Lajes das Flores
Encyclopedia
Lajes das Flores (ˈlaʒɨʒ ðɐʃ ˈfloɾɨʃ) is municipality in the western part of 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...

; it includes the southern portion of the island of Flores and is encircled almost entirely by the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic 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...

 except for the north, where it is bordered by Santa Cruz das Flores
Santa Cruz das Flores
Santa Cruz das Flores is a municipality in Portugal, located across from the island of Corvo on the island of Flores, in the western part of the autonomous region of Azores. With an area of 70.9 km² its approximately 2,500 inhabitants occupy the northern half of the island...

. It has a population of 1,491 inhabitants and a total area of 70.1 km². Its municipal seat is in the parish of the same name
Lajes das Flores (parish)
Lajes das Flores is an Azorean civil parish, and municipal seat of the municipality of Lajes das Flores; it is an administrative division that occupies an area of 18.45 km², has a population of less than 540 residents , or approximately 29.3 inhabitants/km²...

.

History

The first documented reference to Lajes was to the first religious parish on the island, to the invocation of Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Our Lady of the Rosary). Lajes, the town, was the first area to be populated in the southern part of the island, around the 16th Century; in 1510, owing to its natural port and growing settlement it prospered, attaining the title of "vila" (town) by 1515 (becoming, some say, the oldest settlement in the Western Group of Azorean islands).

Initially, Lajes das Flores extended from Ribeira da Silva (now part of the parish of Lomba) to Fajã Grande (which included the localities of Lajedo, Fajãzinha, Caldeira, Mosteiro, Fajã Grande and Fazenda). The western places, with the exception of Lajedo, were de-annexed to form the parish of Nossa Senhora dos Fajã, an independent parish in 1676 (and whose seat in Fajãzinha. Fazenda, was eventually de-annexed in 1919.

Around the 19th-Century, due to the rivalries on the small island, and owing to Santa Cruz das Flores' dominance economically and politically, it was undertaken to unify Lajes and Santa Cruz municipalities into one. The Civil Governor of the District of Horta (which included within it the islands of Horta, Flores and Corvo), António José Vieira Santa Rita, in a royal report dated 1869, rationalized that the island could not support two municipalities, and that on the island of Corvo "one administrative parish is enough for the population". Continuing he affirmed that "in actuality, instead of benefitting, the [municipal status] is a burden on the population who would have it alleviated...they find themselves annexed already for falling under...the Municipality of Santa Cruz, and also by the service of the industry and judiciary". On June 26, 1867, then national assembly deputy Martens Ferrão had suggested the same in that "the two islands Flores and Corvo would be constituted as just one municipality, and that it naturally should be her future." In his analysis, José António Vieira Santa Rita also proposed the extinction of Lajes, finding that the residents of the Villa would unfavourably, but that the rest of the southern settlers would tolerate it. The fusion of the municipalities was forced by decrete on November 18, 1895, and published in the official journal the following day, and included the suppression of the municipalities of Lajes and Corvo. This was appreciated and supported by the Municipal government in Santa Cruz das Flores, during this time governed by the "Partido Regenerador (Cartista
Cartista
In the history of Portugal, a Cartista was a member of the party that led Portugal over to a more conservative form of the liberalism that had arisen after the revolution of 1820, centered around the Constitutional Charter of 1826, granted by Pedro IV in an attempt to reduce the conflicts opened up...

s)", of which the former Martens Ferrão was a member. Ironically, this change did not last too long; on January 13, 1898, the Cartistas fell out of favor, and the municipalities were restored: Lajes das Flores, Santa Cruz das Flores and Corvo. This change was welcome to the small bourgeois in Lajes; on March 17, 1898, the restored Municipal Council sent a formal letter of thanks to the Miniter of the King, José Luciano de Castro, for "...the autonomy which was disputed by the populous in general in all the municipality". From that session onwards the main square of Lajes was renamed from the plain Largo do Município to Largo do Exmo. Conselheiro José Luciano de Castro.

