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Pequeno Apontamento sobre a Terceira
The island of Terceira has an irregular terrain, with an area of approximately 400 sq. kms. and it is made up of two volcanic plots: the Pico Alto (808 mts high), and the Serra de Santa Bárbara (1013 mts high).
The island was named «Terceira», which means “third”, because it was the third island of the Archipelago of the Azores to be discovered. It was found roughly at the same time than São Jorge, Pico and Graciosa (around 1445), since all three of them can easily be seen from Terceira.
The peopling of Terceira began around 1450 in the are of the village of São Sebastião (a settlement then called «Ponta Alegre»). However, due to the location of its ports and fertile terrains, Angra and Praia would soon be settlements for farmers and merchants.
Wheat was one of the most important crops at the time. It was shipped in caravels to supply Portuguese market-places in the North of Africa. Pastel was also very important. It was introduced by the Flemish and it was used in the textile markets in the north of Europe up until 1700.
Sometime later, there was the cultivation of orange, during late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. These oranges were exported to England. Although this «orange cycle» had a short duration, there are magnificent examples of manorial houses from the old orange farms.
In the 16th century, after the disappearance of D. Sebastião, the Portuguese kingdom fell under the domain of Filipe II of Spain, against D. António Prior do Crato.
The island of Terceira was the last Portuguese territory to surrender to the Spanish powers.
On July 25, 1581, the Spanish Armada was defeated in Salga Bay, south of the island, by a group of people lead by a woman called Brianda Pereira. This group of unarmed men defeated the Spanish invaders by leading cattle and forcing the invaders back towards the sea. The Spanish army was only able to conquer the island later, in 1583.
After conquering the island, the Spaniards built a large fortress in the peninsula of Monte Brasil. This fortress was called S. Filipe Castle. Nowadays, it is known as São João Baptista Castle. This was the largest military fortress ever built by Spaniards outside of Spain - its walls are 4 km long and it has an area of 2 sq. km.
During the 16th and part of the 17th century, the island of Terceira underwent a period of great prosperity due to the galleons of spices coming from the East and America, filled with gold and silver from the Spanish conquests.
The harbour of the island of Terceira had a tremendous strategic importance in the sea routes of silver and spices.
In the 17th century, the Azores had several capitanias. These were closed down by Marquês de Pombal, who created a single captaincy for the whole of the Azores and the first Donee-Captain was Antão de Almada.
During the conflicts between liberals and absolutists, the island of Terceira played a very important role in the aid of the Liberal Party.
The battle of August 11, 1829, took place in the city of Praia and it was won by the liberals. It was also in the bay of Praia that an armada left for the battles that would be fought in Mindelo. From that day on, the city became known as Praia da Vitória (being vitória for victory). Angra was also named Angra do Heroísmo (being heroísmo for heroism) by recommendation of Almeida Garrett to her majesty, Queen Maria II, after the liberal conflicts.
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