Vila do Corvo (Azores)

This article is about the municipality. For the island, see Corvo Island.

Coordinates: 39°40′22″N 31°6′52″W / 39.67278°N 31.11444°W / 39.67278; -31.11444

Vila do Corvo
Municipality (Concelho)
Vila do Corvo, as seen from Portão lookout, including Aerodrome and settlement
Flag Coat of arms
Official name: Concelho da Vila do Corvo
Name origin: corvo, Portuguese for crow
Country	Portugal
Autonomous Region	Azores
Group	Western
Island	Corvo
Localities	Vila do Corvo, Enseada de NªSª do Rosário, Calçada
Landmark	Nossa Senhora dos Milagres
Center	Vila do Corvo
- elevation	36 m (118 ft)
- coordinates	39°40′22″N 31°6′52″W / 39.67278°N 31.11444°W / 39.67278; -31.11444
Highest point
- location	Estreitinho, Caldeirão
- elevation	718 m (2,356 ft)
- coordinates	39°41′55″N 31°6′40″W / 39.69861°N 31.11111°W / 39.69861; -31.11111
Lowest point	Sea level
- location	Atlantic Ocean
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	3.9 km (2 mi), West-East
Width	6.5 km (4 mi), North-South
Area	17.11 km2 (7 sq mi)
- land	16.69 km2 (6 sq mi)
- water	.31 km2 (0 sq mi)
- urban	.11 km2 (0 sq mi)
Population	425 (2001)
Density	24.9 / km2 (64 / sq mi)
Settlement	c.1475-1503
- Parish	c.1674
- Town/Municipality	20 June 1832
LAU	Concelho/Câmara Municipal
- location	Vila do Corvo
- elevation	34 m (112 ft)
- coordinates	39°40′22″N 31°6′48″W / 39.67278°N 31.11333°W / 39.67278; -31.11333
President	Manuel das Pedras Rita (PS)
Municipal Chair	Oscar Manuel Rocha (PS)
Timezone	Azores (UTC-1)
- summer (DST)	Azores (UTC0)
ISO 3166-2 code	PT-
Postal Zone	9980-024 Vila do Corvo
Area Code & Prefix	(+351) 292 XXX XXX
Demonym	Corvense; Corvino
Patron Saint	Nossa Senhora dos Milagres
Municipal Address	Rua do Jogo da Bola 9980-024 Vila do Corvo
Municipal Holidays	20 June
Location of the municipality of Corvo in the archipelago of the Azores
Wikimedia Commons: Corvo
Website: http://www.cm-corvo.pt
Statistics from INE (2001); geographic detail from Instituto Geográfico Português (2010)

Vila do Corvo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈkoɾvu]) is the smallest municipality in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, constituting the island of Corvo in its entirety. It is the least populated of the Portuguese municipalities, and the only Portuguese municipality, by law, without a civil parish (freguesia, the smallest administrative unit in Portugal).

Vila do Corvo, has at times been wrongly referred to as Vila Nova do Corvo. The village, the unique agglomeration on the island of Corvo, is constructed of small homes located along narrow roadways and alleys rising along the hills of the southern one-third of the island. The coastal area of the village is dominated by the Corvo Aerodrome and ports linking the community to the outside world.

History

The island of Corvo as seen through the mists across the channel on Flores

One of the gentler slopes along the eastern coast of the island, around Calçadas

Old windmill dating back to the 19th Century

Fabrica da Manteiga Cooperative Agrícola Corvense, constructed in the early part of the 20th-Century

The history of the Azores is linked to non-official exploration during the period of the late 13th century in maps, such as the Genoese Atlas Medici (1351). The Medici Atlas referred to an Insula Corvi Marini (English: Island of the Marine Crow), in a seven-island archipelago, although it did not specify an island of Corvo. A later Mapa Catalão, from Spain, referred to two islands of Corvo and Flores in 1375.

