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Settlement started in 1444, after Prince Henry the Navigator had cattle put ashore on seven islands of the archipelago. Its captaincy was entrusted to Gonçalo Velho, knight and friar of the Order of Christ. The first inhabitants, from the Portuguese provinces of Estremadura, Upper Alentejo and Algarve, were later joined by Madeirans, Jews, Moors and possibly Frenchmen. They were given the name "The Açores" after the local hawk that circles the islands.
The fertility of the soil and the island's geographic position on the crossroads of Europe, Africa and America contributed to rapid economic expansion based on the production of wheat (exported to the Portuguese garrisons of the North African strongholds), sugar cane, the dye-yielding plants called woad and archil (sold to Flanders), wine and dairy products. One century later, sweet potatoes, maize, yams, flax and oranges came to broaden the range of the island's agricultural output.
The victim of attacks by French, English and Algerian corsairs in the late 16th and part of the 17th century, São Miguel was occupied by Spanish forces in 1582 after the defeat, off Vila Franca do Campo, of a French fleet which had Portuguese among its crews and which supported the claims of Dom António, Prior of Crato, to the Portuguese throne. With the restoration of Portugal's independence in 1640, São Miguel recovered its position as a trading center and developed contacts with Brazil, to where it sent groups of settlers. The export of oranges to England brought São Miguel great prosperity from the end of the 18th century. The orange groves were destroyed by a blight starting in 1860 but the local capacity for enterprise soon led to the introduction of new crops - tobacco, tea, flag, chicory, sugar-beet and pineapples - which guaranteed economic survival. With the passing of the years, these crops were joined by several industries and a growth in fisheries and livestock raising. Today São Miguel is one of the political and administrative centers of the Region, and an island with a diversified economy that is experiencing marked progress.
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