Ponta Delgada is the largest municipality (concelho) and executive capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. As of 2021, it has 67,287 inhabitants, in an area of 232.99 square kilometres. There are 17,629 residents in the three central civil parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro, São Sebastião, and São José. Ponta Delgada became the region's administrative capital under the revised constitution of 1976; the judiciary and Catholic See remained in the historical capital of Angra do Heroísmo while the Legislative Assembly of the Azores was established in Horta.
Image: Ilha de São Miguel DSC00659 (36586155410) (cropped)
Image: Pdl igr s sebastiao (5)
Image: Pdl camara municipal (2)
Image: Convent of Nossa Senhora da Esperanca Ponta Delgada (cropped)
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 Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 1,400 km (870 mi) west of Lisbon, about 1,500 km (930 mi) northwest of Morocco, and about 1,930 km (1,200 mi) southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Gaspar Frutuoso wrote Saudades da Terra, the first history of the Azores and Macaronesia, in the 1580s.
Under the direction of Prince Henry the Navigator, the Azores were discovered and populated in the early 1400s.
The Battle of Terceira, part of the War of the Portuguese Succession
King-Emperor Pedro IV & I planned and launched his campaign in the Liberal Wars from the Azores in name of his daughter Queen Maria II
