THE AZOREAN PRESS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (5)

When the first general census of Portugal was conducted in 1864, the Azorean archipelago counted 248,000 inhabitants. Out of this modest population, more than five hundred newspapers would be published over the course of the nineteenth century. The number is astonishing. It suggests that these islands, scattered in the North Atlantic and often described in terms of remoteness or periphery, were anything but silent. They were reading islands. Writing islands. Islands arguing with themselves in print.

Even a century later, at the close of the twentieth century—after the great wave of Azorean emigration had thinned our shores and stabilized the population once again around 250,000—the press of the Autonomous Region of the Azores remained, proportionally speaking, remarkably vibrant. For a territory of such scale, the density of newspapers spoke to something more than habit; it testified to a civic instinct. To publish was to participate. To print was to belong.

Until the beginning of the twenty-first century, we had seven daily newspapers—nearly all of them over a century old—published simultaneously in three cities. In Ponta Delgada: the morning papers Açoriano Oriental and Correio dos Açores, and the afternoon Diário dos Açores. In Angra do Heroísmo: the morning Diário Insular and the afternoon A União. In the city of Horta: the morning O Telégrafo and the afternoon Correio da Horta. For islands separated by water, these pages were bridges—daily crossings from harbor to harbor.

Time, of course, narrows every tradition. In recent years, three of these papers have closed. O Telégrafo, after 111 years of publication, was replaced in 2004 by Incentivo, which itself ceased on January 3, 2024. Correio da Horta ended on February 15, 2007, after 77 years. A União, also owned by the Diocese of Angra, concluded its 119-year history on November 30, 2012. Each closure marked not only the end of a publication, but the quiet folding of a chapter in the civic life of its island.

Four daily newspapers remain.

Açoriano Oriental, founded on April 18, 1835, by Manuel António de Vasconcelos, has been published for 190 years. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Portugal—a living relic of liberal constitutionalism and island tenacity.

Diário dos Açores, founded on February 5, 1870, by Manuel Augusto Tavares de Rezende, has been in circulation for 155 years. It is the oldest daily newspaper in the archipelago.

Correio dos Açores, founded on May 1, 1920, by José Bruno Carreiro and Francisco Luís Tavares, has been published for 105 years—the youngest of the three centenarian dailies.

Diário Insular, founded on February 16, 1946, under the direction of Rocha Alves, with editor Gomes Filipe and newsroom chief João Afonso, has been published for 79 years and remains the only daily newspaper on Terceira Island.

Beyond these dailies, six weekly newspapers continue to serve the islands of São Miguel, Pico, and Faial: A Crença (founded in 1915 in Vila Franca do Campo); O Dever (founded in 1917 in Lajes do Pico); Atlântico Expresso (founded in Ponta Delgada); Ilha Maior (founded in 1988 in Madalena do Pico); Tribuna das Ilhas (founded in 2002 in Horta); and Jornal do Pico (founded in 2004 in São Roque).

Two additional municipal papers circulate on São Miguel: the monthly Diário da Lagoa (founded in 2014) and the biweekly Audiência Ribeira Grande (founded in 2016).

Twelve printed newspapers survive across four Azorean islands. For them, one wishes a future worthy of their past.

Across the Atlantic, in the Portuguese communities of the United States and Canada—communities largely shaped by Azorean migration—the Lusophone press has long played an equally vital role. It has preserved language, narrated arrival, chronicled labor, celebrated festivals, mourned the dead, and insisted on a distinct cultural presence within North American society.

The legacy of the Luso-American press dates back to the nineteenth century. In California, A Voz Portuguesa was founded in 1870; in Pennsylvania, the Jornal de Notícias began publication in 1877. These early papers were not luxuries. They were lifelines—threads of continuity binding immigrant neighborhoods to distant harbors.

Among the titles still in publication are Luso-Americano, founded in 1928 in Newark, New Jersey; Portuguese Times, founded in 1971 in New Bedford; O Jornal, founded in 1975 in Fall River, both in Massachusetts; and Tribuna Portuguesa, founded in 1979 in San Jose, California.

In Canada, two older newspapers continue in Quebec and two newer ones in Ontario. In Montreal, A Voz de Portugal—originally titled Voz de Portugal and founded in 1961—is the oldest Portuguese-language newspaper in Canada. LusoPresse dates to 1996. In Toronto, O Milénio Stadium was founded in 2004, and in Brampton, Correio da Manhã Canadá has been published since 2012.

In the Azorean communities of North America, as in the Azorean islands of the North Atlantic, our press records our history and accompanies our daily life. It is the ledger of memory and the diary of belonging. Newspapers, especially in small places, are more than vehicles of information. They are civic rituals. They are proof that a people speaks—and wishes to be heard.

May that voice endure for many good years to come.

Translated by Diniz Borges

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

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