AZORES, or WESTERN ISLANDS, a Portuguese archipelago, in the mid Atlantic, between 36° 55' and 39° 55' N. lat. and between 25° 10' and 31° 16' W. long. Stretching over a distance of 400 miles, their nine islands are divided into three distinct groups—Sta. Maria and Sao Miguel in the S. E.; Terceira, Sao Jorge, Pico, Graciosa, and Fayal in the middle; and Flores and Corvo in the N. W. Of these, Flores lies 1,176 miles W. of Cape Rocca in Portugal, 1,484 S. W. of Falmouth, and 1,708 E. S. E. of Halifax. In 1431-1-153 the Azores were taken possession of by the Portuguese. They were at that time uninhabited; but that they had been vis ited by the Carthaginians is proved by Punic coins found on Corvo. They seem to have been known to the Arabian geographer Edrisi in the 12th century; and they are marked distinctly on a map of 1351. The Portuguese colo nists called the whole group Azores, from acor or azor, a hawk; and they named two individual islands, Corvo and Sa5 Jorge, from Corvi Marini and San Zorze, which, according to a map of 1375, had been previously seen in the Western ocean. In 1466 Alfonso V.
made a life grant of the island of Fayal to his aunt, the Duchess of Burgundy, and from this circumstance many set tlers migrated thither from Flanders.
The total area of the group is 919 square miles, and the pop. about 260,000. The capital is Angra, in Terceira; but Ponta Delgada, in Sa5 Miguel, is a larger town. The Azores are of volcanic origin, and with the exception of Corvo, Flores, and Graciosa, are still liable to eruptions and violent earthquakes, the worst of 21 shocks since 1444 having been those of 1591, 1638, 1719, and 1841. Hot mineral springs are numerous; and the baths of Furnas, in Sao Miguel, are much resorted to by invalids. The islands have a considerable trade in fruit with Portu gal, England, Brazil, and other countries. The greatest want of the group is a good harbor. The Azores are regarded as a province, not a colony, of Portugal, and as belonging to Europe.