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, 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 1431-1453 the Azores were taken possession of by the Portuguese. They were at that time AZOTE 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 nists called the whole group Azores, from acor or azor, a hawk; and they named two individual islands, Corvo and Saõ 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 settlers migrated thither from Flanders. square m The total area of the group is 919 miles, and the pop. about 260,000.
The capital is Angra, in Terceira; but Ponta Delgada, in Sao Miguel, is a larger town. The Azores are origin, and with the exception of Corvo, eruptions and vi violent earthquakes, the of volcanic eruptions and violent earthquakes, the those of 1591, 1638, 1719, and 1841. Hot mineral springs are numerous; and the resorted to by invalids. The islands have a considerable trade in fruit with Portugal, 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. province, not a colony, of Portugal, and nitrogen; hence substances containing nitrogen and forming part of the structure of plants and animals are known as azotized bodies. Such are albumen, etc.