Angra do Heroísmo

Angra grew on a ridge that opened like an amphitheatre onto two small bays, with the extinct volcano of Monte Brasil at the head of the peninsula between them. Accounts of its founding differ, crediting either Álvaro Martins Homem or the Fleming Jácome de Bruges, but the city dates its foundation to 1478, and in 1534 it became the first town in the archipelago raised to the status of city. As seat of the bishop and of government offices, and as a sheltered commercial and military port, it was for centuries the most important place in the Azores.

When Philip II of Spain claimed the Portuguese crown in 1580, the pretender António, Prior of Crato, set up an opposition government in Angra that lasted until 1583. A Spanish fleet bombarded the city in July 1581 and its troops were driven off, the defenders famously scattering them with a stampede of cattle; but the Battle of Terceira in July 1583 ended the resistance. The Spanish built the great fortress on Monte Brasil, and when Portugal restored its own king in 1640 their garrison held out for eleven months before surrendering in March 1642.

In the Liberal Wars, liberals made Terceira their base in 1828, and the defeat of an absolutist assault in 1829 led Queen Maria II to give the city the title "do Heroísmo", "of Heroism"; for a time Angra served as the capital of Portugal. The exiled southern African ruler Ngungunhane died here in 1906. On 1 January 1980 a major earthquake badly damaged the historic centre; the damage was repaired within four years and, in 1983, the city was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Angra's identity rests on its history — its official name is the Very Noble, Loyal and Ever Steadfast City of Angra do Heroísmo — and on two living traditions. The first is the cult of the Holy Spirit, celebrated across the Azores from May to September; on Terceira the festivals centre on impérios, small buildings that host the meals and charity of the feasts, which the parish brotherhoods have turned into ornate, brightly painted chapels.

The second is the tourada à corda, the bullfight on a rope that began on Terceira. A bull, tied to a long, stout rope held by young men, is let loose in a street or square, fireworks announce its release, and the crowd taunts it with capes and even parasols while the bull, its horns blunted, butts and tramples the bolder ones. From May to September there are touradas every day, sometimes two or three, and some bulls are driven through the streets to the island's bullring in the east of the city for a Portuguese-style bullfight.

The city also has a scholarly side: the Angra do Heroísmo Museum, the public library and regional archive in the Palácio Bettencourt, and a campus of the University of the Azores devoted to agricultural sciences. The writer Almeida Garrett spent part of his youth here after his family fled the French invasion of 1809.

About 33,800 people lived in the municipality at the 2021 census, spread across 19 parishes, and about 8,000 in the city itself. Angra remains one of the three capitals of the Azores, keeping the seat of the bishop and important regional offices, though its port is now less important than those of Ponta Delgada and Horta.

The economy rests on public administration, services, farming across the island's green interior and visitors drawn by the World Heritage centre. The air base at Lajes, about 15 km away, shared by the Portuguese Air Force and a United States Air Force detachment, has long been a major presence on the island and also serves as its civilian airport.

Daily life follows the rhythm of a small, close-knit city. People live in the old town and in seaside and hillside parishes such as São Mateus da Calheta, and from late spring to early autumn evenings and weekends are taken up with the Holy Spirit feasts, the rope bullfights and family gatherings around them.

Terceira's signature dish is alcatra: beef marinated in red wine, garlic and spices such as cloves and whole allspice, then roasted slowly in a clay pot. It is the island's counterpart to São Miguel's cozido.

The festival calendar shapes baking. Massa sovada is the Azorean sweet bread, one of a family of breads traditionally kept for festive occasions such as Easter and Pentecost, and bolo de véspera, a yeasted cake made with barley, lard and butter, is baked for the Holy Spirit festivals. Bolo lêvedo, a sweet sourdough muffin, is eaten across the Azores, and Queijo São Jorge, a slightly spicy cow's-milk cheese, comes from the neighbouring island.

Seafood is eaten along the coast, especially in the fishing parish of São Mateus da Calheta. Wine is the usual drink, and Terceira produces its own in Biscoitos on the north coast, where vines have long been grown in the poor volcanic ground.