The District of Ponta Delgada was a district of the ''Ilhas Adjacentes'' (the former collective name for the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

and

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

), consisting of the dependent eastern islands of the Azores, located in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The district of Ponta Delgada, not to be confused with the modern municipality of Ponta Delgada, existed from 1835 until 1976 when it was abolished in the favour of the autonomy charter of the 1975 Portuguese Constitution.

History

By decree, on 18 July 1835,

Mouzinho da Silveira José Xavier Mouzinho da Silveira (12 July 1780 in Castelo de Vide – 4 April 1849 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese statesman, jurist and politician, as well as one of the most important personalities of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, responsible for ...

established the districts of the ''Ilhas Adjacentes'' as part of his administrative reforms of local government. The provinces were extinguished, and the administrative and fiscal districts were created that included the eastern and western groups of islands: centred on Angra do Heroísmo and Ponta Delgada. This was followed in 1833 by an independence movement by the recently promoted centre of Horta, forcing by 28 March 1836 division the Azorean territory into three districts. During this process Ponta Delgada did not change, and remained defined by the two eastern islands and islets of the Formigas.Estatísticas Históricas Portuguesas
INE 2001 During the Estado Novo regime of

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese statesman, academic, and economist who served as Portugal's President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal, President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1 ...

the region obtained autonomy as a district, especially after 1940. Following the Hot Summer of 1975, a protest in the centre of Ponta Delgada, comprising property-owners and farmers challenged the government of António Borges Coutinho, who was charged with implementing land reforms after the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

. The Micalense Farmers' Protest, forced his resignation, and inspired a series of terrorist acts that plunged the Azores into political turmoil. After a round-up of arrests and detentions by the Military Governor, the Autonomous District of Ponta Delgada was extinguished, along with the other districts ( Horta and

Angra do Heroísmo Angra do Heroísmo (), or simply Angra, is a city and municipality on Terceira Island, Portugal, and one of the three capital cities of the Azores. Founded in 1478, Angra was historically the most important city in the Azores, as seat of the Roma ...

) on 22 August 1975, with the establishment of the''Junta Regional dos Açores'' (''Regional Junta of the Azores''), the provisional government that assumed the competencies of the administration during the region's transition to constitutional autonomy. With

regional autonomy Regional autonomy is the authority of a region to govern and administer the interests of the local people according to its own initiatives. 21st-century examples of disputes over autonomy include the Basque Country and Catalonia in Spain, Sici ...

, the districts were completely abolished: the 1976 Portuguese constitution defined in law the status of

Autonomous Region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or territory, internal territory of a sovereign state that has ...

without the existence of districts. Local government authority and administration fell to the upper-level Local Administrative Units(the municipalities) and second-tier LAU IIs (the civil parishes).

Geography

The district covered about 800 km² and included the two islands of Santa Maria and São Miguel and the small islets of the Formigas. It included the seven municipalities of: * Lagoa *

Nordeste The Northeast Region of Brazil ( ) is one of the five official and political regions of Brazil, regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises nine: Maranhão, ...

Ponta Delgada Ponta Delgada (; ) is the largest municipality (''concelho'') and executive capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. As of 2021, it has 67,2 ...

(former capital) * Povoação *

Ribeira Grande Ribeira Grande may refer to the following places: Cape Verde * Ribeira Grande (stream), a stream on the island of Santo Antão * Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde, a town on the island of Santo Antão * Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde (municipality), a municip ...

* Vila Franca do Campo *

Vila do Porto Vila do Porto (; "Port Town") is the single concelho, municipality, the name of the main town and one of the Vila do Porto (parish), civil parishes on the island of Santa Maria Island, Santa Maria, in the Portugal, Portuguese archipelago of Azor ...

References

;Notes ;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponta Delgada (District) Former subdivisions of the Azores Ponta Delgada History of the Azores