto Geográfico Português (2010)

Last updated May 02, 2019

Porto Formoso is a civil parish in the municipality of Ribeira Grande in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The population in 2011 was 1,265,^[1] in an area of 12.79 km².^[2]

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe, being bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain. Its territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments.

The Azores, officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores, is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal. It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean about 1,360 km (850 mi) west of continental Portugal, about 1,643 km (1,021 mi) west of Lisbon, in continental Portugal, about 1,507 km (936 mi) northwest of Morocco, and about 1,925 km (1,196 mi) southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

History

The establishment of this civil parish remotes to the early part of the 16th century, as first recorded by Pedro Vaz Pacheco.^[3] On 2 June 1509, he ordered the construction of a Chapel of Bom Jesus, to serve his descendents.^[3] By the end of that century, the chapel had its own clergy, passing into a vicarage in 1568.

Gaspar Frutuoso (in Saudades da Terra), refers to the parish in these terms: "it makes a beautiful bay, and in the centre the locality of Porto Formoso, named for the things that exist there, it is clean and the best one in the north...".^[3]

The parochial church's patron is Nossa Senhora da Graça (Our Lady of Grace), and existed by the time that Pedro Vaz Pacheco ordered the erection of the Chapel of Bom Jesus (which included a crucifix and chanel to the Virgin^{[ clarification needed ]}) as a burial tomb for his descendents.^[3] The church was renovated throughout the centuries, becoming the simple facade of basalt rock and three interior naves.^[3]

In the civil parish, in the old roadway that connected Ribeira Grande to Furnas, is an obelisk (Obelisco da Ladeira da Velha) which was erected during the Liberal Wars (1829–34) to mark a long-forgotten engagement in the conflict, known as the Battle of Ladeira da Velha.^[3]

The Battle of Ladeira da Velha was fought on August 3, 1831, between Portuguese Liberal and Miguelite forces on São Miguel Island in the Azores, as part of the Portuguese civil war. It ended in a Liberal victory, which put the island and the rest of the Archipelago under Liberal control.

Geography

In the area of Praia dos Moinhos, a beach within an amphitheatre-like cliff face, the popular beach and locality developed from several watermills that were built along the ravine that flows into the ocean.

The ravine continues to empty into the ocean on this site, dividing he white-sand beach, which is popular with tourists and local residents.^[3] Immediately near the beach is the Ladeira da Velha, where a natural mineral spring, rich in potassium, erupts from the coast with temperatures around 30°C.^[3] A thermae was constructed in a small house to provide repose for people who took therapeutic mineral treatments from these waters.^[3]

Economy

The region is best known for the tea factories that exist in the vicinity of one another: the Fábrica de Chá Porto Formoso, within Porto Formoso, and the neighbouring Gorreana tea factory in the neighbouring parish of São Brás.^[3]^[4] The terrain in this parish is devoted to agriculture and as pasture-lands, but several tracts are dedicated to the cultivation of tea plants, owing to the areas micro-climate.^[3]

Architecture

Religious

Hermitage of Nossa Senhora do Carmo (Portuguese : Ermida de Nossa Senhora do Carmo)
Church of Nossa Senhora da Graça (Portuguese : Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Graça)

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References

↑ Instituto Nacional de Estatística
↑ Eurostat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Câmara Municipal, ed. (2011), Historia (in Portuguese), Porto Formoso (Ribeira Grande), Portugal: Câmara Municipal de Ribeira Grande, retrieved 1 October 2011
↑ Tea Producing Nations: Europe: Portugal

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[1] Instituto Nacional de Estatística

[2] Eurostat

[CMHistoria-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Câmara Municipal, ed. (2011), Historia (in Portuguese), Porto Formoso (Ribeira Grande), Portugal: Câmara Municipal de Ribeira Grande, retrieved 1 October 2011

[4] Tea Producing Nations: Europe: Portugal