During Portuguese official history, the discovery of the Western Group, occurred during the navigator Diogo de Teive and his son, João de Teive's 1452 regress from the Banks of Newfoundland, after his second voyage of exploration.^[1] The Portuguese Court began to refer to the new Ilhas das Flores (English: Islands of Flowers), identifying Corvo as the Ilha de Santa Iria (English: Island of Saint Irene), but other nautical charts continued to refer to this island as the Ilhéu das Flores (English: Islet of Island of Flowers), Ilha da Estátua (English: Island of the Statute), Ilha do Farol (English: Island of the Lighthouse) or Ilha de São Tomás (English: Island of Saint Thomas).^[2]

Regardless, it was only in the following year that King Afonso V of Portugal "recognized" these new discoveries (20 January 1453), and donated them to his uncle, Afonso, Duke of Braganza and Count of Barcelos.^[1] The first proprietor showed little interest in settlement, sending only the obligatory cattle to settle the island and establish his legtimate possession. Fernão Telles, who owned the islands between 1475 and 1503, was the first to attempt to colonize Corvo (contracting the Flemish entrepreneur Willem van der Haegen), but abandoned his settlement after a couple of years.^[1] By 1507, both islands of Corvo and Flores were identified by Valentim Fernandes is unpopulated.^[1] Diogo das Chagas also referred to an initial settlement of 30 people, under contract of Terceirenses Antão Vaz and Lopo Vaz de Azevedo (1508-1510), whom had little success on Corvo; they eventually returned to Terceira in 1515, leaving António Silveira de Machado in charge, but the settlement did not persist.^[1][3] Following these successive failed attempts to settle the land, Gonçalo de Sousa (second Captain-Donatário of the islands of Corvo and Flores) was authorized to send slaves (likely from the island of Santo Antão, in the Cape Verde archipelago) to Flores and Corvo as farmers and cattlemen (12 November 1548).^[1] Around 1580, colonists from Flores locate on Corvo, and a small self-sufficient, isolated settlement was formed. These Corvinos survived a meagre existence, dedicating their venture to subsistence crops and grazing sheep and/or goats, along with fishing offshore. Commerce and trade primarily occurred across the channel, yet, atmospheric conditions restricted maritime connections to the rest of the islands between March and September. AsGaspar Frutuoso later indicated, by the end of the 16th century, the population consisted of houses "...of 20 neighbours, renters and masters' blacks...certain slaves, and married mulattos with slaves..."^[1]

Along with Flores, the island passed into the hands of Martinho de Mascarenhas in 1593. But, the situation economically became aggravated and desperate: the annual payments to the seigneur increased^[4]; the local population increased; the connection with the outside world reluctantly forced a level of self-sufficiency; the impossibility of increasing the area under cultivation; and the frequent incursions by English privateers, that marked the conflict during the Iberian Union.^[1]

Much like other Azorean communities in the late 16th century, piracy and privateering marked their local history, even as some locals collaborated or befriended these raiders. In exchange for protection and payments, the islanders provided freshwater, provisions and men, as well as permitting the treatment of the sick and repairing vessels. But, in 1587, Corvo was sacked by English privateers who had attacked Lajes das Flores. Then twice in 1632,Barbary coast pirates (from the Ottoman Empire) attempted to dis-embark in Porto da Casa, which was a only a small bay (and an area that was easily accessible to pirates). In one account, while the men were in the hills looking after their flocks and the women were in their homes, a large group of pirates arrived in the vicinity of the settlement. The pirates fired on the settlement, and were met by rocks thrown from the cliff-tops. During the battle, the local vicar carried his small image of Nossa Senhora do Rosário (English: Our Lady of the Rosary) into the battle, and place along the Canada da Rocha. The statue had for many years been placed in the area of Porto da Casa, but had recently been placed on the alter of the small chapel on the cliff. The battle was arduous, but 200 Corvinos were able to defeat the pirates, capturing many weapons, without a loss of life and while capturing a Moor. It is said, that the victory was credited to the statue, which was the patron saint of Corvo, and had mysteriously deflected many of the pirates' rounds. The pirates retreated, and did not return to the smallest island. Thereafter, the statue became known as the statue of Nossa Senhora dos Milagres (English: Our Lady of Miracles). It was the second parish priest, the Florentine Inácio Coelho (brother of the Diogo das Chagas), who was able to convince Martinho de Mascarenhas (the second Captain-Donatário) to assist the parish "in the name of the Virgin Mary". Today the statue is located in the parochial church.

