Norte Grande is a civil parish in the municipality of Velas

Velas

Velas is a municipality in the São Jorge Island, in the Portuguese autonomous region of Azores. The municipality encompasses the western portion of the island, with its municipal seat in the town of Velas on the south coast and divided into six parishes....

 on the island of São Jorge in the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

; owing to the existence of an ecumenical faith community throughout its history, the parish has also taken on the name of its religious invokation (Nossa Senhora dos Neves, or Neves, for short). The population in 2001 is 688, its density is 21.5/km² and the area is 32.06 km².

History

Owing to the number of settlers, a main road was justified into the area of Neves and surrounding areaas around 1570.

Geography

Norte Grande straddles the interior crest and northern coast of São Jorge, approximately the middle of the island. Apart from an interior that is covered in spatter cones, the parish is dotted by sea level debris fields called "fajãs". During the settlement period these became sites of colonization, since the northern coast is wall of cliffs, historically accessible by foot or pack-animal. There are few settlements in the relatively sparse interior, apart from the two primary fajãs (Fajã da Aeira and Fajã do Ouvidor), only two many settlements are observable: Outeiro da Cruz and Neves. Between these settlements and the southern border are plains of agricultural and forested land, in addition to many inactive volcanic cones.