THE AZOREAN PRESS IN THE 19TH CENTURY (1)

More than 500 newspapers were published in the Azores during the nineteenth century, a remarkable testament to the archipelago’s civic life, political ferment, and literary ambition. The first of these was the weekly Chrónica da Terceira, the official organ of the Regency, founded on April 17, 1830, in the city of Angra. It is now regarded as the pioneering publication of the Azorean press.

It was also in Angra—then the seat of the Portuguese Regency, and at its initiative—that Chrónica Terceirense and A Chrónica were published in 1831. Only the following year did periodical journalism reach the island of São Miguel, with the founding of Chrónica, Semanário dos Açores in Ponta Delgada on May 4, 1832. On April 18, 1835, Ponta Delgada saw the birth of the weekly O Açoriano Oriental, which remains today the oldest continuously published newspaper in Portugal.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Ponta Delgada and Angra do Heroísmo accounted for the majority of Azorean newspaper titles. In São Miguel, Ponta Delgada published 186 newspapers between 1832 and 1899. On Terceira Island, Angra do Heroísmo published 144 newspapers during the last seventy years of the century.

The city of Horta also emerged as an important journalistic center, publishing 90 periodicals after the founding, on January 10, 1857, of the weekly O Incentivo, the first newspaper of Faial Island. Across the archipelago, journalism took root in every municipality—except the island of Corvo—developing with varying degrees of intensity throughout the century.

After Angra (1830) and Ponta Delgada (1832), and even before Horta (1857), the town of Ribeira Grande entered the journalistic landscape with the publication of A Estrella Oriental on May 28, 1856. The press later reached Vila Franca do Campo with O Vilafranquense on July 5, 1861; Praia da Vitória with O Praiense on July 6, 1864; and Santa Cruz da Graciosa with O Futuro on August 4, 1866.

In the 1870s, journalism was introduced to the islands of São Jorge and Pico, with O Jorgense in Velas on February 15, 1871, and O Picoense in Madalena on December 20, 1874. Pico also saw the publication of O Ecco Picoense in São Roque on October 20, 1878. That same decade, O Povoacense was published in the São Miguel town of Povoação on July 26, 1879.

The islands of Santa Maria and Flores—the easternmost and westernmost edges of the Azorean archipelago—both experienced the arrival of local journalism in 1885, with the founding of O Mariense in Vila do Porto on April 9, and O Florentino in Santa Cruz on July 2. During the 1880s, the Azorean press expanded to four additional municipalities across the three island groups: Lagoa with Ecco Lagoense on January 9, 1887; Calheta (São Jorge) with O Respigador on July 5, 1888; Nordeste with O Nordestense on August 1, 1888; and Lajes das Flores with O Trabalhador on October 27, 1888.

Finally, in August 1890, journalism reached the municipality of Lajes do Pico with the founding of O Lagense.

Journalistic activity in the nineteenth century was concentrated primarily in the three Azorean cities of Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo, and Horta. Nevertheless, the towns demonstrated notable editorial dynamism in the second half of the century: Vila Franca do Campo published 13 newspapers; Ribeira Grande and Velas (São Jorge) 12 each; São Roque do Pico 10; and Lagoa and Santa Cruz das Flores seven each. Madalena do Pico, Nordeste, Povoação, and Praia da Vitória published four newspapers during the century, while Santa Cruz da Graciosa and Vila do Porto published three. Only one newspaper was published in each of the towns of Calheta (São Jorge), Lajes das Flores, and Lajes do Pico during the same period.

For more than three decades, the Azorean press maintained a weekly or monthly rhythm, and at times an irregular one. It was Angra do Heroísmo that first introduced daily journalism to the Azores, on November 28, 1866, with the founding of A Trombeta Açoreana. This was followed in Ponta Delgada by Diário de Notícias on July 1, 1869, and in Horta by O Açor on January 1, 1889.

The Azores also pioneered Portuguese agricultural journalism with the founding, on October 20, 1843, of O Agricultor Michaelense on the island of São Miguel, published by the Sociedade Promotora da Agricultura Micaelense.

Newspapers, bulletins, and magazines of political, literary, religious, and humorous character dominated the nineteenth-century Azorean press. In many cases, these publications were short-lived, with small print runs and a limited number of pages—fragile in form, yet essential in shaping the public sphere of the islands.

(To be continued next week)

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

Based on the lecture “Toward a History of the Azorean Press,” delivered at the Public Library of Angra do Heroísmo on July 3, 2025.