Furnas
Encyclopedia
Furnas is a civil parish in the municipality of Povoação
on the island of São Miguel
in the Azores
. The population in 2001 was 1,541, its density is 44.76/km² and the area is 34.43 km². The parish is one of the largest in the island and in the Azores. It is located east of Lagoa and Ponta Delgada
, west of Povoação
and southeast of Ribeira Grande.
in Vila Franca do Campo
. This includes numerous trees used to re-edify the parochial church by Captain-Donatário Rui Gonçalves. In 1553, then Captain-Donatário D. Manuel da Câmara, issued an edict to re-plant these trees after they were nearly deforested, and roadways were expanded under his son, Rui Gonçalves da Câmara, in order to develop the area, allowing the herding of cattle in the valley after 1577.
Still during the tenure of D. Manuel da Camará, the Governor of the island of São Miguel, a chapel was constructed to the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Consolação (English: Our Lady of Consolation) in 1613, and small residence for the local priest, who was responsible for masses and daily lighting a lamp in the sacristy. Homes soon appeared in this area around 1615, and a small convent was constructed near the chapel. In 1630, as a consequence of the volcanic eruption in the valley, the area became depopulated. But, following these events new settlers returned to the Furnas valley (mostly from Ponta Garça
, Povoação
, Vila Franca
and Maia
) as the land became fertile and better able to sustain a larger population. New roads were constructed on orders between 1682-83, donated by the Baron of Larangeiras.
Even isolated in the interior, the village continued to be vulnerable to pirate attacks. In 1679, Algerian
pirates (from the Barbary coast
) landed in the Portinho de Agrião, sacked the coastal village of Ribeira Quente
, and proceeded to the interior, where the robbed several rams from the valley before returning to the coast. A resident near Agrião petitioned the governor of São Miguel (José Pereira Sodré) for one of the canons that existed at city hall in Vila Franca in order to defend the area from future attacks, but was rejected.
In 1832, an unknown English settler purchased a large parcel around the crater lake to build a home, but unfortunately abandoned it and sold it to the English Consul-General at Ponta Delgada, named Vines, in 1855. There Mr. Vines constructed a summer home, with garden, which he named Grená in honour of his wife's familial relations. His spouse was the niece of Daniel O´Connell (who organized the Catholic movement in Ireland) and stayed at their Irish relatives' home, also called Grená. Upon Consul Vine's death, the home was used by a London surgeon named Hinton (who was a publisher of many works on hygiene and hearing), since Catherine Vine did not wish to return to Furnas. After Hinton's death in 1875, the home was used by Jorge Brown, who exploited the home as a hotel for summer tourism for several years. During this period many travelers stayed at the hotel, including Alice Baker (who wrote "A Summer in the Azores with a Glimpse of Madeira") and some who produced literary and scientific reviews of the area. In 1882, Grená was sold by Catherine Vine's son to Jorge Hayes, following the death of Jorge Brown in the same year. It was occupied by José do Canto
while his home and chapel were being constructed on the other side of the lake.
In June 1840, the population of the valley of Furnas numbered 1320 inhabitants scattered in 334 homes throughout the basin.
, in the historically active Volcanic Complex of Furnas. With a complicated 100,000 year history, the central caldera of the Furnas Volcano is a naturally explosive trachyte structure composed of two main calderas, that through formation, collapse and explosion have marked the natural history of the massif. The oldest caldera has a diameter of approximately 7*5.5 km whose escarpment cuts the lava structures of the neighbouring Volcanic Complex of Povoação to the north and northeast and southeast to valley of Ribeira Quente
. The second caldera (4.5*3.5 km diameter) dates back 35000 years (the youngest caldera) and is geomorphologically identifiable by the 200 metre wall to the north and northwest.
cones and maars resulting from Plinian
and Phreto-plinian eruptions from 5000 years.
Owing to the existence of a population of several thousand people living within and around its caldera it is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in archipelago. Throughout its history, volcanic activity at Furnas has been essentially explosive but eruptive styles have varied from mild effusive activity to at least two caldera-forming eruptions 30,000 and 12,000-10,000 years ago. It is considered very active, since ten sub-Plinian eruptions have occurred within the past 5,000 years, producing a total area of 0.9 kilometres square of fairly homogeneous trachytic magma.
