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Azores

The Azores (, , ; Açores, ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Região Autónoma dos Açores), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 1400 km west of Lisbon, about 1500 km northwest of Morocco, and about 1930 km southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Its main industries are agriculture, dairy farming, livestock, fishing, and tourism, which has become a major service activity in the region. In the 20th century and to some extent into the 21st, they have served as a waypoint for refueling aircraft flying between Europe and North America. The government of the Azores employs a large percentage of the population directly or indirectly in the service and tertiary sectors. The largest city of the Azores is Ponta Delgada. The culture, dialect, cuisine, and traditions of the Azorean islands vary considerably, because these remote islands were settled sporadically over a span of two centuries.

There are nine major Azorean islands and an islet cluster, in three main groups. These are Flores and Corvo, to the west; Graciosa, Terceira, São Jorge, Pico, and Faial in the centre; and São Miguel, Santa Maria, and the Formigas islets to the east. They extend for more than 600 km and lie in a northwest–southeast direction. All of the islands have volcanic origins, although some, such as Santa Maria, have had no recorded activity in the time since the islands were settled several centuries ago. Mount Pico, on the island of Pico, is the highest point in Portugal, at 2351 m. If measured from their base at the bottom of the ocean to their peaks, the Azores are among the tallest mountains on the planet.

The Azores are located at the seismically active Azores Triple Junction plate boundary where the North American Plate, Eurasian Plate and Nubian Plate meet.

The climate of the Azores is very mild for such a northerly location, being influenced by its distance from the continents and by the passing Gulf Stream. Because of the marine influence, temperatures remain mild year-round. Daytime temperatures normally fluctuate between 16 and 25 C depending on season. Temperatures above 30 C or below 3 C are unknown in the major population centres. It is also generally wet and cloudy.

History

A small number of alleged hypogea (underground structures carved into rocks) have been identified on the islands of Corvo, Santa Maria, and Terceira by Portuguese archaeologist Nuno Ribeiro, who speculated that they might date back 2,000 years, implying a human presence on the island before the Portuguese. These structures have been used by settlers in the Azores to store grain and the suggestion by Ribeiro that they might be burial sites is unconfirmed. Detailed examination and dating to authenticate the validity of these speculations is lacking; thus it is unclear whether these structures are natural or human-made and whether they predate the 15th century Portuguese colonization of the Azores.

According to a 2015 paper published in Journal of Evolutionary Biology, research based on mouse mitochondrial DNA points to a Scandinavian rather than Portuguese origin of the local mouse population. A 2021 paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, using data from lake sediment core sampling, suggests brush-clearing was undertaken and animal husbandry introduced between 700 and 850 A.D. These findings suggest a brief period of Norse settlement, and the 2021 paper further cites climate simulations that suggest the dominant winds in the North Atlantic Ocean in that period blew from the northeast, which would have taken Viking ships heading southwest from Scandinavia more or less directly to the Azores.

Discovery
The islands were known to Europeans in the 14th century; parts of them appear in the Catalan Atlas, created in 1375. In 1427, a captain sailing for Prince Henry the Navigator, possibly Gonçalo Velho, may have rediscovered the Azores, but this is not certain. In Thomas Ashe's 1813 work A History of the Azores, the author identified a Fleming, Joshua Vander Berg of Bruges, who made landfall in the archipelago during a storm on his way to Lisbon. According to Ashe, the Portuguese explored the area and claimed it for Portugal. Other writers note the discovery of the first islands (São Miguel, Santa Maria and Terceira) by sailors in the service of Henry the Navigator, although there are few documents to support such claims.

Although it is commonly said that the archipelago received its name from açor (Portuguese for goshawk, a common bird at the time of discovery) it is unlikely that the bird ever nested or hunted on the islands. There were no large animals on Santa Maria; after its discovery and before settlement began, sheep were let loose on the island to supply future settlers with food.

Early settlement
The archipelago was largely settled from mainland Portugal, but settlement did not take place right away. Gonçalo Velho Cabral gathered resources and settlers for the next three years (1433–1436) and sailed to establish colonies, first on Santa Maria and then on São Miguel. Settlers built houses, established villages and cleared bush and rocks to plant crops, grain, grapevines, sugar cane and other plants suitable for local use and for export. They brought domesticated animals, such as chickens, rabbits, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The settlement of the unoccupied islands started in 1439 with people mainly from the continental provinces of Algarve and Alentejo, in mainland Portugal. São Miguel was first settled in 1449, the settlers – mainly from the Estremadura, Alto Alentejo and Algarve areas of mainland Portugal – under the command of Gonçalo Velho Cabral, who landed at the site of modern-day Povoação.

Flemish settlers
The first reference to the island of São Jorge was made in 1439, but the date of discovery is unknown. In 1443, the island was already inhabited, but settlement began only after the arrival of the noble Flemish native Willem van der Haegen. Arriving at Topo, São Jorge, where he lived and died, he became known as Guilherme da Silveira to the islanders. João Vaz Corte-Real received the captaincy of the island in 1483. Velas became a town before the end of the 15th century. By 1490, there were 2,000 Flemings living on the islands of Terceira, Pico, Faial, São Jorge and Flores. Because there was such a large Flemish settlement, the Azores became known as the Flemish Islands or the Isles of Flanders.

Prince Henry the Navigator was responsible for this Flemish settlement. His sister, Isabel, was married to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, Flanders, at the time belonging to Burgundy. There was a revolt against Philip's rule, and disease and hunger became rampant. Isabel appealed to Henry to allow some of the unruly Flemings to settle in the Azores. He granted this and supplied them with means of transport and goods.

The 1522 earthquake and recovery
In 1522, Vila Franca do Campo, then the capital of São Miguel, was devastated by an earthquake and landslide that killed about 5,000 people, and the capital was moved to Ponta Delgada. The town of Vila Franca do Campo was rebuilt on the original site, and today is a thriving fishing and yachting port. Ponta Delgada received its city status in 1546. From the first settlement, the pioneers applied themselves to agriculture, and by the 15th century Graciosa was exporting wheat, barley, wine and brandy. The goods were sent to Terceira largely because of the proximity of that island.

Effects of the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580
Portugal fell into a dynastic crisis following the death of Cardinal-King Henry of Portugal in 1580. Of the various claimants to the crown, the most powerful was king Phillip II of Spain, who justified his rights to the Portuguese throne by the fact that his mother was a Portuguese royal princess, his maternal grandfather having been King Manuel I of Portugal. Following his proclamation in Santarém, António, Prior of Crato was acclaimed in the Azores in 1580 (through his envoy António da Costa) but was expelled from the continent by the Spaniards following the Battle of Alcântara. Yet, through the administration of Cipriano de Figueiredo, governor of Terceira (who continued to govern Terceira in the name of ill-fated, former King Sebastian of Portugal), the Azoreans resisted Spanish attempts to conquer the islands (including specifically at the Battle of Salga).

In 1583, Philip II of Spain, as King of Portugal, sent his fleet to clear the Azores of a combined multinational force of adventurers, mercenaries, volunteers, and soldiers who were attempting to establish the Azores as a staging post for a rival pretender to the Portuguese throne. Following the success of his fleet at the Battle of Ponta Delgada, captured enemies were hanged from yardarms, as they were considered pirates by Philip II. Opponents receiving the news variously portrayed Philip II as a despot or "Black Legend", the sort of insult widely made against contemporary monarchs engaged in aggressive empire building and the European wars of religion. Figueiredo and Violante do Canto helped organize a resistance on Terceira that influenced some of the response of the other islands, even as internal politics and support for Philip's faction increased on the other islands (including specifically on São Miguel, where the Gonçalvez da Câmara family supported the Spanish claimant).

English raids of 1589 and 1598
An English raid of the Azores in 1589 successfully plundered some islands and harbouring ships; eight years later, a second raid failed – the Islands Voyage.

Iberian Union
Spain held the Azores under the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1642 (called the "Babylonian captivity" in the Azores). The Azores were the last part of the Portuguese Empire to resist Philip's reign over Portugal (Macau resisted any official recognition), until the defeat of forces loyal to the Prior of Crato with the Conquest of the Azores in 1583. Portuguese control resumed with the end of the Iberian Union in 1640 and the beginning of the Portuguese Restoration War, not by the professional military, who were occupied with warfare on the Portuguese mainland, but by local people attacking a fortified Castilian garrison.

