Pedro Miguel

Pedro Miguel is a parish in the northeastern part of the district of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores. The population in 2001 is 723, its density is 49.2/km² and the area is 14.71 km². Pedro Miguel is located 6 km north of the city of Horta on a road encircling the island of Faial. The centre is located in the east side. Farmlands covers the central and the eastern parts, the forests and the mountains cover the western part and borders near the volcanic crater.

Nearest parishes

*Praia do Almoxarife
*Ribeirinha

Coat of arms

Its coat of arms features a star on the top with a corn on the left and a blue-colored local flora on the right tied with a red ribbon on the bottom.
*Altitude:
**Lowest: Atlantic Ocean
**Centre: -
**Highest: volcanic crater (west)

The parish of Pedro Miguel is situated in an extensive between Lomba dos Frades and Lomba Grande, and in the middle lies a small creek named Ribeira de Pedro Miguel.

Population history

*1643: 384
*1871: 1,757
*2001: 723

History, Sites of Interest and other information

The first historical data was mentioned in August 7, 1590 and passed to the king Sebastian for which granted to the vicar of 25 thousand réis. Pedro Miguel became a parish in 1666 and is named after one of the first inhabitants. A fort was built in the 17th century and was named Forte Baixo to protect the wharf.

In 1871, Pedro Miguel began to have two primary insturctive schools, a boy school and a girl school. Together with the parishes of Ribeirinha and Praia do Almoxarife formed a "district of judge of peace" the seat of the electoral assembly and made up three of these parishes. The same year the population reached 1,757. That time produced a lot of cereals with many kinds and also oranges.

The village was rumbled by an earthquake in 1998, several houses were damaged. Even before the earthquake, the population had begun to drop, especially from the mid-20th century as many people moved to larger towns and beyond the Azores.

Pedro Miguel also has a church named Nossa Sra. da Ajuda (Our Lady of Help)

ites of interest

*The Jardim Botânico do Faial or Faial Botanical Gardens created in the nucleus of Pedro Miguel features and objective on conservation flowers and plants from Macaronesia.
*Grota Funda is a cave located in a large volcanic crater located west of the parish centre, and which founded fragments of vegetable coals. Together makes up the source.
*The Ethnographic Museum will be created in the near future.

Economy

In 1876, the agricultural activity was strongly important for the parish. It made a great quantity of butter and was exported as well.

External links

* [http://www.azoren-online.com/faial/tipps/sehenswuerdigkeiten/pedromiguel/index.shtml azoren-online.com] - (in German)