Feteiras

Feteiras is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. It is situated in the western part of the island of São Miguel, on the south coast. The population in 2011 was 1,571, in an area of 23.53km2.HistoryIn the 16th century, the coastal area around the Porto dos Batéis, was the principal settlement. This lowland region was eventually abandoned and settlers began populating the highland region above the cliffs, extending along the roadway that developed.Father Lopez da Luz, writing in the Revista Micaelense, noted that the beginnings of settlement in this region, occurred half a century after the island's settlement. Gaspar Frutuoso, writing in Saudades da Terra indicated that it obtained the name Feteiras for the pasturelands of ferns that grew in the pasturelands. Has he noted: "...and the arriba, on land, is the place of Feteiras that obtained this name because there existed many ferns, in a land that is low and high, very well shaded, that it wants this area to be like on the island of Madeira, whose parish, is to the invocation of Santa Luzia". By royal charter, from King Manuel I Feteiras was de-annexed from the jurisdiction of Vila Franca do Campo and integrated into the municipality of Ponta Delgada. By the end of the 15th century, Father Lopes da Luz, indicated that the parish of Santa Luzia das Feteiras had already existed for some time. Ironically, though, the parish church was dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and was the parish seat, since the original church to Santa Luzia was in ruin by the end of the 16th century.