who are we? Where are we?

In the Atlantic Ocean, the Archipelago of The Azores is form by nine volcanic islands a distance of 1.220 kilometres to the west of Portugal, country of which it forms a part. Close to the archipelagos of Madeira, Savages, Canaries, Cape Verde and part of Morocco shape the Atlantic zone named the Macaronesia, and America and Europe are located in a strategic average point between Norths.

The Azores were colonized by Portuguese in the middle of the XVth century, and had a population of 336.000 inhabitants. The archipelago gets its name from the eagle’s mousetraps that the explorers saw when they overfly the zone, and those that they confused with goshawks.

Born of the fire, The Azores are a whole laboratory of volcanology that has determined a peculiar topography in every island, characterized by the existence of several ecosystems of exuberant vegetation. They all rest beyond impressive volcanic cones that break over the clouds, being Pico Alto (2.351 meters) the highest mountain of Portugal.

The subtropical humid and soft climate of which the archipelago benefits practically the whole year, it’s because the influence of the Gulf Stream, concentrating the season of rains between November and March. Nevertheless, in The Azores throughout the day can be given the determining weather one of four seasons, without disturbing the peacefully atmosphere that is breathed in each of this islands.

Its peoples support very deep-rooted manifestations of great popular fervour, because a past of resistance and tradition, known in its fortifications and present in those of great devotion holidays of the Holy Spirit. The character of the islander is, definitively, extraordinarily noble and humble, which is reflected in sincere hospitality towards the visitor.

For what it concerns to its economy, it is based today in tourism, the agriculture and the fishing, but in the past it relied on the hunt for whales, which in this time has acquired popularity as a playtime activity.