The first known historical eruption occurred in 1440, just after early settlers started populating the coasts of São Miguel. The latest eruption occurred after the settlement of the Azores archipelago in 1630 A.D., and caused the deaths of 200 people. Eruptions of the Upper Furnas Group were mainly characterised by alternating episodes of magmatic and phreatomagmatic activity producing deposits of inter-bedded volcanic ash
and lapilli
that overlie the widespread main deposits from the adjacent Fogo volcano. At least three of these eruptions were accompanied by trachyte dome extrusions in the final phases of the eruption.
The western of the two calderas is partially filled by a crater lake
, Lagoa das Furnas, at an elevation of 359 m (1,181 ft), and populated by several fumarole
s and mud pools are located at the northern part of the lake. In the central part of the village, springs and geysers are prevalent; thirty springs, each of differing temperatures and chemical compositions, including warm iron-rich streams and piped examples of mineral-rich warm and cold water. The geysers are situated in several basins rich in sodium bicarbonate
, boron
, fluorine
and traces of carbon dioxide
. The local inhabitants cook corn-type dishes in the geysers. The installations of hydrotherapy
are in the park and were built in the 19th century.
is to the south.
and legumes, taro
, pumpkin, squash and junça during this period of settlement. In 1661, the Corregidor
André Lopes Pinto e Vasconcellos the landowners in Furnas to plant at least one alqueire
of taro in order to stave-off malnutrition, provide feed for pigs and later in order to provide a source of export trade. Lupin beans were also important crops during this period, usually planted between October and November, with some variation in order to increase soil nutrients and support standard crops, such as corn
, fava beans and wheat
.
The main industries are agriculture and tourism.
Povoação
Povoação is a municipality located in the southern part of São Miguel Island in the Azores. It has a population of 6,696 inhabitants and a total area of 108 km².-Geography:...
on the island of São Miguel
São Miguel Island
São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...
in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
. The population in 2001 was 1,541, its density is 44.76/km² and the area is 34.43 km². The parish is one of the largest in the island and in the Azores. It is located east of Lagoa and Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada is a city and municipality on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. It includes 44,403 residents in the urban area, and approximately 20,113 inhabitants in the three central parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro,...
, west of Povoação
Povoação
Povoação is a municipality located in the southern part of São Miguel Island in the Azores. It has a population of 6,696 inhabitants and a total area of 108 km².-Geography:...
and southeast of Ribeira Grande.
History
One of the earliest references to Furnas came from the harvesting of trees in the valley of Furnas, in order to assist the construction of many of the homes destroyed by the 1522 earthquakes and landslidesTimeline of natural disasters in the Azores
Although this list is not necessarily comprehensive, the following natural disasters have affected the Azores:-1401-1500:*Around 1432: First recorded famine in the Azores....
in Vila Franca do Campo
Vila Franca do Campo
Vila Franca do Campo is a town and a municipality in the southern part of the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese Autonomous Region of the Azores...
. This includes numerous trees used to re-edify the parochial church by Captain-Donatário Rui Gonçalves. In 1553, then Captain-Donatário D. Manuel da Câmara, issued an edict to re-plant these trees after they were nearly deforested, and roadways were expanded under his son, Rui Gonçalves da Câmara, in order to develop the area, allowing the herding of cattle in the valley after 1577.
Still during the tenure of D. Manuel da Camará, the Governor of the island of São Miguel, a chapel was constructed to the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Consolação (English: Our Lady of Consolation) in 1613, and small residence for the local priest, who was responsible for masses and daily lighting a lamp in the sacristy. Homes soon appeared in this area around 1615, and a small convent was constructed near the chapel. In 1630, as a consequence of the volcanic eruption in the valley, the area became depopulated. But, following these events new settlers returned to the Furnas valley (mostly from Ponta Garça
Ponta Garça
Ponta Garça is a parish in the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2001 was 3577, its density was 129.1/km² and the area was 27.7 km². It is the largest parish in Vila Franca do Campo. It is located on a road linking Lagoa and Ponta Delgada and the...
, Povoação
Povoação
Povoação is a municipality located in the southern part of São Miguel Island in the Azores. It has a population of 6,696 inhabitants and a total area of 108 km².-Geography:...
, Vila Franca
Vila Franca do Campo
Vila Franca do Campo is a town and a municipality in the southern part of the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese Autonomous Region of the Azores...
and Maia
Maia
Maia is a female given name of Greek origin. Together with other similar words, it may refer to:- Mythology :* Maia , the eldest of the Pleiades in Greek mythology, also identified with an Ancient Italic goddess of spring and the most beautiful....
