Graciosa

Graciosa
Island (Ilha)
The island of Graciosa, from the São Jorge Island, Azores.
Official name: Ilha Graciosa
Name origin: graciosa, Portuguese for graceful, enchanting or lovely
Nickname: Ilha Branca
Country	Portugal
Autonomous Region	Azores
Islands	Central Group
Location	Azores Platform, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Atlantic Ocean
Municipalities	Santa Cruz da Graciosa
Civil Parishes	Guadalupe, Luz, Praia, Santa Cruz da Graciosa
Highest point	Caldeira
- location	Praia, Santa Cruz da Graciosa
- elevation	402 m (1,319 ft)
- coordinates	39°3′5″N 28°0′51″W / 39.05139°N 28.01417°W / 39.05139; -28.01417
Lowest point	Sea level
- location	Atlantic Ocean
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Area	60.65 km2 (23 sq mi)
Biomes	Temperate, Mediterranean
Geology	Alkali basalt, Tephra, Trachyte, Trachybasalt
Orogeny	Volcanism
Period
Demonym	Graciosense
Ethnic groups	Portuguese
Population	4,777 (2001)
Density	78.763/km2 (204.00/sq mi)
Largest city	Santa Cruz da Graciosa (pop. 4,777)
Location of the island of Graciosa in the archipelago of the Azores

Graciosa Island (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɡɾɐsiˈɔzɐ]) (literally "graceful" or "enchanting" in Portuguese) is referred to as the White Island, the northernmost of the Central Group of islands in the Azores. The ovular Portuguese island has an area of 60.65 square kilometres (23.42 square miles), a length of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) and a width of 7 kilometres (4.3 miles). It is a volcanic island, dominated by a 1.6-kilometre-wide (1.0-mile) central caldera (the Caldeira) located in the southeast.

In addition to the other islands of the Central Group, Graciosa was explored by Portuguese navigators during the first quarter of the 15th Century. Although there exists no accounts of the first sighting of the island. May 2, 1450 has frequently been referred to as the date of the islands "discovery", although there exists no documentation to support this date. Paradoxically, it is clear that in 1440, by order of Prince Henry the Navigator, cattle and swine were settled on the island in order to facilitate colonization.

Similarly, it is unclear the names of the first settlers to colonize the island, although around 1450 the first colonists were probably slaves (but formal registries did not exist at the time). The first group of settlers of note to be mentioned were led by Vasco Gil Sodré, a former resident of Montemor-o-Velho, who arrived from Terceira accompanied by his family and servants around the middle of the 1450s. It was this pioneer who inaugurated the official phase of continuous settlement on the island.

The first population center was in Carapacho, a zone in the southeast of the island where it is likely that settlers made landfall. Owing to the areas poor fertility and lack of shelter from the sea, the settlers moved farther into the interior. In a few years a nucleus formed in the northern coast near Barra and Santa Cruz, in order to take advantage of the sheltered coves and access to potable waters from the tidal ponds/wells. From here the colony that would become the village of Santa Cruz da Graciosa would form.

The first Captain-Donatário, Vasco Gil Sodré, was diligent in his duties, establishing a customs-house for the more fertile and ample lands in the northern part of the island, while his brother-in-law Duarte Barreto do Couto was able to coopt the southern part of the island into a second captaincy around the village of Praia. After 1485 the Captaincy of Graciosa was unified under the administration of Pedro Correia da Cunha, Second Captain of Porto Santo (Madeira) and brother-in-law of Christopher Columbus. Taking his family to Graciosa, he settled in Santa Cruz, moving the municipal seat and supplanting Praia as the administrative center. The following year Santa Cruz is elevated to "village" and municipality, under the religious parishes of Santa Cruz and São Mateus da Praia. The change caused an influx in settlers from Beiras, Minho and Flanders (in the Netherlands) permitting the installation of the first municipal structures (in this case the construction of the Santa Cruz lighthouse in 1486).