Relva
Encyclopedia
Relva is a parish in the district of Ponta Delgada
in the Azores
. The population in 2001 is 2703, its density is 223.39/km² and the area is 12.1 km². Relva are surrounded by mountains near the area including an escarpment slightly east of Relva. It is located in the southwestern part of the island of São Miguel
and is connected by roads linking Mosteiros
and Ponta Delgada. The mountains which are covered with lovely trees are to the north while the Atlantic Ocean lies to the south. The main industry are agriculture. Farmlands dominate within the coastline and while the mountainous areas cover the rest of Feteiras. Relva is accessed with a bus transport to Ponta Delgada. Relva means grass in Portuguese and this parish is very green with beautiful views of the ocean. Relva is characterized by cliffs down to the coast not beaches. It is a small area where dairy farmers go through the streets being pulled by horses on their way to the market.
hunted. Travelling by boat to the shore Santa Clara, these hunters would disembark and spend several days hunting for the semi-feral pigs, then returned to the settlements with their prizes. Slowly, the region began to be occupied by the first families, houses, fields and estates, developing the community of Ponta Delgada, and encroaching on the unspoiled lands to the west. Eventually, farmers began to graze their herds in the region where they encountered lands with thick grasses: relva, the Portuguese
word for grass, as the region became known, was used to describe this place, because this settlers found plenty of this boa erva . The first settlers, where likely farmers and shepards, integrally linked to the land, although no records identify the peoples.
The locality of Relva became more of a reality as settlers concentrated around the estates of Martim Vaz, a celebrated nobleman and local receiver (who collected the rents from the local serf
s). Vaz was relatively important, since his name was attached to improvements made to the local fountain (which was near the sea), an important landowner and for his construction of the first temple in the parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora das Neves. His role in the parish is reflected in the local toponymy: the church was once referred to as the Igreja do Contador da Relva , the fountain that he repaired the Fonte do Contador and a local grotto, the Grota do Contador, who were named for Martim Vaz.
Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada is a city and municipality on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. It includes 44,403 residents in the urban area, and approximately 20,113 inhabitants in the three central parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro,...
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...
. The population in 2001 is 2703, its density is 223.39/km² and the area is 12.1 km². Relva are surrounded by mountains near the area including an escarpment slightly east of Relva. It is located in the southwestern part of the island of São Miguel
São Miguel Island
São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...
and is connected by roads linking Mosteiros
Mosteiros (Ponta Delgada)
Mosteiros is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada in the Azores. The population in 2001 was 1196, its density is 130/km² and the area is 9.2 km². It is located in the northwestern part of the island of São Miguel and is connected by roads to Ponta Delgada in the south and...
and Ponta Delgada. The mountains which are covered with lovely trees are to the north while the Atlantic Ocean lies to the south. The main industry are agriculture. Farmlands dominate within the coastline and while the mountainous areas cover the rest of Feteiras. Relva is accessed with a bus transport to Ponta Delgada. Relva means grass in Portuguese and this parish is very green with beautiful views of the ocean. Relva is characterized by cliffs down to the coast not beaches. It is a small area where dairy farmers go through the streets being pulled by horses on their way to the market.
History
The area of Relva was prestine forest and unoccupied grasslands, virgin fields, where the first explorers discovered forest of laurel, azevinhos, gingeiras and cedros, interespered by uveiras da serra. The region, which extends to the border with Santa Clara and Feteiras, became a place where the pigs sent ashore by the first settlers congregated, and where many of nobles of Vila Franca do CampoVila Franca do Campo
Vila Franca do Campo is a town and a municipality in the southern part of the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese Autonomous Region of the Azores...
hunted. Travelling by boat to the shore Santa Clara, these hunters would disembark and spend several days hunting for the semi-feral pigs, then returned to the settlements with their prizes. Slowly, the region began to be occupied by the first families, houses, fields and estates, developing the community of Ponta Delgada, and encroaching on the unspoiled lands to the west. Eventually, farmers began to graze their herds in the region where they encountered lands with thick grasses: relva, the Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
word for grass, as the region became known, was used to describe this place, because this settlers found plenty of this boa erva . The first settlers, where likely farmers and shepards, integrally linked to the land, although no records identify the peoples.
The locality of Relva became more of a reality as settlers concentrated around the estates of Martim Vaz, a celebrated nobleman and local receiver (who collected the rents from the local serf
SERF
A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...
s). Vaz was relatively important, since his name was attached to improvements made to the local fountain (which was near the sea), an important landowner and for his construction of the first temple in the parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora das Neves. His role in the parish is reflected in the local toponymy: the church was once referred to as the Igreja do Contador da Relva , the fountain that he repaired the Fonte do Contador and a local grotto, the Grota do Contador, who were named for Martim Vaz.