The Concept of Region (Continued) – The Monumental Landmark of 1822

The year 1822 marked a moment of profound political reconfiguration, distinguished by the adoption of Portugal’s first Liberal Constitution (and by the unfolding process of Brazil’s independence). Within this transformative context, the concept of adjacency assumed a central place in the political vocabulary of the age, coming to embody three simultaneous premises: proximity, as immediate geographical positioning in relation to the political center; dependence, as an institutional orbit around the principal territory; and full integration within the national whole. The now-consecrated expression “Adjacent Islands” became the official designation for the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. Though situated at the geographical margins, they were recognized as contiguous extensions of the mainland and integral parts of the Kingdom, thereby becoming administratively equivalent to the continental regions of Portugal.

This constitutional milestone is of exceptional significance. Within the Constituent Assembly, an important debate centered upon the continental identity of the Azores. Had the islands been considered part of the American continent (Brazil) or the African continent (Angola and Mozambique), they would have been governed under the legal framework applicable to the overseas territories. If, however, they were deemed part of the European continent, they would fall under the ordinary administrative regime of the Portuguese State—a solution that ultimately prevailed through the district administration system adopted throughout the country.

What motivated such a decision?

The victorious deputies advanced two compelling arguments. First, the issue at hand was fundamentally political rather than geographical. Second, the Azores—and Angra in particular, whose special status had long established it as a bastion of Portuguese identity within the transatlantic world—possessed a historical legacy that greatly honored the nation.

Naturally, the adoption of this terminology was also influenced by the semantic evolution discussed in the previous essay: the concepts of the present are often the heirs of earlier institutional experience. Thus, the notion of “specific interest,” abolished by the constitutional revision of 2004, had itself been incorporated into the 1976 Constitution from the same expression previously applied to the overseas provinces in the constitutional revision of 1971 under the Estado Novo, where legislative authority remained subordinate to the legislative powers of the Minister for Overseas Territories. Similar examples can be found in other constitutional terminology, including the designation of the Council of State.

Adjacency and Region

The word region is an ancient one in the Portuguese language and has long possessed a multiplicity of meanings without any specialized political significance. Traditionally, it was employed in its literal sense—one speaks of the lumbar region, a stellar region, or a mountainous region. Quite different is the political meaning of regionalism, which emerged in the aftermath of the First World War to designate a distinct administrative or political space.

In Portugal, the Regional Tourism Commissions and the Regional Planning Commissions created during the 1950s and 1960s throughout the country still reflected this older understanding of the word. That earlier usage remained visible in the Study Weeks conferences of the last century, particularly on Terceira and São Miguel, where the term was still employed with considerable hesitation.

The concept of adjacency, however, possessed a far older lineage and a much broader constitutional dimension, as previously demonstrated. The idea of a political region was something altogether different. It emerged only in 1975 with the establishment of the Regional Junta and acquired full constitutional expression following the Constitution of 1976.

Conclusion

To conclude this important discussion, a diachronic examination of the term reveals that the word “adjacent” served for centuries as the principal linguistic instrument through which Portugal managed the relationship between the center of political power and its peripheral territories.

This evolution unfolded through three major philosophical transitions.

The first was the transition from geography to law. Under the Philippine Ordinances, spatial proximity became a legal title, establishing that physical contiguity generated rights of ownership for the Crown.

The second marked the passage from patrimonial authority to constitutional sovereignty. In 1822, the concept migrated from the Crown’s private domain into the sphere of public constitutional law. The islands ceased to be regarded as the personal possessions of the monarch and became recognized instead as sovereign territory belonging to the Portuguese nation.

The third transition carried Portugal from adjacency to autonomy, a cycle that reached its culmination with the Constitution of 1976. The very nature of the concept of adjacency implied a structural relationship of subordination, one that had become incompatible with the democratic ideals emerging after the Revolution. Decentralization—or, more precisely, the devolution of powers, since sovereignty ultimately resides with the people—and the establishment of political autonomy demanded a decisive break with the previous terminology, replacing geographical dependence with the institutional recognition of autonomous regions.

Yet one essential truth has remained unchanged throughout these constitutional transformations: the Azores were Portugal in the fifteenth century, just as they were in the nineteenth, and just as they remain today. The various forms through which their political governance has evolved stand as the clearest testament to this continuity, second only to the enduring political identity of the Azoreans as Portuguese islanders.

Arnaldo Ourique is a specialis on the Azorean Autonomy with many years of reserearch, reflection and published workks.