Overpopulation and emigration
In the late 16th century, the Azores and Madeira began to face problems of overpopulation. Responding to the consequent economic problems, some people of the Azores began to emigrate to the United States, Canada and Brazil.

In 1902, the Dominion Line began operating a Mediterranean passenger service between Boston and Italy via Gibraltar and the Azores, with an established port of call at Sao Miguel. In 1904, the service was taken over by the White Star Line, future owners of the ill-fated Titanic. Four ships formerly owned by Dominion were renamed and put into service under White Star, named Canopic, Romanic, Cretic and Republic, the latter of which is best known for its 1909 sinking off the New England coast. Canopic and Romanic provided regular services to Boston, while Cretic and Republic operated on the service to both New York and Boston throughout their careers. By the time the service ended in 1921, these four ships had transported an estimated total of 58,000 Azorean Portuguese to the United States.

Liberal Wars of 1828–1834
The Portuguese Civil War (1828–1834) had strong repercussions in the Azores. In 1829, in Praia da Vitória, the liberals won over the absolutists, making Terceira Island the main headquarters of the new Portuguese regime and also where the Council of Regency (Conselho de Regência) of Maria II of Portugal was established. Beginning in 1868, Portugal issued its stamps overprinted with "AÇORES" for use in the islands. Between 1892 and 1906, it also issued separate stamps for the three administrative districts of the time.

Arbitrary district divisions 1836–1976
From 1836 to 1976, the archipelago was divided into three districts, equivalent (except in area) to those in the Portuguese mainland. The division was arbitrary and did not follow the natural island groups, rather reflecting the location of each district capital on the three main cities (none of which were on the western group).
 * Angra do Heroísmo consisted of Terceira, São Jorge, and Graciosa, with the capital at Angra do Heroísmo on Terceira.
 * Horta consisted of Pico, Faial, Flores, and Corvo, with the capital at Horta on Faial.
 * Ponta Delgada consisted of São Miguel and Santa Maria, with the capital at Ponta Delgada on São Miguel.

Modern period
In 1931, the Azores (together with Madeira and Portuguese Guinea) revolted against the Ditadura Nacional and were held briefly by rebel military.

In 1943, during World War II, the Portuguese ruler António de Oliveira Salazar leased air and naval bases in the Azores to Great Britain. The occupation of these facilities in October 1943 was codenamed Operation Alacrity by the British. This was a key turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic, enabling the Royal Air Force, the U.S. Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Navy to provide aerial coverage in the Mid-Atlantic gap. This helped them to protect convoys and to hunt hostile German U-boats.

In 1944, the U.S. constructed a small and short-lived air base on the island of Santa Maria. In 1945, a new base was constructed on the island of Terceira, named Lajes Field. This air base is in an area called Lajes, a broad, flat sea terrace that had been a large farm. Lajes Field is a plateau rising out of the sea on the northeast corner of the island. This air base is a joint American and Portuguese venture. Lajes Field continues to support the American and Portuguese Armed Forces.

During the Cold War, U.S. Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine warfare squadrons patrolled the North Atlantic Ocean for Soviet Navy submarines and surface warships. Since its opening, Lajes Field has been used for refuelling American cargo planes bound for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The U.S. Navy keeps a small squadron of its ships at the harbor of Praia da Vitória, 3 km southeast of Lajes Field. The airfield also has a small commercial terminal handling scheduled and chartered passenger flights from the other islands in the Azores, Europe, Africa, and North America.

Following the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which deposed the Estado Novo dictatorship in Lisbon, Portugal and its territories across the world entered into a period of great political uncertainty. The Azorean Liberation Front attempted to take advantage of this instability immediately after the revolution, hoping to establish an independent Azores, until operations ceased in 1975.

In 1976, the Azores became the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Região Autónoma dos Açores), one of the autonomous regions of Portugal, and the subdistricts of the Azores were eliminated. In 2003, the Azores saw international attention when United States President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, and Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso held a summit there days before the commencement of the Iraq War.

Geography
The archipelago of the Azores is located in the middle of the northern hemisphere of the Atlantic Ocean and extends along a west-northwest to east-southeast orientation (between 36.5°–40° North latitudes and 24.5°–31.5° West longitudes) in an area approximately 600 km wide. The islands of the Azores emerged from what is called the Azores Plateau, a 5.8 million km2 region that is morphologically accented by a depth of 2000 m. The nine islands that compose the archipelago occupy a surface area of 2346 km2, that includes both the main islands and many islets located in their vicinities. They range in surface area from the largest, São Miguel, at 759 km2 to the smallest, Corvo, at approximately 17 km2.

Each of the islands has its own distinct geomorphological characteristics that make them unique:
 * Corvo (the smallest island) is a crater of a major Plinian eruption
 * Flores (its neighbor on the North American Plate) is a rugged island carved by many valleys and escarpments
 * Faial is characterized for its shield volcano and caldera (Caldeira Volcano)
 * Pico, is the highest point, at 2351 m, in the Azores and continental Portugal
 * Graciosa is known for its active Furnas do Enxofre and mixture of volcanic cones and plains
 * São Jorge is a long slender island, formed from fissural eruptions over thousands of years
 * Terceira, almost circular, is the location of one of the largest craters in the region
 * São Miguel is the largest island and is pitted with many large craters and fields of spatter cones
 * Santa Maria – the oldest island – is heavily eroded, being one of the few places to encounter brown sandy beaches in the archipelago.

These islands can be divided into three recognizable groups located on the Azores Plateau:
 * The Eastern Group (Grupo Oriental) of São Miguel, Santa Maria and Formigas Islets
 * The Central Group (Grupo Central) of Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico and Faial
 * The Western Group (Grupo Ocidental) of Flores and Corvo.

São Jorge, Pico and Faial are also collectively called Ilhas do Triângulo (‘Islands of the Triangle’).

Several sub-surface reefs (particularly the Dollabarat on the fringe of the Formigas), banks (specifically the Princess Alice Bank and D. João de Castro Bank), as well as many hydrothermal vents and sea-mounts are monitored by the regional authorities, owing to the complex geotectonic and socioeconomic significance within the economic exclusion zone of the archipelago.

Geology
From a geostructural perspective, the Azores are located above an active triple junction between three of the world's major tectonic plates (the North American Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate), a condition that has translated into the existence of many faults and fractures in this region of the Atlantic. The westernmost islands of the archipelago (Corvo and Flores) are located on the North American Plate, while the remaining islands are located within the boundary that divides the Eurasian and African plates.

The principal tectonic structures that exist in the region of the Azores are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Terceira Rift, the Azores Fracture Zone and the Glória Fault. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the main frontier between the North American Plate and the African-Eurasian Plates that crosses the Azores Plateau between the islands of Flores and Faial from north to south then to the southwest; it is an extensive form crossed by many transform faults running perpendicular to its north–south orientation, that is seismically active and susceptible to volcanism.

Mountains
The Azores features a series of prominent peaks, with Montanha do Pico (also known as "Mount Pico") standing as the highest at 2,351 meters on Pico Island. Other notable elevations include Pico da Vara on São Miguel Island, Pico da Esperança on São Jorge Island, Cabeço Gordo on Faial Island, and Calderia de Santa Barbara on Terceira Island.

Rift and fault geology
The Terceira Rift is a system of fractures that extends from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Glória Fault that represents the main frontier between the Eurasian and African Plates. It is defined by a line of submarine volcanoes and island mounts that extend northwest to southeast for about 550 km, from the area west of Graciosa until the islets of the Formigas, that includes the islands of Graciosa, Terceira and São Miguel. Its northwest limit connects to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, while the southeast section intersects the Gloria Fault southeast of the island of Santa Maria.

The Azores Fracture Zone extends from the Glória Fault and encompasses a relatively inactive area to the south of the islands of the Central and Eastern groups north to the Terceira Rift, along a 45° angle. The Glória Fault, for its part, extends 800 km along a linear line from the Azores to the Azores–Gibraltar Transform Fault.

