Mosteiros

Mosteiros is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada on the Portuguese island of São Miguel in the Azores. The population in 2011 was 1,123, in an area of 8.95km2.HistoryIt was only around 1480, that the first peoples began to settle this part of the island, mostly by the maritime access, for many years. The community of Mosteiros was built on ancestral fishing for many years, even as its territory was cultivated by farmers.The name Mosteiros, meaning monastery in the Portuguese language, refers to nearby islets: the largest of these islets is shaped like a church. As Gaspar Frutuoso noted: "Between the large islet and ponta Ruiva, by the cliffs, until the promontory of Escalvados, there are some large depressions and well made fumaroles, in the form of a church, or monastaries, or of both things, that older settlers called the monasataries, situated on the fajã that ran from the peak in Sete Cidades". The parochial church, dedicated to Our Lady of the Conception, was constructed at various stages and remotes the beginning of the 17th century.Today, these activities have been complemented by tourist-related activities.GeographyMosteiros is located in the northwestern part of the island of São Miguel, connected by the Estrada Regional 1-1ª roadway to Ponta Delgada in the southeast and Ribeira Grande in the northeast. The main village is located on a fajã at the tip of the island, surrounded by coastal cliffs that reach 20m. The parish is primarily recognizable by a group of islets that lie offshore: two small islets to the northwest, and a group in the southwest, including one further west and two smaller islets, slightly east of the large islet.