) as the land became fertile and better able to sustain a larger population. New roads were constructed on orders between 1682-83, donated by the Baron of Larangeiras.
Even isolated in the interior, the village continued to be vulnerable to pirate attacks. In 1679, Algerian
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
pirates (from the Barbary coast
Barbary Coast
The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to much of the collective land of the Berber people. Today, the terms Maghreb and "Tamazgha" correspond roughly to "Barbary"...
) landed in the Portinho de Agrião, sacked the coastal village of Ribeira Quente
Ribeira Quente
Ribeira Quente is a civil parish in the municipality of Povoação in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2001 is 798 in an area of 9.04 km² : the smallest in area, the lowest and the southernmost parish in municipality....
, and proceeded to the interior, where the robbed several rams from the valley before returning to the coast. A resident near Agrião petitioned the governor of São Miguel (José Pereira Sodré) for one of the canons that existed at city hall in Vila Franca in order to defend the area from future attacks, but was rejected.
In 1832, an unknown English settler purchased a large parcel around the crater lake to build a home, but unfortunately abandoned it and sold it to the English Consul-General at Ponta Delgada, named Vines, in 1855. There Mr. Vines constructed a summer home, with garden, which he named Grená in honour of his wife's familial relations. His spouse was the niece of Daniel O´Connell (who organized the Catholic movement in Ireland) and stayed at their Irish relatives' home, also called Grená. Upon Consul Vine's death, the home was used by a London surgeon named Hinton (who was a publisher of many works on hygiene and hearing), since Catherine Vine did not wish to return to Furnas. After Hinton's death in 1875, the home was used by Jorge Brown, who exploited the home as a hotel for summer tourism for several years. During this period many travelers stayed at the hotel, including Alice Baker (who wrote "A Summer in the Azores with a Glimpse of Madeira") and some who produced literary and scientific reviews of the area. In 1882, Grená was sold by Catherine Vine's son to Jorge Hayes, following the death of Jorge Brown in the same year. It was occupied by José do Canto
José do Canto
José do Canto was Azorean landowner and intellectual who distinguished himself as a bibliographer and promoter new agricultural technologies and species into the Azores...
while his home and chapel were being constructed on the other side of the lake.
In June 1840, the population of the valley of Furnas numbered 1320 inhabitants scattered in 334 homes throughout the basin.
Physical geography
Furnas is located in the easternmost of three active trachytic volcanoes on the island of São MiguelSão Miguel Island
São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...
, in the historically active Volcanic Complex of Furnas. With a complicated 100,000 year history, the central caldera of the Furnas Volcano is a naturally explosive trachyte structure composed of two main calderas, that through formation, collapse and explosion have marked the natural history of the massif. The oldest caldera has a diameter of approximately 7*5.5 km whose escarpment cuts the lava structures of the neighbouring Volcanic Complex of Povoação to the north and northeast and southeast to valley of Ribeira Quente
Ribeira Quente
Ribeira Quente is a civil parish in the municipality of Povoação in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2001 is 798 in an area of 9.04 km² : the smallest in area, the lowest and the southernmost parish in municipality....
. The second caldera (4.5*3.5 km diameter) dates back 35000 years (the youngest caldera) and is geomorphologically identifiable by the 200 metre wall to the north and northwest.
Pumice
Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...
cones and maars resulting from Plinian
Plinian eruption
Plinian eruptions, also known as 'Vesuvian eruptions', are volcanic eruptions marked by their similarity to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 ....
and Phreto-plinian eruptions from 5000 years.
Owing to the existence of a population of several thousand people living within and around its caldera it is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in archipelago. Throughout its history, volcanic activity at Furnas has been essentially explosive but eruptive styles have varied from mild effusive activity to at least two caldera-forming eruptions 30,000 and 12,000-10,000 years ago. It is considered very active, since ten sub-Plinian eruptions have occurred within the past 5,000 years, producing a total area of 0.9 kilometres square of fairly homogeneous trachytic magma.
The first known historical eruption occurred in 1440, just after early settlers started populating the coasts of São Miguel. The latest eruption occurred after the settlement of the Azores archipelago in 1630 A.D., and caused the deaths of 200 people. Eruptions of the Upper Furnas Group were mainly characterised by alternating episodes of magmatic and phreatomagmatic activity producing deposits of inter-bedded volcanic ash
Volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
and lapilli
Lapilli
Lapilli is a size classification term for tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. Lapilli means "little stones" in Latin. They are in some senses similar to ooids or pisoids in calcareous sediments.By definition lapilli range...
that overlie the widespread main deposits from the adjacent Fogo volcano. At least three of these eruptions were accompanied by trachyte dome extrusions in the final phases of the eruption.