Volcanoes
The islands' volcanism is associated with the rifting along the Azores Triple Junction; the spread of the crust along the existing faults and fractures has produced many of the active volcanic and seismic events, while supported by buoyant upwelling in the deeper mantle, some associate with an Azores hotspot. Most of the volcanic activity has centered, primarily, along the Terceira Rift.

From the beginning of the islands' settlement, around the 15th century, there have been 28 registered volcanic eruptions (15 terrestrial and 13 submarine). The last significant volcanic eruption, the Capelinhos volcano (Vulcão dos Capelinhos), occurred off the coast of the island of Faial in 1957; the most recent volcanic activity occurred in the seamounts and submarine volcanoes off the coast of Serreta and in the Pico-São Jorge Channel.

The islands have many examples of volcano-built geomorphology including caves and lava tubes (such as the Gruta das Torres, Algar do Carvão, Gruta do Natal, Gruta das Cinco Ribeiras), the coastal lava fields (like the coast of Feteiras, Faial, the Mistério of Prainha or São João on Pico Island) in addition to the inactive cones in central São Miguel Island, the aforementioned Capelinhos on Faial, the volcanic complexes of Terceira or Plinian caldeira of Corvo Island. The islands of the archipelago were formed through volcanic and seismic activity during the Neogene Period; the first embryonic surfaces started to appear in the waters of Santa Maria during the Miocene epoch (from circa 8 million years ago).

The sequence of the island formation has been generally characterized as: Santa Maria (8.12 Ma), São Miguel (4.1 Ma), Terceira (3.52 Ma), Graciosa (2.5 Ma), Flores (2.16 Ma), Faial (0.7 Ma), São Jorge (0.55 Ma), Corvo (0.7 Ma) and the youngest, Pico (0.27 Ma). All islands have experienced volcanism during their geological history, with Late Holocene volcanism being recorded from Flores and Faial. Within recorded "human settlement" history the islands of Santa Maria, Graciosa, Flores, and Corvo have not experienced any volcanic eruptions; in addition to active fumaroles and hot-springs, the remaining islands have had sporadic eruptions since the 14th century. Apart from the Capelinhos volcano in 1957–1958, the last recorded instance of "island formation" occurred off the coast of São Miguel, when the island of Sabrina was briefly formed.

Earthquakes
Owing to its geodynamic environment, the region has been a center of intense seismic activity, particularly along its tectonic boundaries on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Terceira Rift. Seismic events although frequent, are usually tectonic or vulco-tectonic in nature, but in general are of low to medium intensities, occasionally punctuated by events of level 5 or greater on the Richter magnitude scale. The most severe earthquake was registered in 1757, near Calheta on the island of São Jorge, which exceeded 7 on the Richter magnitude scale.

In comparison, the 1522 earthquake that was mentioned by historian Gaspar Frutuoso measured 6.8, but its effects were judged to be X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale, and was responsible for the destruction of Vila Franca do Campo and landslides that may have killed more than 5,000 of the inhabitants.

Biome
The archipelago lies in the Palearctic realm and has a unique biotic community that includes the Macaronesian subtropical laurissilva, with many endemic species of plants and animals. There are at least 6,112 terrestrial species, of which about 411 are endemic. The majority (75%) of these endemics are animals, mostly arthropods and mollusks. New species are found regularly in the Azores (e.g., 30 different new species of land snails were discovered circa 2013 ).

Even though the Azores look very green and sometimes wild, the vegetation has been extremely altered. A great part of it has been wiped out in the past 600 years for its valuable wood (for tools, buildings, boats, fire wood, and so on) and to clear land for agriculture. As a result, it is estimated that more than half of insects on the Graciosa island have disappeared or will become extinct.

Many cultivated places (which are traditionally dedicated to pasture or to growing taro, potatoes, maize and other crops) have now been abandoned, especially as a result of emigration. Consequently, some invasive plants have filled these deserted and disturbed lands. Hydrangeas are another potential pest, but their threat is less serious. Notwithstanding the fact that hydrangeas were introduced from America or Asia, some locals consider them a symbol of the archipelago and propagate them along roadsides. Cryptomeria, the Japanese cedar, is a conifer extensively grown for its timber. The two most common of these alien species are Pittosporum undulatum and Hedychium gardnerianum. Reforestation efforts with native laurissilva vegetation have been accomplished successfully in many parts of the Azores.

The Azores has at least two endemic living bird species. The Azores bullfinch, or Priolo, is restricted to remnant laurisilva forest in the mountains at the eastern end of São Miguel and is classified by BirdLife International as endangered. Monteiro's storm petrel, described to science as recently as 2008, is known to breed in just two locations in the islands but may occur more widely. An extinct species of owl, the São Miguel scops owl, has recently been described, which probably became extinct after human settlement because of habitat destruction and the introduction of alien species. Five species of flightless rail (Rallus spp.) once existed on the islands, as did a flightless quail (Coturnix sp.) and another species of bullfinch, the greater Azores bullfinch, but these also went extinct after human colonization. Eleven subspecies of bird are endemic to the islands. The Azores has an endemic bat, the Azores noctule, which has an unusually high frequency of diurnal flight.

The islets of the Formigas (the Portuguese word for "ants"), including the area known as the Dollabarat Reef, have a rich environment of maritime species, such as black coral and manta rays, different species of sharks, whales, and sea turtles. Seventeen new marine reserves (with special conservation status) were added to the Azorean Marine Park (which covers around 900000 km2). On São Miguel there are notable micro-habitats formed by hot springs that host extremophile microorganisms.

Climate
The archipelago is spread out at roughly the same latitude as the southern half of mainland Portugal, but its location in the mid-Atlantic Ocean gives it a generally tepid, oceanic, mild to warm subtropical climate, with mild annual oscillations.

'Azores High' anticyclone
The Azores archipelago is located in a transition and confrontation zone between air masses of tropical origin and masses of cooler air of polar origin. The climate of the archipelago is largely determined by variations in the atmospheric pressure field over the North Atlantic. These variations conditioned by the mass of the American Continent and the Atlantic water mass are overlapped by a semi-permanent subtropical Atlantic anticyclone, commonly known as the Azores High. This anticyclone experiences seasonal variations which can affect the archipelago in many ways.

In winter, the Azores anticyclone is positioned further south, and allows for a descent of the Polar front, approaching it to the archipelago. In summer, on the other hand, the anticyclone's movement further north, leads to the departure of the polar front and its associated disturbances towards higher latitudes. Far enough away from the mainland coasts, the continental air masses that reach the archipelago are weakened by the maritime influence.

The same can not be said for the higher altitudes (e.g. Mount Pico), where upper air masses of a continental origin and with a more direct pathway can reach the surface and present those areas with drier air and more extreme temperatures. At the same time, this free atmosphere circulating air transports aerosols to the archipelago, namely volcanic ash or fine sands from the Sahara desert, which sporadically affect the radiation and air quality.

Daily maximum temperatures at low altitudes usually range between 16 and 25 °C. The average annual rainfall generally increases from east to west, ranging from 700 mm in Santa Maria to 1600 mm in Flores and reaching values above 5000 mm on the highlands of Pico.

Köppen classification
Under the Köppen climate classification, the eastern group (São Miguel and Santa Maria) is usually classified as Mediterranean while the central and western group (especially Flores and Corvo) is increasingly more humid subtropical and overall rainier because of the effects of the Gulf Stream. This stream has a large effect over the sea temperature which varies between 16 C in February and March, and 23 C in August and September, and increases earlier in the western group.

Salvador Rivas-Martínez data presents several different bioclimatic zones for the Azores. Seasonal lag is extreme in the low-sun half of the year, with December being milder than April in terms of mean temperatures. During summer the lag is somewhat lower, with August being the warmest month, though September is usually as warm or warmer than July.

Temperatures, humidity, and sunshine
Although temperatures as warm as 32.1 C have been recorded on Pico, neither Ponta Delgada nor Angra do Heroísmo, the two largest cities, have ever been warmer than 30 C. There has never been a frost, snowfall, freeze or even temperatures below 5 C recorded at sea level on any of the islands. The coldest weather in winter usually comes from northwesterly air masses originating from Labrador in Canada. However, since those air masses are warmed up as they pass across the warmer Atlantic Ocean, temperatures by day even then exceed 10 C.

