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⛵ What Gave the Azores Their Great Strategic Importance in the 16th and 17th Centuries?

In parallel with its importance, the Azorean archipelago assumed an undeniable strategic value. Indeed, the role played by the Azores in supporting the ships navigating the Atlantic—namely, the Portuguese and Spanish vessels—proved to be extremely useful.

Already in the 15th century, Portuguese ships returning from the African coast frequently stopped in the Azores to take advantage of favorable currents and to make necessary resupplies, a practice further reinforced by the arrival of the Portuguese in the East at the end of that century. In fact, sail navigation required that on the return journey from the South, vessels steer away from the coast, make what is known as a turn into the open sea, and then anchor in the Azores.

However, it was with Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America and the establishment of a trade route between the American regions and Spain (the route to the Indies) that the Azorean archipelago emerged as a vital stopover point, being regularly visited by Spanish shipping.

Since the port of Angra was, within the archipelago, the location offering the best conditions for the reception and protection of vessels, a large part of the commercial traffic passing through the archipelago was directed there, contributing decisively to the growth and development of the city of Angra. The importance of Terceira Island and the port of Angra as a stopover point warranted the following comment from the Italian Pompeo Arditi of Pesaro:

"Many ships flock to the island because it is more convenient for navigation than any of the others; therefore, all ships coming from the East and West Indies, Brazil, São Tomé, Mina, and Cape Verde dock there to replenish their supplies, as if God had miraculously placed this island in the midst of such a vast ocean, for the salvation of the wretched navigators who often arrive without masts or sails, or without provisions, and there obtain everything they need."

Frutuoso, always meticulous in his observations of contemporary reality, also emphasized the international importance of the port of Angra, describing it as "the universal stopover of the western sea."

Thus, as Avelino de Freitas de Meneses noted, during the era of the five hundreds, the Azores provided support for the Portuguese and Spanish trade routes—the Cape Route and the Americas Route, the two most valuable trade routes of the time—and the logical consequence was the great strategic relevance of the archipelago.

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