The parish of Corvo was created in 1674: its first pastor was the Faialense Bartolomeu Tristão.^[5]

In the 18th century, American whalers arrived in Flores to recruit crews and harpooners, and to re-provision their crews for their campaigns. Due to their experience, inhabitants from Corvo were sought after for these crews, thus beginning a close relationship with the New England community of North America that would continue into the 20th Century that, at times, was more direct then its connection to Lisbon. Consequently, clandestine emigration was a constant of life and problem for the repressive Portuguese authorities who were preoccupied with defections from obligatory military service and reduction in the island tribute. The settlers on Corvo were obliged to pay tribute to their Captains-Donatário, and after 1759 (with the death of the 8th Duke of Aveiro and Count of Santa Cruz), the Crown. During the Liberal Wars, a delegation from Corvo approached Regent Peter IV of Portugal to protest the grave sentiments of the population, and requesting that their payments be alleviated. Manuel Tomás de Avelar, chief of the Corvino delegation, traveled to Angra do Heroísmo to petition the liberal leadership of the Angra Regency. It was Mouzinho da Silveira who attempted to mitigate this servitude with a proposal to reduce the tithe payment (in wheat) and taxes, owing to the poverty on the island. A decree was promulgated on 14 May 1832 by Peter IV and signed in Ponta Delgada, that reduced the tithe in half (20 moios of wheat) in the payment of wheat that was made to the Crown's Donatário, Pedro José Caupers, and the elimination of an annual payment of 80,000 réis. The Crown would then assume the indemnity of the Donatário. The tribute was completely abolished by 1835.

On 20 June 1832, the Regent, Peter IV of Portugal, elevated the settlement of Corvo to status of village and municipal seat. Until this time, Corvo fell within the jurisdiction of Santa Cruz das Flores, as a civil parish of its neighbor across the channel. In 1886, when the Civil Governor of the District of Horta, Manuel Francisco de Medeiros, asked the inhabitants what they wanted on visiting the community, he was surprised by the humble request of a Portuguese national flag for the island. It came in use when Albert of Monaco visited the island during his oceangraphic and photographicexpeditions. It was also visited in 1924 by the Portuguese writer Raul Brandão, who contributed to local myths and idyllic republican community with his work Ilhas Desconhecidas.

By the beginning of the 19th Century immigration continued unabated, except during the period between 1925 and 1955, as more Corvinos left the island in order for economic security (a process that continued well into the 1980s). By 1938, the island received its first permanent medical resident, João Rodrigues Ferreira da Silva, who lived on the island until 1945, and whom the only medical building was named for his involvement in the community.

Geography

Main article: Corvo Island

Population of Vila do Corvo (1849 - 2011) Year Pop. ±% 1842 800 — 1864 883 +10.4% 1871 887 +0.5% 1878 880 −0.8% 1890 806 −8.4% 1900 808 +0.2% 1911 746 −7.7% 1920 661 −11.4% 1930 676 +2.3% 1940 691 +2.2% 1950 728 +5.4% 1960 681 −6.5% 1970 485 −28.8% 1981 370 −23.7% 1991 393 +6.2% 2001 425 +8.1% 2011 430 +1.2%

In the last part of the 19th century, a drop in the population by 9% marked a period of emigration to the United States, generally associated with most of the archipelago. Yet, continued emigration between Corvo and New England would mark the demographic oscillation during the 20th century, as well; there were four identifiable periods^[1]:

• the first period, until 1925, when the United States began restricting immigration and where the local population dminished by 18%;
• the second period, until 1955, during a period of emigration to Latin America, principally to Brazil that was fairly insignificant, but laterally resulted in a 10% increase in the population;
• a third period, which lasted until the beginning of the 1980s, coincident with a new wave of emigration, resulting in a 49% decrease in the local residents; and
• finally, from the 1980s until the beginning of the 21st century, resulting from new restrictions on emigration, and local social and economic development, that resulted little change.