The average relative humidity can range from 80% at the coast to over 90% above 400 m. However, higher elevations above the planetary boundary layer can experience extremely low values close to 10%. Summers are especially humid in August and may increase the perceived temperature by a few degrees. Winters are not only very mild but also very humid and contribute substantially to the annual precipitation.

Insolation is relatively low, with 35-40% of the total possible value for sunshine, and higher in topographically lower islands such as Graciosa or Santa Maria, inversely proportional to precipitation. This is directly caused by the orographic lift of humid air masses and is especially pronounced in islands marked by high orography.

Hurricanes
With a greater rarity, especially in late summer and autumn, despite the northern position that the archipelago occupies, the Azores can be affected by the passage of tropical cyclones, or tropical storms derived from them, some can result from anomalies of low latitude systems while others result from the return, back to the Atlantic, after a route close to or even over the American continent. Though often small and in the process of dissipation, these cyclones result in many of the worst storms the archipelago is subject to.

A total of 14 tropical or subtropical cyclones have affected the region in history. Most of them were either extratropical or tropical storms when they affected the region, although several Category 1 hurricanes have reached the Azores.

The following storms have impacted the region while at Category 1 strength:

 * Hurricane Fran in 1973
 * Hurricane Emmy in 1976
 * Hurricane Gordon in 2006
 * Hurricane Gordon in 2012
 * Hurricane Alex in 2016

Several tropical storms have hit the region, including

 * Tropical Storm Irma in 1978
 * Hurricane Bonnie in 1992
 * Hurricane Charley in 1992
 * Hurricane Erika in 1997
 * Hurricane Gaston in 2016
 * Tropical Storm Gaston in 2022

Storms that were extratropical when they impacted the region include

 * Hurricane Tanya in 1995
 * Tropical Storm Ana in 2003
 * Tropical Storm Grace in 2009

In addition, the 2005 Azores subtropical storm affected the region in October 2005.

Economy
In order of importance, the main sectors of employment of the Azores are services, agriculture, fishery, industry and tourism. Agricultural products include São Jorge cheese.

Demographics
The Azores are divided into 19 municipalities (concelhos); each municipality is further divided into freguesias (civil administrative parishes), of which there is a total of 156 in all of the Azores.

There are six cities (cidades) in the Azores: Ponta Delgada, Lagoa and Ribeira Grande on the island of São Miguel; Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória on the island of Terceira, and Horta on Faial. Three of these, Ponta Delgada, Angra and Horta are considered capital/administrative cities to the regional government: homes to the President (Ponta Delgada), the Judiciary (Angra) and the Regional Assembly (Horta). Angra also serves as the ecclesiastical centre of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Angra, the episcopal see of the Azores.

Population

According to the 2019 Census, population in the Azores was 242,796. The Azores were uninhabited when Portuguese navigators arrived in the early 15th century; settlement began in 1439 with migrants from mainland Portugal as well as Spanish, Sephardic Jews, Moors, Italians, Flemish, and Africans from Guinea, Cape Verde and São Tomé.

The first Sephardic Jews in the Azores were slaves after their expulsion from Portugal by D. Manuel I, in 1496. The islands sometimes served as a waypoint for ships carrying African slaves.

Emigration
Since the 17th century, many Azoreans have emigrated, mainly to Brazil, Uruguay, the United States and Canada. Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts are the primary destination for Azorean emigrants. From 1921 to 1977, about 250,000 Azoreans immigrated to Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Northern California was the final destination for many of the Massachusetts immigrants who then moved on to the San Joaquin Valley, especially the city of Turlock. In the late 19th century many Azoreans immigrated to the Hawaiian islands. The tuna fishing industry drew a significant number of Azoreans to the Point Loma neighborhood of San Diego. During the Great Recession of the early 21st century, Portugal was in a recession from 2011 until 2013, which resulted in high levels of unemployment across the mainland as well as the Azores. The Great Recession led to an increase of emigration from the Azores.

Florianópolis and Porto Alegre in the Southern Region of Brazil were founded by Azoreans, who accounted for over half of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina's populations in the late 18th century. As late as 1960, mass immigration currents were registered to Brazil, and many were from the Azores.

Politics
Since 1976, the Azores has been an autonomous region integrated within the framework of the Portuguese Republic. It has its own government and autonomous legislature within its own political-administrative statute and organic law. Its governmental organs include: the legislative assembly, a unicameral parliament composed of 52 elected deputies, elected by universal suffrage for a four-year term; the regional government and presidency, with parliamentary legitimacy, composed of a president, a vice-president and seven regional secretaries responsible for day-to-day operations. It is represented in the Council of Ministers by a representative appointed by the president of the Republic, which was created during the revision of the constitution of 2004 (which, among other things, removed the older Portuguese representative that was appointed by the president of the Republic, beholden to the Council of State and coincident with the president). Since becoming a Portuguese autonomous region, the executive branch of the regional authority has been located in Ponta Delgada, the legislative branch in Horta, and the judicial branch in Angra do Heroísmo. The islands of the archipelago do not have independent status in law, except in electoral law and are governed by 19 municipalities that subdivide the islands. In addition, until the administrative reform of the 19th century, the following civil parishes had municipal standing: Topo (today integrated into the municipality of Calheta, São Jorge); Praia (today integrated into municipality of Santa Cruz da Graciosa); São Sebastião (today an integral part of the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo); Capelas (now part of the municipality of Ponta Delgada); and Água de Pau (now a civil parish in the municipality of Lagoa). These civil parishes still retain their titles of "vila" in name only; the populations of Capelas and neighbouring parish still protest the change and promote the restoration of their status. The municipalities are further subdivided into several civil parishes, with the exception of Corvo (the only municipality by law without a civil parish, owing to its size).

Azorean politics is dominated by the two largest Portuguese political parties, the Socialist Party and Social Democratic Party, the former holding a majority in the Legislative Assembly. The Democratic and Social Center / People's Party, the Left Bloc, the Unitary Democratic Coalition and the People's Monarchist Party are also represented. , the President of the Azores is Social Democratic Party leader José Manuel Bolieiro. Although the Socialist Party dominates the regional politics, the Social Democratic Party is traditionally popular in city and town council elections.

Foreign relations and defence
As an autonomous but integral region of Portugal, foreign affairs and defence are the responsibility of the national government. As is all of Portugal, the Azores are in the European Union and Schengen Area. They are also in the European Union Customs Union and VAT area but levy a lower rate of VAT than applies on the mainland. The Azores, like Madeira and the Canary Islands, are among the European Union's state territories with special status, and are one of its designated "Outermost Regions".

The Azores Military Zone is the Portuguese Army's command for ground forces stationed in the archipelago. The Air Force, in turn, maintains a base at Lajes Field, which is also home to the United States Forces Azores, while the Navy tasks the offshore patrol vessel Figueira da Foz, as well as a range of other patrol vessels, to patrol Portugal's large economic zone around the islands.

Aviation

Each of the nine islands has an airport, although the majority are airfields rather than airports. The primary (and busiest) airport of the island group is João Paulo II Airport. The commercial terminals in Ponta Delgada, Horta, Vila do Porto and Santa Cruz das Flores are operated by ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, a public entity that oversees the operations of airports across Portugal. The remaining, except for Lajes Field, are operated by the Regional Government. Lajes is a military airbase, as well as a commercial airport, and is operated by the Portuguese Armed Forces in conjunction with the United States.

The airports are:
 * Santa Maria: Santa Maria Airport (LPAZ)
 * São Miguel: João Paulo II Airport (LPPD)
 * Terceira: Lajes Airport (LPLA)
 * São Jorge: São Jorge Airport (LPSJ)
 * Pico: Pico Airport (LPPI)
 * Faial: Horta Airport (LPHR)
 * Graciosa: Graciosa Airport (LPGR)
 * Flores: Flores Airport (LPFL)
 * Corvo: Corvo Airport (LPCR)

Marine transportation
The Azores has had a long history of marine transport to overcome distances and establish inter-community contacts and trade. Consequently, the shipbuilding industry developed in many islands, from small fishing boats to whaling sloops and larger passenger services. Passenger traffic to the main islands (São Miguel, Santa Maria, Terceira and Faial) began in the 17th century, and between the 18th–19th century, the Pico Yacht controlled the lucrative summer traffic season.