The establishment of the Telecommunications Station and French Base on the Flores (in 1960), although in Santa Cruz, was an economic benefit to most of the citizens in both municipalities. The first aspect station to arrive in Lajes municiplaity was the Radionaval Station, which was installed in the Lajes lighthouse (in the centre of town). The lands were expropriated for the station in 1945, although the final inauguration did not occur until 1951. In 1965 the LORAN
LORAN
LORAN is a terrestrial radio navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters in multiple deployment to determine the location and speed of the receiver....

 Station of Flores was completed in the parish of Fazenda.

The completion of the commercial port in Lajes was significant in altering the roadways of the southern municipality, during the mandate of its President/Mayor Albino Cristiano Gomes.

Geography

The southern municipality is more widely populated then its northern neighbour, although settlements within the interior are considered few and scattered on the rugged landscape. Lajes is composed of seven civil parishes with their own administrative organs (Juntas de Freguesia), they include:
  • Fajã Grande
    Fajã Grande
    Fajã Grande is a rural civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores in the archipelago of the Azores. In the most recent census reported, the parish had 225 inhabitants in an area of approximately 12.5 km²; its density is 17.9/km²...

     - located in the basin and fajã on the western coast, with a population of less than 250 inhabitants;
  • Fajãzinha
    Fajãzinha
    There is also in Cape Verde, see Fajãzinha, Cape VerdeFajãzinha is a civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores located 15 km from the town of Lajes das Flores, on the western coast of Flores. It is one of the least populated on the island. In 2001 its population was 105 inhabitants...

     - less than 100 residents live in this community, located north of Fajã Grande; Fajãzinha is a diminutive of fajã, referring to it being a small agglomeration of homes in the corner of the fajã;
  • Fazenda
    Fazenda (Azores)
    Fazenda is a civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores, on the island of Flores, in the Azores. With a population of less than 300 people occupying an area of 9.43 km², this parish is the youngest in the municipality, having been de-annexed from the Villa of Lajes das Flores in...

     - literally meaning "commercial goods" or "location where [these] goods are available for sale", it was the last civil parish to be formed (de-annexed from its neighbour in 1919); there less than 300 people living in an area of 29.5/km²;
  • Lajedo
    Lajedo (Lajes das Flores)
    Lajedo is a civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores on the island of Flores, in the Azores. The population in 2001 is 107, its density is 6.73/km² and the area is 15.9 km²....

     - an agricultural community located 9 km from Lajes, and close to one of the islands ex-libris, the Rocha dos Bordões, as well as other natural monuments;
  • Lajes das Flores
    Lajes das Flores (parish)
    Lajes das Flores is an Azorean civil parish, and municipal seat of the municipality of Lajes das Flores; it is an administrative division that occupies an area of 18.45 km², has a population of less than 540 residents , or approximately 29.3 inhabitants/km²...

     - the seat of the municipal government, located in the southeast coast; largest population center in the municipality;
  • Lomba
    Lomba (Lajes das Flores)
    Lomba is a civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores on the island of Flores in the Azores. The population in 2001 is 197, its density is 19.7/km, and the area is 10.02 km²...

     - location of the island's first chapel, and neighbor of the parish of Lajes, Lomba literally represents an area border by river-valleys along the southern coast;
  • Mosteiro
    Mosteiro (Lajes das Flores)
    Mosteiro is the smallest civil parish In the municipality of Lajes das Flores on the island of Flores; it has less than 50 inhabitants and covers an area of 6.2 km²...

    - the smallest parish in area and density, with less than 50 residents; it is the second smallest center on the island.

Economy

Lajes economy is driven by agriculture, including dairy production, and a reasonable fishery. In the past, whale-hunting was an aspect of the latter economy, during the 1960-70s, which has since been abandoned (although remnants of this aspect are visible in some of the communities.
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