Yet, in the last 14 years that population has seen a 12.5% increase, which is attributed to the following factors^[1]:

• the return of émigrés; and
• the appearance of new employment opportunities, in addition to the creation of a basic education primary school, which helped to fix the young population.

Economy

Generally, the inhabitants dedicate themselves to fishing, agriculture, or raising cattle and most services on the island support these activities, as well as annual tourism.

Although a small island, the municipal government even constructed a small campsite in the area of Praia da Areia, that includes washrooms, barbeques and picnic tables in order to support annual eco-friendly visitors to the island.^[6]

Architecture

Civic

• Moinhos de Vento (English: Windmills) - a group of three windmills located along the Caminhos dos Moinhos, constructed of volcanic rock in a conical form, with a wooden roof and octaganol sails, accessed by elevated doorway with volcanic lateral symmetrical steps.^[7]

Culture

The island celebrates annual celebrations marking the feast day of their patron, Our Lady of Miracles (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora dos Milagres), on the 15 August.^[8] The event is actually a week-long religious celebration of prayer, with a evening candle-light procession on the evening of the 14 August, before the events on the 15 August, that includes a solemn mass.^[8]

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} José Saramango (2006)
2. ^ For a while it was also known as Ilha do Marco (English: Island of the Mark), which was attributed to its reference as a geographic marker for sailors, or, likely, the location of a small promontory that received the name Ponta do Marco (and where a marker was placed).
3. ^ A similar colony by three Barcelos famiy members failed following this attempt.
4. ^ The annual stipend (Portuguese: foro), required the Corvinos to pay to the seigneur 40 moios of wheat and 80,000 réis in woollen fabrics. Since the sheep and goats were the master's possessions, the wool was sold annually to the population
5. ^ Until this time the colony was annually visited by a priest from Santa Cruz das Flores, sent by the Bishop of Angra to tend to the isolated community.
6. ^ "Do Corvo Para o Mundo!!!" (in Portugese). 16 June 2011. http://docorvoparaomundo.blogspot.com/2011/06/turismo-parque-de-campismo.html. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
7. ^ "91.10.1 MOINHOS DE VENTO - AO CAMINHO DOS MOINHOS" (in Portuguese). Angra do Heroísmo (Azores), Portugal: Direcção Regional da Cultura/Secretaria Regional de Cultura. 6 March 2006. http://www.inventario.iacultura.pt/corvo/corvo_fichas/91_10_1.html. Retrieved 14 March 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b} (in Portuguese) Festa de Nossa Senhora dos Milagres-15 de Agosto, Vila do Corvo (Azores), Portugal, 8 August 2011, http://docorvoparaomundo.blogspot.com/2011/08/festa-de-nossa-senhora-dos-milagres-15.html, retrieved 5 September 2011 

Sources

• Carvalho, M. (2006) (in Portuguese). Lenda de Nossa Senhoro Rosário e os Piratas. 1. Montreal, Canada: O Açoreano. 
• Saramango, José (27 march 2006). "Breve Notícia Histórica Sobre a Ilha do Corvo [A Brief Historical Notice on the Island of Corvo]" (in Porutguese). Angra do Heroísmo (Azores), Portugal: Institute Nacional de Cultura/Direcção Regional de Cultura. http://www.inventario.iacultura.pt/corvo/textos/historia.html#a. Retrieved 14 March 2011.