After 1871, the Insulana Shipping Company was the only entity responsible for regular traffic between the islands (except Corvo), Madeira and the United States. Finally, cargo and passenger transportation ceased in the 1970s, and the ships were sold or converted into tuna fishing boats. For the next 20 years, commercial maritime service between the islands ceased (except between Faial-Pico and Lajes das Flores-Vila do Corvo). Transmaçor (Transportes Marítimos Açorianos, Lda.) was founded in 1987. The shipping company operates four to six daily connections between Horta and Madalena throughout the year, using its small fleet of ships, in addition to inter-island connections between Faial, Pico, São Jorge and Terceira during the summer months. New initiatives began in the late 1990s: the catamaran Iapetos began services, followed by Lady of Mann and Golfinho Azul (chartered by Açorline). In 2005, Atlânticoline was established, providing transport services. In 2009, Atlanticoline was involved in a controversial rejection of a 750-passenger, 150-vehicle ship ordered from the Estaleiros de Viana do Castelo (ENVC). The Atlantida, a 50 million Euro cruiser (as part of a two-ship deal with the other named Anticiclone) was rejected in 2009 by Atlanticoline for the under-performance of the power-plant. Although it would result in only a five-minute delay between islands, the public company rejected the ship, and the contract was broken over the builder's inability to deliver the required ship on time. While the ship was being shopped to other interested parties (Hugo Chávez once considered purchasing the ferryboat in 2010), no interested buyers appeared, and ENVC decided to cede the Atlantida to Atlânticoline as part of the latter's open international competition to charter two ships in 2012.

In June 2011, the Regional Government announced that it would purchase 60% of Transmaçor, equivalent to 500,000 Euro of the company's capital. With this transaction the autonomous government of the Azores ceded control, of which it once had 88% of the capital. The signed memorandum of understanding concluded negotiations between the various parties involved, under which the liability of Transmaçor (worth a total of 8 million Euro) was divided equally between the government and businessman José E. Almeida, who is now the holder of a majority stake in the company. Similarly, the Regional Government approved the consolidation of the three individual port authorities (Administração dos Portos do Triângulo e Grupo Ocidental, Administração dos Portos da Terceira e Graciosa and the Administração dos Portos das Ilhas de São Miguel e Santa Maria) and regional Portos dos Açores into one entity that resulted in a 2.2 million Euro cost savings, in addition to a reduction from 11 to three administrators.

Religious societies and festivals
Religious festivals, patron saints, and traditional holidays mark the Azorean calendar. The most important religious events are tied with the festivals associated with the cult of the Holy Spirit, commonly referred to as the festivals of the Holy Spirit (or Espírito Santo), rooted in millenarian dogma and held on all islands from May to September. These festivals are very important to the Azorean people, who are primarily Roman Catholic, and combine religious rituals with processions celebrating the benevolence and egalitarianism of neighbours. These events are centred around treatros or impérios, small buildings that host the meals, adoration and charity of the participants, and used to store the artefacts associated with the events. On Terceira, for example, these impérios have grown into ornate buildings painted and cared for by the local brotherhoods in their respective parishes. The events focus on the members of local parishes, not tourists, but all are welcome, as sharing is one of the main principles of the festivals. Some limited events focus on tourists, including a public event that the city government of Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel holds, which attracts visitors and locals.

The Festival of the Lord Holy Christ of the Miracles (Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres) in Ponta Delgada is the largest individual religious event in the Azores and takes place on Rogation Sunday. Pilgrims from within the Portuguese diaspora normally travel to Ponta Delgada to participate in an afternoon procession behind the image of Christ along the flower-decorated streets of the city. Although the solemn procession is only held on one day, the events of the Festival of Senhor Santo Cristo occur over a period of a week and involve a ritual of moving the image between the main church and convent nightly, ultimately culminating in the procession, which is televised within the Azores and to the Portuguese diaspora.

The Sanjoaninas Festivities in Angra do Heroísmo on Terceira are held in June honoring Saint Anthony, Saint Peter and Saint John the Baptist, in a large religious celebration. The festival of Our Lady of Lourdes (Nossa Senhora de Lourdes), patron saint of whalers, begins in Lajes on Pico Island on the last Sunday of August and runs through the week—Whalers Week. It is marked by social and cultural events connected to the tradition of whale hunting. The Wine Harvest Festival (Festa das Vindimas), takes place during the first week of September and is a century-old custom of the people of Pico.

On Corvo, the people celebrate their patron saint Nossa Senhora dos Milagres (Our Lady of Miracles) on 15 August every year in addition to the festivals of the Divine Holy Spirit. The Festival da Maré de Agosto (August Sea Festival), takes place every year beginning on 15 August in Praia Formosa on Santa Maria. Also, the Semana do Mar (Sea Week), dedicated almost exclusively to water sports, takes place in August in the city of Horta, on Faial.

Carnaval is celebrated in the Azores. Parades and pageants are the heart of the Carnaval festivities. There is lively music, colorful costumes, hand-made masks, and floats. The traditional bullfights in the bullring are ongoing as is the running of bulls in the streets.

International visitors
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Graciosa was host to many prominent figures, including
 * Chateaubriand, the French writer who passed through upon his escape to America during the French Revolution
 * Almeida Garrett, the Portuguese poet who visited an uncle and wrote some poetry while there
 * Prince Albert of Monaco, the 19th century oceanographer who led several expeditions in the waters of the Azores. He arrived on his yacht Hirondelle, and visited the furna da caldeira, the noted hot springs grotto.
 * author Mark Twain published The Innocents Abroad in 1869 – a travel book, where he described his time in the Azores.

Sports
Notable sports teams in the Azores include Santa Clara (Primeira Liga), Lusitânia (Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol), Fonte do Bastardo (Portuguese Volleyball First Division) and Sporting Clube da Horta (Portuguese Handball Second Division).

The Rallye Açores is an international rally race held annually since 1965, which was part of the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The Azores Senior Open was a golf tournament held in 2008 as part of the European Seniors Tour.

Sustainability
The Azores are committed to sustainable tourism and have implemented various policies to preserve their natural, historical, and cultural resources. This approach has led to the designation of approximately 25% of their land area as Protected Areas for conservation and the establishment of vast marine reserves.

Key to their sustainability policy is the integration and participation of all societal members, ensuring equal opportunities in various sectors like health, social solidarity, education, culture, and employment. The harmony between people and nature is considered vital for the region's sustainable development, enhancing the quality of life for residents and visitors.

The Azores Destination Management Organisation (Açores DMO ), established in 2018, plays a crucial role in coordinating these sustainability efforts with public and private sectors, NGOs, and local communities.

The policy aims to position the Azores as a leading sustainable tourist destination, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals and gaining certification with the EarthCheck Sustainable Destinations program. All with a focus on continuous improvement, prioritising the involvement of local communities and stakeholders in decision-making, and promoting sustainability across the tourism sector.

title: Azores


text:
Talk:Argument from evolution

Misc

 * While many scientists object that scientific creationism is wrong to mix theology with science, doing so was partly a reaction to bringing science into theology.

Could somebody explain the above sentence to me? As I understand it, the most common scientific objection to scientific creationism is that it's either unscientific or contradicted by physical evidence. Additionally, how was science brought into theology? --Robert Merkel

 * The positive statement that "God does not exist" is a statement about God, and therefore a theological statement. Supporting such a statement with scientific evidence would appear to bring science into the theological arena. Therefore, some have felt it necessary to find scientific evidence to support their theological belief that God does exist and created everything. --Wesley

 * Who has advanced this argument? What is it supposed to prove?  Just that the claims of Genesis are wrong, or something deeper than that?  Evolution certainly has, historically, undermined belief in God.  What I want to see is evidence that it was specifically used in the way that this page implies.  We shouldn't be making stuff up; we should be reporting how important scientists, theologians, and philosophers actually have argued. --LMS

 * Why include all the pro and anti evolution arguments here? They belong on the intelligent design and evolution entries. Fairandbalanced 04:02, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I rewrote the first paragraph for two reasons: it was poorly written, and misrepresented the issues.