The western of the two calderas is partially filled by a crater lake
Crater lake
A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are called caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not...
, Lagoa das Furnas, at an elevation of 359 m (1,181 ft), and populated by several fumarole
Fumarole
A fumarole is an opening in a planet's crust, often in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen sulfide. The steam is created when superheated water turns to steam as its pressure drops when it emerges from...
s and mud pools are located at the northern part of the lake. In the central part of the village, springs and geysers are prevalent; thirty springs, each of differing temperatures and chemical compositions, including warm iron-rich streams and piped examples of mineral-rich warm and cold water. The geysers are situated in several basins rich in sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula Na HCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda . The natural mineral form is...
, boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
, fluorine
Fluorine
Fluorine is the chemical element with atomic number 9, represented by the symbol F. It is the lightest element of the halogen column of the periodic table and has a single stable isotope, fluorine-19. At standard pressure and temperature, fluorine is a pale yellow gas composed of diatomic...
and traces of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
. The local inhabitants cook corn-type dishes in the geysers. The installations of hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy, involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 19th century...
are in the park and were built in the 19th century.
Human geography
Furnas has a primary school, a church and a square (praça). It is connected by road to Ponta Delgada and the municipal seat and to Ribeira Grande. The Atlantic OceanAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
is to the south.
Economy
Remotely, the principal economy in the valley was the production of honey and wax: Jesuit priests had introduced this activity originally, producing a barrel (volume) or one-and-a-half barrels annually. Valley farmers also routinely cultivated wheatWheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and legumes, taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...
, pumpkin, squash and junça during this period of settlement. In 1661, the Corregidor
Corregidor (position)
A corregidor was a local, administrative and judicial position in Spain and its empire. He was the highest authority of a Corregimiento. In the Americas a corregidor was often called an alcalde mayor. They began to be appointed in fourteenth century Castile and the institution was definitively...
André Lopes Pinto e Vasconcellos the landowners in Furnas to plant at least one alqueire
Alqueire
The alqueire is a measure of land used in Brazil and Portugal.Several regional versions of the measurement exist:The alqueire was also an old Portuguese measure of capacity which varied between 13 and 22 litres. It was generally used for grain....
of taro in order to stave-off malnutrition, provide feed for pigs and later in order to provide a source of export trade. Lupin beans were also important crops during this period, usually planted between October and November, with some variation in order to increase soil nutrients and support standard crops, such as corn
Corn
Corn is the name used in the United States, Canada, and Australia for the grain maize.In much of the English-speaking world, the term "corn" is a generic term for cereal crops, such as* Barley* Oats* Wheat* Rye- Places :...
, fava beans and wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
.
The main industries are agriculture and tourism.
Architecture
Apart from many of the medieval-type local residences, and the modern interpretations of these historic homes, there are other distinct buildings erected within the territory of Furnas:- Chapel of Nossa Senhora das VitóriasChapel of Nossa Senhora das Vitórias (Furnas)The Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Vitórias , dedicated to Our Lady of the Victories, a small funerary chapel on the southwestern corner of Lagoa das Furnas in the civil parish of Furnas, on the Azorean island of São Miguel.-History:...
- located on the margin of Furnas Lake, the funerary chapel was constructed by José do CantoJosé do CantoJosé do Canto was Azorean landowner and intellectual who distinguished himself as a bibliographer and promoter new agricultural technologies and species into the Azores...
the gentlemen-farmer and botanist of São Miguel, to serve as a mausoleum for him and his wife. Constructed in a Neo-Gothic style, it is a cathedral writ small, in an isolated location, on property held by the owner.
See also
- List of volcanoes in Azores
- Água de AltoÁgua de AltoÁgua de Alto is a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2001 was 1624, its density is 88.2/km² and the area is 18.41 km². It is located on a road linking Ponta Delgada, Lagoa and the municipal seat. It is located east of Ponta...
, parish to west - Ribeira QuenteRibeira QuenteRibeira Quente is a civil parish in the municipality of Povoação in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2001 is 798 in an area of 9.04 km² : the smallest in area, the lowest and the southernmost parish in municipality....
, parish to east