Pico (island)

The island of Pico is the principal island of the central group of the Archipel of the the Azores.

Geography

The island of Pico is distant of approximately 8 km of the island of Faial and 15 km of the island of São Jorge. Its surface is of 447,7 km ² and it counts a population of 15 500 inhabitants. Its length is of 42 km and its width of 15,2 km.

Discovered before 1439, it was first of all indicated under the name of São Dinis. The first inhabitant settled starting from 1460 and its settlement was definitively established in 1482 with the foundation of the town of São Mateus.

The island owes its name with the peak which dominates it. This one is in fact the culminating point of the Portugal, rising with 2 351 meters.

In the Western area of the island the vine is cultivated giving rise to famous “the Verdelho C Pico” (liqueur-like wine white, which had its hour of glory at the court of Russia), planted in terraces built in Basalte.

Administratively, the territory of the island is divided between three villes : Lajes C Pico (capital), Madalena (principal port, vis-a-vis Horta) and São Castling C Pico.

Economy

The island of Pico preserves today still the vestiges of a long tradition of hunting at the whale, with industry balénière.

After the integration of Portugal in the European Union, the inhabitants of Pico had to develop a aute economic model. If the activities of fishing, in particular of tuna, remain still strong, a significant proportion of the resources comes from now on from agriculture and the agro-alimentary one: fruits, wine, milk, cheese.

Tourism is still marginal. However éco-tourism, supported by the European Union, develops gradually: observation of Cetacea…

Pico has an airport (code AITA: PIX).

External bond

Seen satellite of the island and its volcano on WikiMapia

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