Santa Maria was the first of the nine islands of the Azores where the Portuguese landed (in 1427), beginning a wave of settlement in the 15th and 16th centuries by colonists from Portugal and Flanders. The archipelago was named after the buzzards the early explorers saw flying overhead and mistook for goshawks (açores).

The Azores have profited from their far-flung position in the Atlantic. Between 1580 and 1640, when Portugal came under Spanish rule, the ports of Angra do Heroísmo on Terceira and Ponta Delgada on São Miguel prospered from the trade with the New World. In the 19th century, the islands were a regular port of call for American whaling ships, and during the 20th century they benefited from their use as stations for transatlantic cable companies, meteorological observatories and military air bases.

Today, the majority of islanders are involved in either dairy farming or fishing, and close links are maintained with both mainland Portugal and the sizeable communities of emigrant Azoreans in the United States and Canada. Once a brave new world of pioneer communities, the Azores are now an autonomous region of Portugal and an exotic corner of the European Union.