In figures
With a total population of around 242,000, the Azores are home to around 125,000 women and 117,000 men. The population has been declining slightly in recent years, and is very unevenly distributed across the 9 islands: São Miguel accounts for most of the inhabitants, with no less than 137,000, followed by Terceira with 54,000, Faial 14,000, Pico 13,600, São Jorge 8,200, Santa Maria 5,600, Graciosa 4,000, Flores 3,600, and 460 on the smallest island, Corvo.
The birth rate is expected to reach 8.7% in 2020. This rate is rising on the islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria, and falling on Graciosa and especially Corvo, where no births were recorded in 2016, for example. The mortality rate was 10.1% on average in the region in 2020. It is above this average on almost all islands, except São Miguel (8.8%) and Santa Maria (9.1%). The highest rate is in Corvo, at 15%. The fertility rate has been on a downward trend since the 2000s, reaching around 34.5% in 2020.
History of the Azorean population
The Azorean settlement is a colonization settlement resulting from six centuries of existence of the islands within the Empire and then the former Portuguese Empire. The majority of the islands' inhabitants are descendants of Portuguese colonists, coming in particular in significant numbers from the Alentejo and Algarve regions in southern Portugal. But other populations were called upon to settle there, notably by the will of Portuguese princes who organized the development of their new territories. Among others, many Flemings settled as early as the 1490s in Terceira, Pico, Faial, São Jorge and Flores. Flanders was overpopulated and the conquering princes needed land clearers... Throughout history, the Azores were sometimes called the "Flemish Islands"; this cultural element can be found today in the cheese close to Gouda, the windmills, very Flemish, and perhaps also in the way the Azores people, definitely more Germanic than their fellow citizens of the mainland, organised themselves... Other populations, over the centuries, have contributed to the creation of this Azorian "melting pot". Notably those who were victims of persecution: Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Moors or Spaniards, but also French, Italians or English, those who were fleeing the law of their country... The population mix was perfect and today we no longer distinguish any truly separate ethnic groups among the population of the islands.
Being Azorean : an insularity
Azorean poet and writer Vitorino Nemésio wrote that "the Azores [...] are a strong variety of the Portuguese nation created over half a millennium in North Atlantic isolation", and at the same time coined the word açorianidade (Azoreanness), adding that being Azorean was "a quality". Can we really say that there is an Azorean "type", a common spirit? Aren't people the same as on the mainland?
Most analysts point to an identity conditioned by insularity and the ever-changing climate; it's also clear that ongoing struggles with the natural elements have played a major role in the affirmation of a certain "Azorianness". Isolation has probably encouraged an even more intense saudade, a somewhat austere or withdrawn character, which can appear indolent or apathetic; fear of natural disasters has fostered a slightly fatalistic awareness of events, at the same time as it has flattered hope. To describe the islander's spirit, we still speak of mornaça, a peaceful nonchalance, a hushed bonhomie, a patient and measured nostalgia. It's clear that remoteness or isolation forges a very distinct temperament, instinctively conservative to preserve its identity, and naturally turned to emigration as the only way to literally get by. As a result, the Azorean population more or less displays these two different, but not antinomic, qualities.
And yet, there are specific features on each of the islands, and even on one island, between each conselho (witness the rivalries on Pico or São Jorge, between Velas and Calheta). Unperturbed, Nemésio defines three different types of islander: the Micaelense (from São Miguel, hard-working, industrious, rugged); the Terceirense from the central rural islands (like Terceira, affable, open, festive); and the Picaroto (strong complexion, man of the seas and the hard labor of the land, on Pico for example).
Beyond the poetry of the words, we can understand the extent to which "Azoreanness" is not one, but multiple; indeed, the settlement of the archipelago both explains and reflects this equivocation: the first inhabitants came from mainland Portugal, Beiras, Algarve, Alentejo, but also from Flanders, Brittany, Spain, England or even Morbihan; millers were hired in the 17thcentury to build mills in the archipelago. A vast mosaic of peoples, united in the same way as the great shades of green and blue that illuminate the archipelago, the Azores appear, on the surface, to be divided. But these major differences, justified by their very insularity, do not prevent them from sharing a homogeneous cultural background: language, gastronomy, religion, customs and so on.
