The Azorean islands themselves are ancient, made from hot lava ejected deep under the ocean in times of extreme volcanic violence. Now this is a peaceful archipelago with a varied culture and rich folklore. We’ve tracked the human history of the islands through the millennia to reveal how this magical place’s chequered past has influenced its stories, and at the end we reveal four of Portugal’s best-loved legends.
It all began a very long time ago
In 2010 and 2011 strange structures called hypogea were discovered in the Azores, carved into embankments. Some believe they may have been used for burials. Found on Corvo, Santa Maria and Terceira, if they turn out to be human-made it means there were people here long before the famous Portuguese explorers turned up.
More exciting things were found in 2015 at Grota do Medo site, also on Terceira, this time a stone igloo-like structure made built with enormous boulders that looks a lot like megalithic structures from mainland Europe. Test results proved the organic matter deposited there could be as old as 950 years.
Here come the Portuguese navigators
Whether or not people lived on the islands beforehand, they certainly weren’t there when the Portuguese arrived to stake their claim. ‘Discovered’ by either Diogo de Silves in 1427 or Gonçalo Velho Cabral in 1431, one thing is for sure: the first island seen by European eyes was Santa Maria, closely followed by São Miguel. Farm animals were soon set loose on both islands, followed by human settlers in 1439.
Terceira , which was initially called the island of Jesus Christ, was settled in 1450 or so. The remaining islands followed on, gradually being found and populated. By the 1500s the islands were home to Portuguese folk from the Northern, Estremadura, Algarve and Alentejo areas, along with a flurry of incomers from farther afield. Moors and Jews, Flemish and English, Genoese and French people added extra spice to an already rich mix of cultures, as did the African slaves brought to the islands to work.
The islands survive violence, war and revolution
At the beginning of the 1600s Sao Miguel had fallen into the deadly grip of fierce battles between pirates from across Europe, who only left once the invading Spanish troops drove them away. Terceira was the last Portuguese territory to be stolen by Phillip 2nd of Spain, and the Spanish occupied the islands against the people’s will until 1640, when they finally reverted to Portuguese rule. A peaceful and prosperous period followed until the Portuguese Civil War began in 1820 and Terceira found itself in the firing line again, this time as the HQ of the regime of Maria 1st.
During the Second World War the Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar decided to let Nazi Germany use Azorean navy bases. Luckily he changed his mind and leased the bases to the British instead. If he hadn’t, maybe Nazi Germany would have won the war – and the allies would never have won the Battle of the Atlantic.
All this variety, such a bold mix of cultures and people, through six centuries of war and peace, mean the Azores really is a melting pot, something you can see in the legends and stories still told by locals. There are tall tales of werewolves and witches here, along with fairies and mermaids, ghosts, saints and miracles. There are tales of bravery and cowardice, revenge and hate, love and passion, heroes and villains. Here are four classic Portuguese legends to enrich your holiday.
A tragic love story
Once upon a time a young English man called Roberto Machim, a knight at the court of King Edward the Third, fell in love with an English girl called Anne, who was being forced to marry a nobleman she didn’t love. Machim and his friends decided to rescue her and whisk her away to France. The lovers were caught in a storm and drifted for days until they came across the island that would later become Madeira.
Finally landing at Machico Bay, the couple and the other survivors waited while the remains of the storm storm raged then died away, hiding under the roots of an enormous tree. Afterwards they realised their boat had been washed away. Everyone was in a terrible state, exhausted and ill, and Machim’s beloved died the next day. He erected a huge wooden cross on her grave then, less than a week later, died of a broken heart.
Eventually a Moorish ship found the survivors and brought them on board, taking them to Africa to be sold as slaves. A lone survivor who’d been spared from slavery told Machim’s tragic story to the Portuguese who, returning years later, found the wooden cross and its heartbreaking inscription. They built the island’s first chapel near the enormous tree and called the town Machico to honour the dead man and his love.
A lady sheds a magical tear which turns into an island
Once upon a time , on New Year’s eve, the Virgin Mary was looking sadly down from heaven when Saint Sylvester came along. She told him was mourning the people of the city of Atlantis, sunk to the bottom of the ocean as a punishment from god. Her tears of sadness turned into pearls, one of which fell into the sea, dropped down to the sunken city, then rose out of the water to become a beautiful island. This is Madeira, the Pearl of the Atlantic.
St Sylvester’s weird lights
Once upon a time, on the night of St. Sylvester, at the exact time the clocks struck twelve midnight, people used to see fantastic colours lighting up the sky, leaving a strange scent behind them. It went on for years until finally it stopped happening. The legend is still celebrated on New Year’s Eve with fireworks.
The awesome legend of the Seven Cities
The Lagoon of the Seven Cities at Ponta Delgada is an awe-inspiring place, and it comes with its own legend. Once upon a time a childless king lived on Sao Miguel, a man made cruel by his own bitter unhappiness. When a dazzling star came down from the sky and turned into a beautiful woman, promising the king a daughter, he was understandably thrilled. But she had conditions, the first of which involved him being less nasty.
He also had to build a palace surrounded by seven cities, each with high bronze walls nobody could climb. And the baby girl would have to stay in there, without her father, until she was thirty.
The king said yes but lost patience just two years before the 30 year deadline. He ignored the warnings, and when he started pulling the walls down the whole country sank into the ocean, never to be seen again. The only things remaining were the Azores and the princess’s palace, now the Lagoon of the Seven Cities, split in two into a green lake symbolising the princess’s dress and a blue lake symbolising her shoes.
Take these stories to the Azores with you
Bringing these curious Portuguese legends to the Azores adds richness and interest to an already extraordinary place, a peep into a vibrant past populated by all sorts of people from far-flung places, all of whom brought their cultures with them.
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