THE AZOREAN BERMUDA

In 2021, the House of the Azores of Bermuda added a third milestone to its recent but intense history.

Founded on March 10, 2015, it officially inaugurated its headquarters on November 4, 2019. Thanks to the major refurbishment work, the Azorean community has now been offered a community center that honors and makes it proud.

September 19, 2021, marked the end of one stage and the beginning of another.

It brought to a close a project that was developed exemplary, with the community involvement and personal commitment of the directors, members, volunteers, and sponsors of Casa dos Açores itself.

It has also opened up the possibility of holding a wide variety of activities here that can contribute to our community’s growing dynamism.

As it does now, Bermuda had to have a House of the Azores.

First of all, for historical reasons.

This archipelago was the third major destination for Azorean emigration with systematic characteristics, from 1850 onwards, after Brazil and the United States, before Hawaii and Canada.

In the last six decades alone, from 1960 to 2020, 8,722 Azoreans have officially emigrated to Bermuda, mainly from the island of São Miguel.

They emigrated through employment contracts handled by the immigration services of the Government of Bermuda and the Regional Directorate for Communities of the Government of the Azores under the bilateral agreement for hiring Portuguese nationals.

It’s a good agreement for both parties.

On the one hand, the Azoreans also find opportunities here to improve their living conditions, often as part of a family reunion.

On the other hand, Bermuda gains an essential contribution of skilled labor, with honorable and hard-working people who dignify the excellent standing of the Azorean people.

But the House of the Azores in Bermuda is justified, above all, for community reasons.

The Azoreans are the most representative immigrant community here, in proportion to the resident population, and Portuguese is, therefore, the second most spoken language in this territory.

It is even estimated that almost a quarter of Bermuda’s population is either from the Azores or descended from Azoreans.

This is a source of pride for the Azores and a responsibility for the community.

Azoreans can and must integrate and assert themselves more and more, not only in their social and cultural life but also in their host society’s economic and political life.

The House of the Azores in Bermuda contributes to this recognition.

The community center it now has will help to involve, energize, promote, and affirm this community in society.

In the Azores, we don’t forget those who have left. They are, of course, an integral part of the unique and universal Azorean community.

The ecumenical sense of Azoreanity that dwells in all of us demonstrates that the Azores are more than just the 9 islands in the middle of the Atlantic.

They are more than that.

They exist beyond physical space and are a state of mind that has risen worldwide.

Therefore, we have a new vision for the Azorean communities scattered throughout the world.

Our work with emigrants must be redefined and adapted to the circumstances of our new times.

We cannot limit ourselves to the nostalgia market, which we naturally want to continue to value.

But taking advantage of and boosting the various economic, cultural and political potential that the different geographies of Azorean emigration can have for the Azores archipelago is, above all, a way of deepening the relationship of proximity and promoting dynamics aimed at mutual economic and social development.

This coincides with the 175th anniversary of Portuguese emigration to Bermuda, mainly from the Azores, which will be celebrated in 2024.

The first documented migratory movement to these British North American islands, which thus share the Azorean heartland with the United States and Canada, dates back to 1849.

Bermuda is a group of 150 small Atlantic islands and islets in the Caribbean. Its population is just over 66,000, spread over 53 square kilometers.

They are British overseas territories governed by a 1968 constitution that guarantees autonomy to the local government in domestic policy matters but which depends on the metropolis in matters of defense and foreign policy.

Its capital is Hamilton, where Bermuda’s House of the Azores is based and where the large Azorean community, traditionally associated with gardening and construction, lives and works.

Financial services and tourism are the main activities of these islands, whose per capita income is one of the highest in the world, also thanks to the contribution of Azorean immigrants.

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José Andrade is the Regional Director for Communities of the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores

Based on a text from his book Transatlântico – As Migrações nos Açores (2023)

Translated by Diniz Borges for Filamentos (arts and letters in the Azorean diaspora) by Bruma Publications–PBBI-Fresno State.