Bridging Horizons: Thinking the Azorean Diaspora Forward
At a moment of profound global transformation—economic, cultural, and technological—the Azorean diaspora stands at a crossroads. To think about the diaspora today is not only to revisit our past journeys but also to imagine the future destinations of a people defined by both departure and belonging. It is within this spirit that the Government of the Azores convened the first colloquium Thinking the Diaspora, held last March in Ponta Delgada.
Bringing together more than twenty representatives of Azorean communities and descendants from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Bermuda, and Uruguay, the colloquium sought to foster reflection, debate, and vision—toward a diaspora with as much future as it has memory.
A People Who Carry Their Islands Within
For nearly six centuries, the Azorean people have lived on these Atlantic islands, and for more than four, they have left them—without ever truly leaving. Every voyage carried the islands in thought and in heart, shaping new “islands” across oceans: in language, in faith, in work, in song.
From the 16th century onward, Azoreans made their way to Brazil—from Maranhão to Rio Grande do Sul, through Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Bahia—and even reached Uruguay. In the mid-19th century, they turned their sails toward the United States, building communities from the New England coast to the far reaches of California and Hawaii. By the mid-20th century, Canada became another home, from Quebec and Ontario to Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia. Bermuda, too, welcomed the Azorean presence.
Today, fewer than 250,000 inhabitants live on the nine islands, yet more than three million Azoreans and their descendants live beyond them. The Azores are complete only when we include their tenth island—the living archipelago of diaspora communities scattered across continents.
Challenges for a Shared Future
As Nemésio and Onésimo Teotónio Almeida remind us, Azorean identity often finds its most luminous expression “on the other side of the Atlantic River.” But identity cannot stand still. It must evolve, as must our relationship with the world. Three great challenges define our present moment: geographical, sectoral, and generational.
The geographical challenge lies in extending our presence beyond traditional destinations. While the Americas remain vital, the Azorean spirit must also reach new geographies in Europe, Africa, and Asia—affirming an Azores as wide as the world.
The sectoral challenge demands that cultural and social engagement be joined by economic collaboration. The diaspora is not only a community of memory but also of innovation and investment. By valuing its entrepreneurial and touristic potential, we strengthen both sides of the Atlantic.
The generational challenge, the most crucial of all, calls for renewal. We must honor our first-generation emigrants—those who gave the Azores their good name abroad—while inviting their children and grandchildren to rediscover the contemporary Azores, its culture, its language, and its civic life. The future of Açorianidade depends on this living connection between roots and renewal.
A Forum for Thought and Continuity
The colloquium Thinking about the Diaspora marked a new step in that direction. Building upon the work of the World Council of Azorean Houses—which unites cultural associations in Portugal, Brazil, the U.S., Canada, Uruguay, and Bermuda—and the Azorean Diaspora Council, which gathers 19 elected representatives of our emigrant communities, this meeting of minds brought together what might be called the “senators of the diaspora.”
The opening address by Onésimo Teotónio Almeida set the tone for reflection, followed by seven thematic panels that examined the diaspora through political, cultural, social, economic, generational, communicational, and institutional lenses. Among the participants were António Cabral and Martin Medeiros, Lélia Pereira Nunes and Maria João Maciel Jorge, Diniz Borges and José Carlos Teixeira, Duarte Miranda and Manuel de Medeiros, Richard Ambrósio and Roberto Rodriguez, Francisco Resendes and Norberto Aguiar—each voice adding to the polyphony of shared belonging.
To ensure continuity, the Government of the Azores will publish the proceedings, in Portuguese and English, in the inaugural issue of the annual journal Açorianidade. In this space, thought, identity, and community meet across the ocean.
Carrying the Future
If the history of Azorean emigration is one of movement, the future of the diaspora must be one of connection. The colloquium’s reflections reaffirm that the Azores are not merely a geographical reality but a moral and cultural presence that extends beyond the islands and across time.
To think about the diaspora, therefore, is to think about ourselves—about the bridges we must continue to build between memory and imagination, between the land we left and the horizons we are yet to reach.
José Andrade is the Regional Director for the Communities for the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores
This article is based on the opening address of the Colloquium “Thinking the Diaspora,” held March 20, 2025, in Ponta Delgada.
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