Specifically, it is not true that "Darwin's theory implies that the first man was not created by dust, but rather by some human-like animal" Darwin's theory makes no claim at all about who or what created "the first man" (a notion that itself has no place in Darwinian theory). It does argue that people evolved out of some human like animals. It is true that the questio of whether the immediate antecedent of the first hominids were other animals or dust -- but this is a byproduct of Darwin's main argument, and not the main argument itself. And it is the main argument itself -- that natural events must be explained by naturtal processes, and that simple processes can produce very complex effects -- that is the main point of contention between Darwinists and creationists/ID folk.

Also, it seemed kind of tortuous to argue that scientists prefer Darwin's model because it is more scientific. If this is a point the article needs to make, it needs to explain more clearly what makes it "more scientific." This is what I tried to do.-- SR

 * I'm puzzled by this entry. Is the title truncated?  It appears to be intended as a place for recording "arguments from evolution in support of atheism".  Or, is it within the scope of intent to post arguments for theism based on evolution?  Is it supposed to exclude not-origins-related "arguments from evolution" - such as, for example, "arguments from evolution" for the extermination of the genetically unfit?  or, "arguments from evolution" for the assistance of the poor and handicapped?  Should it be re-titled? Mkmcconn

 * No idea about the article history, but the title appears to be a counterpoint to the argument from design (for the existance of god(s)). -- DrBob

 * This is linked from the Atheism article, so I think it's intended to be "Argument from evolution for the non-existence of God", and added an opening sentence to that effect. Wesley

I think the part " [...] while not describing the process of original creation, [...]" of the appended sentence in the article can be removed, because it assumes that there was indeed an "original creation". WDYT? --snoyes 18:04 Mar 28, 2003 (UTC)
 * "Darwin's theory of evolution, while not describing the process of original creation, proposes that all living organisms are descended from a common ancestor, and that species evolve through natural processes."

speciation
"Even though no one has observed transformations from one species to another..." I'm not convinced this is true. I remember reading an article in nature about the speciation of wallabies through hybridisation, though I can't find it now, and also this article fom the Guardian newspaper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1264087,00.html

Not made any changes though, as I don't have solid enough evidence (in my mind) to back it up until I can find that wallaby paper... Glynn

The main evolution article links here as proof of speciation hawthorn fly hope that helps SuperAntMD 20:03, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

NPOV, please
Seems to me that this article suffers from barely-repressed POV. The inclusion of a refutation section, for instance, is pretty hefty proof that way. --DNicholls 10:22, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
 * So work on it. Speaking of NPOV, though, I'm under the impression that few scientists actually use the term "evolutionist."  It seems to be a derogatory term used by creationists.

"However, creationists argue that the theory of evolution itself is not falsifiable, since it is not testable by experiment."

This seems like a hasty and useless addendum. The next paragraph clearly states that microevolution is verifiable in a laboratory environment (i.e. 'testable').

"Under this view, the study of evolution is not a scientific field at all, but more akin to history."

Another meaningless statement presumably from the same contributor. Stating that the study of evolution is akin to history seems only to lend credence to it. -anetode

I've tried to clean up the criticism section by removing irrelevant or rambling material (creationism vs evolution arguments and counter-counter-counter-arguments, unknowability, def of "theory," justification of indirect evidence in science, falsifiability, etc). This article doesn't need to argue either for against the validity of evolution or creationism in order to coherently explain the subject, right? I've also split the two criticisms into their own sections. TheIncredibleEdibleOompaLoompa 23:43, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Making the argument from evolution an actual argument from evolution
I have altered the supposed scientific arument from an IDer's opinion of their argument to what the title acutally claims. I urge anyone who critisized the article before to contribute to the argument.

I removed this sentence
, especially in America

Bobby1011 14:10, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I think that the primary cause of the Americentric nature of that section, was that ID is primarily an American phenomenon. However, I had changed it from "many Americans..." which was utterly ridiculous as it ignored the rest of the word, and I didn't excise it as I had yet to go through all of the commentary and edits to see if there was some reason that that phrase was in there.  I'm guessing that there was no compelling reason, so good riddance to that phrase.  :)  Jim62sch 14:44, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

NPOV Tag
I've just added an NPOV tag to this article, because it crosses the line on several points, and definatly argues a point in some sections, attempting to convince the reader of the author's opinion. Examples:

If astronomers just gave up after saying "circular orbits of planets are close enough to our observations," who knows what we might not have later discovered.

That is NPOV and is an attempt to insert the author's argument into the article.

''This could not be further from the truth. Anyone who claims this clearly does not understand evolution (although they typically claim they understand it better than someone who believes it is true).''

Claiming to know what is "typically" claimed.

There's more, but my bed is calling.

Bobby1011 14:20, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Had you waited untill I was done editing, you would have had no need for the tag. I agree with you about those sentences, in fact I've removed other POV stuff as appropriate.  Once I'm done with this mess of an article, I'm sure you'll find that the tag can go.  Jim62sch 14:37, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Ok, Sorry to step on your toes like that. I wasn't aware that the article was currently being edited (there are tags for that too, if you would like to avoid confusion in the future).

As for ID being something typically american, I have to take an issue with that. Ok, the term is a USAmerican neologism, but it describes something that has been around longer than the states themselves. People of non-christian religions also produce theories that point to ID rather than evolution or even bigbang thoeries.

Bobby1011 15:18, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I was referring to the term, not to the teleological argument (which is what ID really is) because the IDists deny any connection whatsoever with said argument. Your second point was why I replaced "christian God" with the "god of the Abrahamic religions" as the ID proponents (especially DI, the only true powerhouse on the ID side) use the Wedge strategy which is aimed primarily at Christians, ad as an afterthought, a few pious Jews.  Jim62sch 20:05, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your improvements. If you think I went too far, than I probably did. My aim was for an argument from an evolutionary biologist's perspective (which I am not). Just don't delete everything I wrote and replace it with "evolution is an attack on God" (clearly going a little to far) like Duncharris did. Also, please add stuff.

 * Don't worry...evolution and a belief in a deity or deities are neither mutually inclusive nor exclusive. If you have questions with any edits, post them on this page (please remember to sign each comment with ~ ). Thanks.  Jim62sch 20:08, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

rc is a scary place
does/can "evolution" argue things? anyway, in case all u people really were wondering, wikipedia is a weak place to have this fight but now that I think abuot it I see why u are here, bothering w/ it. sensible people: it's not worth your time. people who still think biology can be made into "my guess is as good as yours, therefore science teachers should mention that sometimes people guess things"-ology - have fun. WWFSMD skizzno logic3.1 00:15, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Editorials
Why the editorialization? 99% of scientists oppose Creationism, and that is what this article is supposed to explain & detail. As a creationist, I believe that the article should say as much, and should explain their reasons for so doing. Yet one finds everywhere editorial statements such "Intelligent Design should not be taught in school", "cannot deceive an "average" observer", etc. It would have sufficed to write that a majority of scientists, biologists, or whoever the contributing author should wish to mention regard the argument of Intelligent Design as deceitful. That would be correct. All statements are "alleged" unless unanimous, and the article must be equally informative to people of different points of view. The Only subject which merits agreement is the *representation* of both sides' arguments. As long as both sides believe that the statements in Wikipedia actually represent their true opinions on the matter, the article is balanced. Otherwise, it is not a true encyclopedia article worthy of the name.

