After the island of São Miguel was discovered, its discoverers returned to the Kingdom. As they sailed away, and while the island was still within sight, they repeatedly looked back and carefully observed its form. They noted that at each end of its length there stood a very high peak. Just as these peaks marked the two extremes of the island, they were also remarkable in size, greatly surpassing all the other mountains that lay between them.

The pilot marked the island by these two peaks so that it could later be easily recognized. When they arrived in Sagres, as has already been said, the Infante granted the captaincy of the island to Friar Gonçalo Velho, together with that of the island of Santa Maria. Soon afterward he ordered another expedition to return to the island—either led by Friar Gonçalo Velho together with the pilot, or perhaps the pilot alone with other companions—to release cattle, birds, and other necessary things, and also to test the fertility of the land with seeds of wheat and legumes.

Departing from Sagres, they sailed with favorable winds. However, when the pilot again came within sight of the island, he did not recognize it. He could see only the peak on the eastern side and not the one on the western side, which had served as a landmark on the previous voyage.

During the time between their return to the Kingdom and their second voyage, a great fire had arisen—the first known eruption on this land. The high peak on the northwestern side of the island, near the point of Mosteiros, had burst and collapsed. In that place are now the depressions known as the Sete Cidades, about which more will be told later.

The pilot and those aboard the ship saw large quantities of pumice stone and tree trunks floating in the sea, which had been thrown out by this eruption, though they did not understand the cause at the time. Although traces and effects of this fire were later found—evidence that the peak had burst and sunk—the eruption itself had not been witnessed because the island was not yet inhabited when it occurred.

Pedro Gonçalves Delgado and Duarte Vaz, his brother, relatives of the earliest settlers, later reported that they had heard from their father that the pilot and the first settlers had difficulty recognizing the island because the peak by which they had marked it had disappeared. The fire, unknown to them, had erupted earlier and destroyed that great mountain.

Nevertheless, they eventually came ashore at Povoação, where they had first landed. There they confirmed that it was indeed the same island they had previously marked. It was there that the first settlement of people was established on São Miguel.

The settlers landed on the day dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michael, the twenty-ninth of September of that same year. Because this was the first settlement, the place later became known as Povoação Velha (“Old Settlement”), in contrast to the other settlements that would later arise on the island.

It was considered a great gift from God and a special grace that the island appeared and was first discovered on the day of Saint Michael’s apparition, and that it was rediscovered and settled on the day of his dedication. For this reason the entire island was dedicated to this Holy Archangel, Prince of the Church, who became its patron and protector. Thus the island took his name: São Miguel.

The first settlers lived in simple huts made of straw and hay. For nearly a year they heard tremendous noises—roaring and rumbling—from the earth, accompanied by violent tremors. These disturbances were believed to be the lingering effects of the eruption that had destroyed the great peak. The settlers were astonished and frightened. Life was difficult, and they survived with great hardship.

At one point they even resolved to return to the Kingdom. However, they lacked a ship, since the vessel that had brought them had already departed.

Because there are many differing accounts of these early events, and various things are told about them, all will be reported here so that each reader may judge which version seems most true.

Accounts of the First Settlers

Some say that the first inhabitants who arrived on the ship and landed on the island were:

• Jorge Velho and his wife Africãnes
• Pero de São Miguel and his wife Aldonça Roiz
• João de Rodes
• João de Arraiolos (whom some call João de Araújo)

They were said to be natives of Africa and servants of the Infante Dom Henrique, who had sent them to test the land.

According to this account, they were the first to administer justice on the island. They once hanged a man from a tree in Povoação and, only after his death, conducted an inquiry into his crimes—something that was sometimes done in Castile. When the condemned man pleaded for his defense, they replied:

“First we judge you, then we hang you, and afterward we conduct the inquiry.”

With such doctrine, it was said, the land could hardly fail to be well governed. If thieves and wrongdoers had always been punished immediately when caught, many would not later have stolen freely without punishment. Yet, as often happens with extreme measures, such harsh justice did not endure for long.

Another Story

Others recount that after the discovery of São Miguel—but before it was settled—an affair took place on the already inhabited island of Santa Maria. A man fell in love with a married woman and killed her husband. To escape justice, he fled with the woman and sought help from a friend.

With the friend’s assistance, they stole a boat during the night and sailed to the island of São Miguel, which they had seen or heard about from Santa Maria. They landed at Povoação, which was the nearest point from their departure.

