The island of Santa Maria (Portuguese for Saint Mary) is an island located in the southeastern part of the Azores and is the southernmost island in the Azores Islands. It was the first island in the Azores Archipelago to be discovered. The discoverer of the island was Diogo Silves before returning for his journey to Madeira in 1427. Gonçalo Velho brought families and cattle to the island. Gabriel delivering the Annunciation to Mary. ... Flag of Azores Shaded relief map of the Azores from 1975 The Azores ( Portuguese: Açores) are an archipelago of Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km from Lisbon and about 3,900 km from the east coast of North America. ... For other uses of the word, see Madeira (disambiguation) Madeira Islands location. ... Events Lincoln College in Oxford is founded. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ...

The area of the island is 97.18 km². The island contains one municipality and is named Vila do Porto and is the oldest Azorean villages. The island also has old houses whith windows that belonged to Capitão Donatário dating back to the 15th century. Vila do Porto is the main village on the island of Santa Maria, part of the archipelago of the Azores. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ...

Santa Maria is the only island in the Azores with great proportions of land that originates from sedimentaries where the marine fossils are founded.

The houses are spreaded by all the island for building of Alentejana houses with large chimneys. The land is very fertile and the rural landscape has a great beauty.

The island also produces arts, crafts, potteries and fish processing.

The island is divided into two regions:

• A flat very dry and sunshine-rich with the main town Vila do Porto (founded around 1430) and a civilian airport (It was an American air base until the Second World War).
• The other part are hilly. The highest point in the island is Pico Alto elevating at 590 m above sea level. The clouds hang themselves in the mountains provides the area for a rich vegetation and permits little agriculture.

The island of Flores was first mentioned in the 16th century after Santa Maria. Events May 23 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne The Ottoman Empire captures Thessalonica from the Venetians Year in topics 1430 in art Births Robert Morton, English composer, approximate date Antoine Busnois, Burgundian composer, approximate date Deaths Christine de Pizan... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... There is more than one entry in wikipedia for Flores Island: Flores, an island arc in Indonesia. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

External link

(in German)

• azoren-online.com (http://www.azoren-online.com/santamaria)