Flamengos

Flamengos
Civil Parish
The village of Flamengos as seen from Monte Carneiro, the location of the first agglomeration of settlement on the island of Faial
Coat of arms
Official name: Freguesia dos Flamengos
Name origin: Portuguese for Flemish
Country	Portugal
Autonomous Region	Azores
Island	Faial
Municipality	Horta
Localities	Cruz do Bravo, Farrobo, Lameiro Grande, Rua Nova, São Lourenço, Tafoneiro
River	Ribeira dos Flamengos
Center	Flamengos
- elevation	129 m (423 ft)
- coordinates	38°33′7″N 28°39′1″W / 38.55194°N 28.65028°W / 38.55194; -28.65028Coordinates: 38°33′7″N 28°39′1″W / 38.55194°N 28.65028°W / 38.55194; -28.65028
Highest point
- location	Cabeço Gordo
- elevation	1,043 m (3,422 ft)
- coordinates	38°34′32″N 28°42′44″W / 38.57556°N 28.71222°W / 38.57556; -28.71222
Lowest point	Sea level
- location	Atlantic Ocean
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Area	14.62 km2 (6 sq mi)
- urban	.87 km2 (0 sq mi)
Population	1,604 (2011)
Density	110/km2 (285/sq mi)
Settlement	c. 1468
LAU	Junta Freguesia
- location	Rua Praça dos Flamengos
President	Carlos Manuel Peixoto Costa Rita (PS)
Municipal Chair	Henrique Vieira da Silva (PS)
Timezone	Azores (UTC-1)
- summer (DST)	Azores (UTC0)
Postal Zone	9900-401
Area Code & Prefix	(+351) 292 XX XX XX
Demonym	Flamenguense
Patron Saint	Nossa Senhora da Luz
Location of the civil parish of Flamengos within the municipality of Horta
Website: http://www.jfflamengos.pt
Geographic detail from CAOP (2010) produced by Instituto Geográfico Português (IGP)

Flamengos is a Portuguese civil parish (Portuguese: freguesia) on the island of Faial in the archipelago of the Azores. Its name was derived from the grouping of Flemish settlers who made their homes in this landlocked valley, in the municipality of Horta. The population in 2011 was 1,604, in an area of 14.62 km².

The first settlers that arrived in the area that became known as the Vale dos Flamengos (English: Flemish Valley, or literally, Valley of the Flemish people), were seeking a sheltered area that provided access to potable water. Their original beachhead, on the Lomba dos Frades, in the Praia do Almoxarife valley was a disaster for the first Captain-Donatário Josse van Huerter (in 1465. His return in 1466-67 began a new phase in the island's history; discovering the fertile and sheltered geomorphology of the interior valley allowed the group of Flemish settlers to establish a foothold on the island (1468). These early colonizers cultivated small parcels of land along the river, taking advantage of the springs and fertile volcanic soils, cultivating oranges, corn, legumes, as well as servicing the town and other parishes on the island.

The community's primitive church (dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Luz) was constructed shortly after the first settlers established their homes, and was a large three-nave over five pillars, sturdy and well constructed (as the historian Gaspar Frutuoso recounted in his Saudades da Terra).

In 1597, Flamengos was raided by English privateers, who remained in the valley for days, pillaging and destroying homes. In 1606 the village of Flamengos had been restored, through the assistance of Jerónimo de Utra Corte Real, and later expanded in 1736, through the initiatives of Manuel Brum da Silveira.

Raul Brandão, in his As Ilhas Desconhecidas (1926), described the parish in these terms: "This use to be more animated and rich. Everything around Horta and Flamengos was houses, orchards full of oranges, plants and flowers, the Estate of São Lourenço, the Estate of the Silveiras, the Estate of the Dabneys...". Brandão was referring to a period when the wealthy, rich property owners and farmers had their summer homes and estates within the valley: by 1926, the area was less important for the upwardly mobile, who concentrated in their salons in Horta.