Last modified: 2015-09-05 by klaus-michael schneider
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Azores contains 19 municipalities (clickable map):
The hawk holding a quina in municipal
heraldry stand for the Azores — these charges
appear in nearly all the azorean municipal coats of arms.
Jorge Candeias, 31 May 1998
The problem is that every azorean municipal coat of arms with that goshawk
(15 out of 19 municipalities) shows it a little different — and often the
same coat of arms has appreciable differences in various depictions.
António Martins, 29 Mar 1999
Algarvan heads and azorean goshawk
are the only distinctive regional charges in our municipal heraldry (plus
the star in the municipalities of the Estrela Range
region, though in a much lesser degree), having all the other charges a more
local / historical character. The goshawk derives
from the obvious graphical expression of the name of the islands.
Jorge Candeias, 31 Mar 1999
The natural divisions of the Azores are the three island groups (see map) and the islands themselves. (List by order of discovery:)
From 1938 to 1978, the archipelago was divided into three districts,
quite equivalent (except in area) to those in the
portuguese mainland.
The division was quite arbitrary, and didn’t follow the natural
island groups (see map),
rather reflecting the location of each district capital on the
three main cities (neither of each on the western group).
As far as I know, neither of these districts had any distinct flag
or coat of arms.
António Martins, 23 Jul 2001
In 1978 the Azores became an Autonomous Region and the azorean
districts where supressed.
Jorge Candeias, 31 May 1998
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.