As Casas dos Açores-Houses of the Azores

– Azorean Identity Beyond the Archipelago – Azorean Heritage for Future Generations

The size, continuity, and vitality of the Azorean diaspora are based, first and foremost, on our shared identity. This borderless identity manifests itself, especially on the other side of the Atlantic, first and foremost through a transversal associative movement.
It involves and energizes hundreds of Azorean organizations, especially in North America, from coast to coast, from philharmonic bands and folk groups to religious festivals and formal organizations.
The Houses of the Azores (Casas dos Açores) stand out among the many cultural, recreational, sporting, social, or civic associations related to an entire region, an island, a municipality, or even a parish in our distant land.
They are the most representative and comprehensive expression of our identity in the Azorean diaspora. After all, as the President of the Government often says, they are the cultural embassies of the Azores in the world.
They are in Portugal, the United States of America, Canada, Bermuda, Uruguay, and especially Brazil.
The worldwide network of Houses of the Azores currently has 18 active institutions.
There are seven in Brazil, four in Portugal, three in Canada, two in the United States, one in Uruguay, and one in Bermuda.
The oldest was founded in Lisbon in 1927, and the most recent was in the central region of mainland Portugal in 2024.
In these 97 years, 20 Houses have been born in six countries:
In 1927, the House of the Azores in Lisbon (Portugal);
In 1952, the House of the Azores in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil);
In 1977, the House of the Azores in Hilmar, California (United States of America);
In 1978, the House of the Azores of Quebec, in Montreal (Canada);
In 1980, the Casa dos Açores do Norte, in the city of Porto (Portugal), the Casa dos Açores de São Paulo (Brazil) and the Casa dos Açores da Bahia, in Salvador (Brazil);
In 1982, the House of the Azores of New England, in Fall River, heir to the House of the Azores of the State of Rhode Island, in East Providence (United States of America);
In 1985, the House of the Azores of Ontario was initially called the House of the Azores of Toronto (Canada);
In 1992, the House of the Azores of Winnipeg, in the province of Manitoba (Canada);
In 1993, the House of the Azores of the Algarve, based in Faro (Portugal) and now inactive;
In 1996, the House of the Azores of Coimbra (Portugal), now defunct;
In 1999, the Casa dos Açores de Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis (Brazil);
In 2003, the House of the Azores of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in Gravataí (Brazil);
In 2011, the House of the Azores of Uruguay, in San Carlos (Uruguay);
In 2013, the House of the Azores of Bermuda, in Hamilton (Bermuda);
In 2019, the House of the Azores of Maranhão, in São Luís (Brazil), and the House of the Azores of Madeira, in Funchal (Portugal);
In 2022, the House of the Azores of Espírito Santo, in Apiacá, in the Itabapoana Valley (Brazil);
In 2024, the House of the Azores of the Central Region, in Coimbra (Portugal).
Supporting the wishes of the local communities, a House of the Azores is also being set up in the southern region of mainland Portugal, corresponding to the Algarve and Alentejo districts, thus completing – with Lisbon, the North, Madeira, and the Center – the scope of the Portuguese map outside the Azorean territory.
Creating new “Casas dos Açores” is also encouraged, particularly in North America and Europe.
For example, plans are underway to create new “Casas dos Açores,” such as New Jersey or Florida.
In Canada, in addition to Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba, the Pacific provinces with a historic Azorean presence, British Columbia and Alberta, also deserve the chance to create and energize a House of the Azores.
The Houses of the Azores project and affirm the Azorean communities on the world map of Azoreanness without borders. The more flags we have, the stronger our identity will be.

---

Regional Director for Communities in the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores-Based on a text from his book Transatlântico – As Migrações nos Açores (2023)