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Pico Island

Portuguese island in Azores archipelago

  • 16 min read
  • 5 chapters
Madalena do Pico
JCNazza · CC BY 3.0

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History

The exact date of the island's discovery is not known. However, in the 1375 Catalan Atlas, Pico is depicted along several other islands of the Azores, where it is labelled as li colunbj. In Cristoforo Soligo's map from 1475, Pico is described both as Dom Diniz (or São Diniz) island and as Insula Columbi.

Although the Azores were inhabited since 1439, settlement on Pico only started in the 1480s when Pico became part of the neighboring island of Faial's control. Pico is thought to be the last of the islands of the Central Group to be occupied.

In a letter dated March 28, 1481, the administrator of the Azores, D. Beatriz, gave the possession of the island of Pico to the first captain of the donatarie, D. Álvaro d'Ornelas, a resident of island of Madeira, on the condition that he populate the island ('Captains', often of noble heritage, obtained land rights in regions not important enough to merit a 'governor', and were a cheap way for the state to settle new territory). d'Ornelas failed to attract settlers, so on December 29, 1482, the Flemish captain of the island of Faial, 7 km from Pico, Jós d'Hutra, became the new captain. The transfer of the island of Pico to Jós d'Hutra not only confirms that Pico was not colonized at the end of the 15th century, but also demonstrates the interest in boosting the insular population of the islands of the central group. This was understandable given the growing geo-economic importance of the Azores archipelago at that time, as the Portuguese monarchy was expanding into Morocco and along the west African coast.

Population grew slowly, in part because of difficulties cultivating wheat. By 1587, there were less than 3,000 inhabitants. Soil quality is conditioned by the volcanic soils consisting mostly of lightly weathered recent basalt (designated as "biscoitos" or "mistérios"). Examples include the Mistério de São João, resulting from a 1718 eruption. In addition, there are few rivers on the island compared to other parts of the archipelago. The last eruptions of magma took place in 1718 and 1720 and generated three volcanic cinder cones (Mistérios): Santa Luzia and São João in 1718 and Silveira in 1720.

Aside from a few slaves sent to herd sheep in isolation before European settlement, the island's first inhabitants were primarily Portuguese, but of diverse origins. Settlers of Portuguese origin arrived from different parts of the metropolis, some passing through Madeira Island or other Azorean islands, particularly Terceira. Some inhabitants had noble origins, owning land and goods; there were secular and regular clergy, especially the Franciscans; and another group consisted of merchants, craftsmen, farmers and artisans. A small number of Jews came from the beginning of the 16th century, and there were indentured slaves of African origin at this time who farmed and did domestic work. The first municipality in Pico was established at Lajes, where fresh water was available (the place-name, Ribeiras, attests to this).

Around 9,000 lived on Pico by 1695. Pico moved "up the ladder" of urban hierarchies from fifth largest centre in the Azores to fourth, behind São Miguel, Terceira and Faial. By the middle of the 18th century, the population was over 19,000 people. In 1542, the inhabitants of the north of the island asked King João III to create a second village, to allow better law and order in a frontier economy with theft and corruption. São Roque do Pico was established. It was only much later, when the link between the islands of Pico and Faial strengthened further, that there was a need to create a third municipality; Madalena was established in 1723 (the larger town of Horta is 7 km away on Faial, and was where many of the island's property-owners and winemakers lived).

The islands of Pico and Faial were administered jointly until 1766, when Pico became an integral part of the Province of the Azores, led by a captain-general based in Angra. Centralizing governance in this way had poor success: in 1836, the people of Pico were integrated into a smaller administrative unit again, the third Azorean district, with the islands of Faial, Flores and Corvo.

Settlers initially farmed wheat and some olives in addition to developing a woad industry, as on Faial (based on lichens that were exported to Flanders to produce commercial dyes). The two islands often shared livelihood activities Viticulture, helped by the richer soils found in suitable micro-climates, then grew rapidly. The industry was disturbed by the last volcanic eruptions, but viticulture expanded commercial livelihood opportunities considerably. Pico's famous verdelho wine production, dating back two centuries, was widely appreciated in many countries (including England and in the Americas and even in the palaces of the Russian czars). Viticulture declined with the spread of powdery mildew and phylloxera during the middle of the 19th century, creating a crisis on the island that lasted until the 20th century.

The other major economic activity was whaling. The presence of American and British whalers in the waters of the Azores at the end of the 18th century stabilized the economy. Spermwhale hunting became the primary industry around the island until it was abolished in 1986. The whale factory is now a museum.

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