Lajedo (Lajes das Flores)
| Lajedo | ||
| Civil Parish | ||
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| Official name: Freguesia da Fazenda das Lajes | ||
| Name origin: Portuguese for covered | ||
| Country |  Portugal |
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|---|---|---|
| Autonomous Region |  Azores |
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| Island | Flores | |
| Municipality | Lajes das Flores | |
| Localities | Lajedo, Costa do Lajedo | |
| Center | Lajedo | |
| - elevation | 119 m (390 ft) | |
| - coordinates | 39°23′32″N 31°14′51.45″W / 39.39222°N 31.2476250°WCoordinates: 39°23′32″N 31°14′51.45″W / 39.39222°N 31.2476250°W | |
| Highest point | Picaroto | |
| - location | Bugio | |
| - elevation | 585 m (1,919 ft) | |
| - coordinates | 39°24′6″N 31°14′10″W / 39.40167°N 31.23611°W | |
| Lowest point | Sea level | |
| - location | Atlantic Ocean | |
| - elevation | 0 m (0 ft) | |
| Area | 6.79 km2 (3 sq mi) | |
| - urban | .15 km2 (0 sq mi) | |
| Population | 93 (2011) | |
| Density | 14/km2 (36/sq mi) | |
| Settlement | fl.1800 | |
| - Civil Parish | c.1823 | |
| LAU | Junta Freguesia | |
| - location | Rua do Grotão | |
| President Junta | Aurélio Arlindo Freitas Serpa (PS) | |
| President Assembleia | Anibal Ambrósio Freitas Serpa (PS) | |
| Timezone | Azores (UTC-1) | |
| - summer (DST) | Azores (UTC0) | |
| Postal Zone | 9960-360 | |
| Area Code & Prefix | (+351) 292 XXX-XXXX | |
| Patron Saint | Nossa Senhora dos Milagres | |
 Location of the civil parish seat of Lajedo in the municipality of Lajes das Flores
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| Website: http://www.cmlajesflores.com/lajedo/lajedo.htm | ||
Lajedo is a civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores on the Portuguese island of Flores, in the archipelago of the Azores. The population in 2011 was 93, in an area of approximately 6.79 square kilometres (2.62 sq mi).
Nossa Senhora dos Milagres de Lajedo, was one of the first settlements on the island, camouflaged and protected from North Atlantic pirates by the ridges and rocky outcrops where the settlements began. In fact, its name (Lajedo) means pavement covered in slabs; place where there are many slabs; large slabs and smooth, indicating the type of geology discovered by first explorers. Its 637 hectares of fertile soils, were explained by Isatis Tinctoria as ideal conditions to shelter and support those who wanted to live in the zone.
This is how João Soares dos Mosteiros, a native of the island of São Miguel, who made shore on the site and decided to stay, colonize and develop the region. Gaspar Frutuoso later wrote:
The chronicler also registered the existence of two islets in the seat, land for animal raising and little pastureland to the interior, but that sustained game birds. Along the coast Frutuoso indicated the availability of sheltered anchorages and a freshwater ravine that could support ships by providing potable water. This area, which he referred as Lajedos, because the land is flatten and cliffs little high, that provide bread and woad.
Father José António Camões writing in 1815 described the region in these terms:
The parish of Lajedo was created by regal charter at the end of 1823, even though a parish had already existed since 1781, under the invocation of Nossa Senhora dos Milagres. This temple was reconstructed in 1868, under the supervision of the parish priest, Father Francisco Luís de Freitas Henriques. The new parish was delimited by the Ribeira da Lapa, Rebentão and Rocha Alta, and the Rector assigned a priest for "four moios and 501 bushels of wheat and 8000 réis in money and a Treasurer for 1 moio of wheat and 3000 réis, that included hosts and wine, to be paid for by the island treasury".
Lajedo depended, administratively, on the municipality of Santa Cruz between 1895 and 1898, during the suppression of Lajes das Flores, when only one municipality existed on the island.
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Wikipedia