 * First off, you should sign your posts with four tildes ( ~ ).
 * Second, what editorialization? Did you bother to look at the footnotes?  The first sentence you mention, "Intelligent Design should not be taught in school", is not even in the article, neither is the second.  Precisely what are you looking at?
 * What, praytell, does this mean: "All statements are "alleged" unless unanimous"? If you are offering this as a piece of advice, you are completely wrong.  Unanimity is not required, and the disagreement of one person is not a cause for changing the article.
 * Rather than write screed full of inaccuracies, I strongly suggest that you stick to factual criticisms, and point out specifically what currently existing statements you think are problematic. Thank you.  Jim62sch 15:23, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I should very much like to point out two things: Firstly, the line to which I referred has since been removed by persons less biased than the original editor. Secondly, an encyclopaedia article, even when describing something so mundane as the argument against a flat Earth, should state what scientific consensus is and identify it as such, not "factually" state that Intelligent Design is an argument whose object is to "deceive" average observers. The article also states that Occam's Razor supports evolution, which is definitely argued by scientists, but the opposite is argued (whether correctly or incorrectly) by Creationists against evolution. Since it so happens that the Rt. Hon. Mr. Occam is deceased, it is of course impossible to refer to the source, but it is the use of the encyclopaedia page to state as a fact things which are supposed to represent a position that perturbs me. As I previously stated, it is perfectly accdeptable (In fact the only thing to do) for an encyclopaedia to state that 99% of scientists oppose I.D., but it another thing altogether to state the said assertion in much the same terms as might a newspaper editorial, which is the essence of my complaint. On a final note, I must apologize for not signing with the tildes, but I have not invested (and perhaps ought to) invest time in learning the Wiki protocol. My complaint was lodged moreover, as a letter to the "Editors" as a disgruntled reader. 24.152.169.237 04:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

What happened?
This page no longer describes the argument from evolution anywhere, except in the introduction to call it a "A common misconception". Intelligent design theory has next to nothing to do with it, so why has the entire page been transformed into an off-topic pov rant against it and all information about the actual argument from evolution been removed? The previous versions of the page weren't particularly good, but at least they didn't entirely change the subject in the first sentence. The argument from evolution isn't "that intelligent design is not a verifiable scientific theory." The argument from evolution holds that evolution disproves (or is evidence against) a creator God. The only thing that ID has to do with it is a single sentence at most: "The theist may circumvent the argument from evolution by asserting that independent evidence exists that living things were intelligently designed, rejecting the premise that they evolved at all." Such a point already existed in the previous (less innaccurate) version, though. TheIncredibleEdibleOompaLoompa 04:26, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

You arn't serious are you? You are clearly a creationist/IDer who knows nothing about evolution. You actually believe that the only purpose of the existance of evolution is to disproove God?

 * Please don't put words into my mouth; I said absolutely nothing of the kind. I said that the phrase "argument from evolution" describes the use of evolution as evidence against God. I never said that I agreed with the argument, just that that's what the phrase describes and that the article is, therefore, completely innaccurate. TheIncredibleEdibleOompaLoompa 20:50, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

This Page is a carbon copy of the one found at TalkOrigins
TalkOrigins heavily favors evolution. This article is not NPOV at all. It's so biased that nothing can be saved. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.70.202.17 (talk • contribs).

Some examples of use of this term
As the meaning of this term does not seem very clear in the article, I decided to gather some examples of the term's use. I have listed them below. From them, and other examples, hopefully we can get a sourced, citeable definition for the phrase: "Argument from evolution".

These are all from the first two pages of google results I got:

 * as an argument for metaphysical naturalism; "no contemporary atheist philosopher has used evolution as evidence for atheism. Indeed, the only philosopher who has formulated an argument for the claim that evolution is evidence against theism and for metaphysical naturalism is agnostic philosopher Paul Draper. / Draper defends an evidential argument from evolution for metaphysical naturalism" http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/nontheism/atheism/evolution.html
 * Two sarcastic proofs of the existance of God, titled: "ARGUMENT FROM EVOLUTION". The first is: "(1) Most indigenous folks all over the world started believing in gods independently. / (2) Belief in God is thus natural. / (3) Atheist: Many indigenous folks started eating each other, also independently. / (4) The Christian god forbids eating our fellow humans. / (5) Therefore, God exists." http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm
 * An apparently serious example of an argument referred to as the "argument from evolution" proving the existance of God; "arguments for the existence of God ... namely, (1) the argument from evolution" http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-pigliucci7.html
 * Another reference to the argument(not sure where it was given in full, maybe someone can find it) from a different page on the same site; "I then gave the argument from evolution and pointed out that apart from God it's just too improbable to think that natural selection and genetic mutations could have resulted in the sort of biological complexity that we see." http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-pigliucci5.html
 * An example of the use of the term in reference to an argument about altruism or egotism; "That mothers have these altruistic desires is clearly a good evolutionary strategy for a species, or for a bunch of genes. Altruistic mothers have a better chance of passing on their genes to offspring than totally selfish mothers who have no desire to sacrifice themselves for their offspring.  So the argument from evolution is just unsound." http://spot.colorado.edu/~oddie/pego.html
 * As an argument against absolute standards for morality: "The Argument from Evolution: Natural selection can account for morality as it is a survival mechanism for society. The society that did the best to its members survived." http://www.souldevice.org/ethics_morality.html
 * as an argument for strong atheism: "Argument from Evolution—An argument by Kyle J. Gerkin, which argues that evolution was not possible before the universe existed, and that no other mechanism could explain a god’s intelligence." http://www.strongatheism.net/library/atheology/
 * "The third argument against the reality of psi, the argument from evolution," http://google.com/search?q=cache:www.drmichaellevin.org/evolution_psi.pdf+%22Argument+from+evolution%22+-wikipedia&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=17
 * as an argument for the existance of God; "He first looks at “the argument from evolution,” which holds that the evolution of increasingly complex organisms implies the existence of God, who designed the evolutionary process for this purpose." http://www.equip.org/free/DS703.htm

From this small, and probably unrepresentive sample, there seems to be a very large degree of variation in the meaning of the phrase "Argument from evolution". However, the existance of God does seem to be more common than other topics, although the division between the phrase's use to refer to an argument for the existance of God, and it's use to refer to an argument against the existance of God, seems to be about equal.

I would really appreciate further examples of the use of this term, from non-online sources if you have them available, or on-line if not. The use of the term is clearly not only limited to one argument. Thanks to everyone for all your good-faith contributions to the 'pedia! JesseW, the juggling janitor 09:49, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Thank you for that summary. I was aware of most (but not all) of those uses. My primary point was that the only use described in this article is not one of them. The sentence "The argument from evolution states that intelligent design is not a verifiable scientific theory and is, in fact, pseudoscience" is, imo, an attempt to use Wikipedia to create a new definition, rather than an explanation of what the term actually means. In the end, probably several of the above meanings should be incorporated. Probably the arguments for and against the existence of God are the most notable. I was just trying to point out that the page as it currently stands doesn't seem to describe anything by the name "Argument from evolution" that actually exists outside of the page itself. TheIncredibleEdibleOompaLoompa 02:29, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

 * I'm of the opinion that the page should just go over the arguments of an dagainst the existance of God. Otherwise, the terms seem to be unique to the people using them. --Switch 13:19, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Those two conclusions(God exists, God does not exist) do seem to be the most popular uses of the term, I agree. And Loompa is quite correct that the page currently doesn't address them, and it should. Hm.  I think the next step is to generate a list of the structures of the various arguments used to reach the two conclusions(God exists, God does not exist), then we can get to work on writing up a NPOV explanation of them.  Anyone else interesed in taking this on?  If not, I'll get to it eventually. JesseW, the juggling janitor 00:25, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Noteworthy enough?
This phrase "argument from evolution" only gets 187 unique hits on Google, many of them directly from Wikipedia and its mirrors. I also don't see any evidence that it's noteworthy in any of this page's references, which just seem to generally deal with scientific criticism of intelligent design (a more standard style of title). What makes this specific title noteworthy enough? -Silence 11:33, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. The title is very uninformative.  Any suggestions?  --Roland Deschain 22:28, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Very bad intro
This article has a very bad introduction:

"The argument from evolution states that intelligent design, (ID), is not a verifiable scientific theory and is, in fact, pseudoscience[1], with evolutionists noting that "IDers" have theological rather than scientific objectives."
 * It's the scientific and philosophical community that states that ID is not science. This is much clearer than an abstract term such as argument from evolution.

"Science, via evolution, provides sound explanations for the origin and diversity of life, and the origin of the Universe."
 * Evolution offers no explanation for the origin or life or the universe. "via evolution" should be removed from this sentance.