Emigration
The concept of insularity is inseparable from that of emigration. But why such an exodus? Overcrowding, climatic disasters or poor working conditions (such as the distribution of land, particularly on São Miguel, to the benefit of the captain-donors) are commonplace explanations. All these causes must certainly have played an important role. Why, however, did this intensive emigration only really begin in the 19thcentury , when conditions were no worse than before? One might think that these population movements went hand in hand with the industrial movements that were changing the economic landscape. "Live better over there", without having to live badly here, was perhaps the motto of all those who, clandestinely or not, left on large ships without ever having left their native village before. It's worth noting that the flow of people in the 18thcentury was due rather to a colonization policy on the part of Portugal, which saw fit to send men to the south of Brazil to secure their territories from the Spaniards, when the colony of Sacramento had just been given to them (Colonia, today in Uruguay). Nowadays, there are far more Azoreans in the world than in the Azores, and a few newly-rich people, both returning and passing through, are changing the landscape and mentality, with the costly construction of huge Californian-style houses. But not all emigrants are like this, and the festivities celebrated in their honor, such as those in Flores in July, are proof of the attachment shown to these prodigal sons by those who remain.
And then there are the Azoreans who have been deported from the United States or Canada, after committing crimes on the island in recent years... There are around 1,000 of them throughout the archipelago, living in specialized reception centers. Having founded their families in the countries to which they emigrated, they often have no ties to the archipelago, and find this forced exile extremely difficult. For them, it's a double penalty. Not to mention the bad image they have with the locals, for whom they are responsible for all the ills. They are not welcome, and many feel that they should have stayed in their prison abroad, and that sending them back to the Azores would create more crime. In fact, the Azorean right is trying to politicize this debate to win voters by advocating a more security-oriented policy than that proposed by the left. However, delinquency has not become the Azores' prerogative! The crime rate is as low as ever, and these second-class emigrants do more harm than good..
There are nine islands in the Azores, like the fairies on the island of Avalon, and they offer just as many ways of being and thinking. But at least one thing is certain: although the archipelago looks towards the Americas, it is in Europe, which perhaps augurs a new, richer common identity.
An "Azorean Portuguese
The Portuguese spoken in the Azores is different from that of the mainland. The archipelago's geographical isolation, climate, constant struggle against the elements and low social status over the centuries have preserved an archaic language. Thus, dês instead of desde (since), conhecença instead of conhecer (to know), and so on. Some words are even completely unknown in Lisbon. São Jorge is the island that has best preserved its insularity with the linguistic archaisms of its first inhabitants.
But, as is typical of the archipelago's culture, there are almost as many Azorean languages as there are islands. To be precise, there are three types of language: São Miguel, close to the Algarve or Alentejo, Terceira and the other islands. For example, caçoila means caçarola (cooking pot) in Terceira, but guisado de carne (meat stew) in São Miguel; while the "ei" sound is pronounced like an "ê" in Ponta Delgada, the diphthong is more pronounced in Terceira, and even more so in Faial (almost like an "ai"). As far as phonetics are concerned, São Miguel's language is truly distinctive: the sounds are "Frenchized", with "ou" and "ü".
Some see this as the influence of the Bretons who reached the north-west coast in the 16thcentury ; but in the Algarve, too, the "ü" sound appears, as does the "an" sound, which is widespread on this island. So perhaps French influence wasn't all that decisive. Curiously, there is almost no trace of Flemish influence in the Azorean language, despite significant immigration and the role played by the original inhabitants in the archipelago's political, economic and cultural development. This is often explained by the fact that many Flemings married Portuguese women; their children were immediately immersed in the language of their mother, who was responsible for bringing them up, thus rapidly overshadowing the father's original language. Mass emigration of course considerably modified the way Azoreans spoke, importing words more or less translated from English, as in Brazil...