Not long afterward, settlers sent by the Infante arrived at the same harbor. They noticed footprints and other signs of people in the sand and soil, which surprised them greatly. Yet the fugitives did not show themselves. Instead, they secretly stole food and clothing from the newcomers.

According to the story, the friend who had helped the murderer later fell in love with the same woman. When the first man discovered this, he killed him as well. Thus, for the love of the same woman, he had now killed two men.

The settlers eventually set traps and captured him. Some say the woman, weary of living in such hardship in a wild land, surrendered herself to the settlers. Others say they were both captured together. In any case, she revealed the truth of the events, and the man was hanged without further legal process.

Another Version of the Story

Another account claims that ten or twelve married men arrived with their wives and children and settled in Povoação Velha. Among them was a single man who refused to work or hunt with the others. Instead, he remained in the huts while the others were away.

Fearing that he might behave improperly toward their wives, the men decided to punish him. They appointed among themselves a judge, a clerk, and an officer of justice. Accusing him of adultery, they sentenced him to death and hanged him from a tree.

Later, the Infante Dom Pedro—then Regent of the Kingdom—summoned them to answer for their actions. However, at the request of the Infante Dom Henrique, who wished to encourage the settlement of the island, they were pardoned.

Discovery of Fertile Lands

It is also said that the first settlers sowed wheat in the fields near Povoação. The soil was so fertile that the wheat produced only thick stalks with large leaves but no ears of grain—something similar to what was later reported in Brazil.

Believing the land unsuitable for wheat, they wrote to the Infante saying that the island was narrow and mountainous and should not be settled. However, they admitted that many legumes—such as peas, lentils, and beans—grew abundantly, and that the livestock multiplied greatly.

The Infante replied that such abundance alone was reason enough to settle the island. He also suggested that if wheat did not grow well in that particular place, it might grow better elsewhere.

This proved to be correct. Some years later, while exploring the coast in a small boat, the settlers landed near a small islet offshore. In the wide and fertile plain there they planted wheat, which yielded so abundantly that it astonished them.

Later a town was built there and was named Vila Franca do Campo, because it was established in that open plain.

The Arrival of Gonçalo Vaz

Another tradition holds that the true founding of the settlement came with the arrival of Gonçalo Vaz, known as “the Great”, who later served as magistrate for the captain of the island. He had been sent by the Infante Dom Henrique to settle São Miguel.

With him came several companions, including:

• Afonso Anes do Penedo
• Rodrigo Afonso
• Afonso Anes, known as “the Colombreiro”
• Vasco Pereira
• João Afonso d’Abelheira
• Pedro Afonso
• João Pires
• Gonçalo de Teves, royal tax officer
• Pero Cordeiro, his brother, clerk and notary in the Azores

They were joined by the African nobles previously mentioned and by other men whose names are no longer known.

When they landed near the river of Povoação, the women went among the tall grasses. There, the wife of Gonçalo Vaz discovered a dead man hidden among the reeds. She cried out in fear, and the others rushed to see the body, astonished to find a corpse in an apparently deserted land.

Soon afterward the killer appeared and confessed the crime. Out of pity they allowed him to remain among them. However, the woman who had been with him hid herself in the mountains and was later found near a stream after surviving on wild fruits and shellfish.

This stream became known as Ribeira da Mulher (“Woman’s Stream”).

The murderer later began stealing food and burning the settlers’ huts. Unable to capture him easily in the dense forests that covered the island, the settlers devised a plan. They pretended to depart by boat along the coast while leaving watchers behind.

When the man returned to the huts to steal again, the watchers captured him. Since there was no prison, the settlers gathered and decided to hang him for the murders and the disturbances he had caused. They carried out the execution immediately, hanging him from a large juniper tree.

Afterward they wrote a report of the case and sent it to the Infante Dom Henrique, who approved their actions.

The Beginning of the Settlement

Despite the many different versions of these events, most accounts agree that there were two early phases of settlement.

The first involved the African nobles sent by the Infante mainly to test the land and its fertility after livestock had been released there.

The second and more organized settlement came later with Gonçalo Vaz the Great and his companions—honorable men of the household of the Infante Dom Henrique and others from the Algarve—who were sent specifically to populate the island.

From these early settlers the population of São Miguel gradually grew and spread across the island, later joined by many other noble and honorable people from different parts of Portugal.

It is believed that Gonçalo Vaz arrived around the year 1449, shortly after King Afonso V granted the Infante Dom Henrique permission to begin the formal settlement of the Azores—lands that had already been discovered and where livestock had already been released under the direction of Gonçalo Velho, commander of Almourol.