"Using the concept of parsimony, scientists note that it is far more likely that the universe is a result of natural processes rather than of creation."
 * First, I cannot find this statement in the citation that is offered with this statement.
 * This is a wrong statement regarding parsimony. Parsimony is usually used to derive the least convoluted hypothesis, but following the principles of parsimony has no effect on the probablity of something happening. (Note: May be used in conjunction with Occam's Razor to arrive at such a conclusion --Switch 03:15, 1 August 2006 (UTC))

--Roland Deschain 22:51, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
 * That isn't even what the article is supposed to be about. See the above discussion; the article needs a complete rewrite and refocus, but no one appears to have gotten around to fixing it yet. In fact, I had forgotten about it until just recently. --Switch 03:15, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I've read the article and I'm very confused about your comment. What is this article about.  If it's not about the biological Theory of Evolution, this point needs to be made very clear right in the intro before all the false statments are made which I have pointed out.--Roland Deschain 19:13, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * The article is about biological evolution, but the argument proposed in the article is a) invalid, b) generally not a recognised theological argument, c) not called the "argument from evolution" anywhere else. See the above discussion (Examples of use of this term) for what the article should be about. --Switch 03:42, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

ID "only Abrahamic Religions"
"According to intelligent design, life is too complex to have been a result of evolution, and must have been designed by an intelligent agent, who most supporters believe to be the God of Abrahamic religions" -This is clearly incorrect, and invalid. It's not only Abrahamic relgions that believe in a God of ID. For example, Hindus believe in a creator side to GOD: Bramha. This article requires a cleanup

 * Not only that, but ID theory also suggests that life isn't complex enough to allow for the margins of error that would allow chance to work. That is to say that whenever chance is at work, the result is death. There is nothing in the fossil record or other historical evidence to suggest that "nonessential elements" exist in sufficient quantities. Hackwrench 03:06, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Pure objectives?
That's part of the problem. Nobody does anything with pure objectives. The argument that ID proponents have other objectives fails to be useful on that basis. Hackwrench 03:01, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Argument from evolution


text:
Outback

The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a number of climatic zones, including tropical and monsoonal climates in northern areas, arid areas in the "red centre" and semi-arid and temperate climates in southerly regions. The total population is estimated at 607,000 people.

Geographically, the Outback is unified by a combination of factors, most notably a low human population density, a largely intact natural environment and, in many places, low-intensity land uses, such as pastoralism (livestock grazing) in which production is reliant on the natural environment. The Outback is deeply ingrained in Australian heritage, history and folklore. In Australian art the subject of the Outback has been vogue, particularly in the 1940s. In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Queensland Outback was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "natural attraction".

History
Aboriginal peoples have lived in the Outback for at least 50,000 years and occupied all Outback regions, including the driest deserts, when Europeans first entered central Australia in the 1800s. Many Aboriginal Australians retain strong physical and cultural links to their traditional country and are legally recognised as the Traditional Owners of large parts of the Outback under Commonwealth Native Title legislation.

Early European exploration of inland Australia was sporadic. More focus was on the more accessible and fertile coastal areas. The first party to successfully cross the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney was led by Gregory Blaxland in 1813, 25 years after the colony was established. People, starting with John Oxley in 1817, 1818 and 1821, followed by Charles Sturt from 1829 to 1830, attempted to follow the westward-flowing rivers to find an "inland sea", but these were found to all flow into the Murray River and Darling River, which turn south.

From 1858 onwards, the so-called "Afghan" cameleers and their beasts played an instrumental role in opening up the Outback and helping to build infrastructure.

Over the period 1858 to 1861, John McDouall Stuart led six expeditions north from Adelaide, South Australia into the Outback, culminating in successfully reaching the north coast of Australia and returning without the loss of any of the party's members' lives. This contrasts with the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition in 1860–61 which was much better funded, but resulted in the deaths of three of the members of the transcontinental party.

The Overland Telegraph line was constructed in the 1870s along the route identified by Stuart.

In 1865, the surveyor George Goyder, using changes in vegetation patterns, mapped a line in South Australia, north of which he considered rainfall to be too unreliable to support agriculture.

Exploration of the Outback continued in the 1950s when Len Beadell explored, surveyed and built many roads in support of the nuclear weapons tests at Emu Field and Maralinga and rocket testing on the Woomera Prohibited Area. Mineral exploration continues as new mineral deposits are identified and developed.

2002 was declared the Year of the Outback. While the early explorers used horses to cross the Outback, the first woman to make the journey riding a horse was Anna Hingley, who rode from Broome to Cairns in 2006.

Global significance
The paucity of industrial land use has led to the Outback being recognised globally as one of the largest remaining intact natural areas on Earth. Global "Human Footprint" and wilderness reviews highlight the importance of Outback Australia as one of the world's large natural areas, along with the Boreal forests and Tundra regions in North America, the Sahara and Gobi deserts and the tropical forests of the Amazon and Congo Basins. The savanna (or grassy woodlands) of northern Australia are the largest, intact savanna regions in the world. In the south, the Great Western Woodlands, which occupy 16000000 ha, an area larger than all of England and Wales, are the largest remaining temperate woodland left on Earth.

Major ecosystems
Reflecting the wide climatic and geological variation, the Outback contains a wealth of distinctive and ecologically rich ecosystems. Major land types include:
 * the Kimberley and Pilbara regions in northern Western Australia,
 * sub-tropical savanna landscape of the Top End,
 * ephemeral water courses of the Channel Country in western Queensland,
 * the ten deserts in central and western Australia,
 * the Inland Ranges, such as the MacDonnell Ranges, which provide topographic variation across the flat plains,
 * the flat Nullarbor Plain north of the Great Australian Bight, and
 * the Great Western Woodlands in southern Western Australia.

Wildlife
The Outback is full of very important well-adapted wildlife, although much of it may not be immediately visible to the casual observer. Many animals, such as red kangaroos and dingoes, hide in bushes to rest and keep cool during the heat of the day.

Birdlife is prolific, most often seen at waterholes at dawn and dusk. Huge flocks of budgerigars, cockatoos, corellas and galahs are often sighted. On bare ground or roads during the winter, various species of snakes and lizards bask in the sun, but they are rarely seen during the summer months.

Feral animals such as camels thrive in central Australia, brought to Australia by pastoralists and explorers, along with the early Afghan drivers. Feral horses known as 'brumbies' are station horses that have run wild. Feral pigs, foxes, cats, goats and rabbits and other imported animals are also degrading the environment, so time and money is spent eradicating them in an attempt to help protect fragile rangelands.

The Outback is home to a diverse set of animal species, such as the kangaroo, emu and dingo. The Dingo Fence was built to restrict movements of dingoes and wild dogs into agricultural areas towards the south east of the continent. The marginally fertile parts are primarily utilised as rangelands and have been traditionally used for sheep or cattle grazing, on cattle stations which are leased from the Federal Government. While small areas of the outback consist of clay soils the majority has exceedingly infertile palaeosols.

Riversleigh, in Queensland, is one of Australia's most renowned fossil sites and was recorded as a World Heritage site in 1994. The 100 km2 area contains fossil remains of ancient mammals, birds and reptiles of Oligocene and Miocene age.

Pastoralism
The largest industry across the Outback, in terms of the area occupied, is pastoralism, in which cattle, sheep, and sometimes goats are grazed in mostly intact, natural ecosystems. Widespread use of bore water, obtained from underground aquifers, including the Great Artesian Basin, has enabled livestock to be grazed across vast areas in which no permanent surface water exists naturally.

Capitalising on the lack of pasture improvement and absence of fertiliser and pesticide use, many Outback pastoral properties are certified as organic livestock producers. In 2014, 17000000 ha, most of which is in Outback Australia, was fully certified as organic farm production, making Australia the largest certified organic production area in the world.

Tourism
Tourism is a major industry across the Outback, and commonwealth and state tourism agencies explicitly target Outback Australia as a desirable destination for domestic and international travellers. There is no breakdown of tourism revenues for the "Outback" per se. However, regional tourism is a major component of national tourism incomes. Tourism Australia explicitly markets nature-based and Indigenous-led experiences to tourists. In the 2015–2016 financial year, 815,000 visitors spent $988 million while on holidays in the Northern Territory alone.

There are many popular tourist attractions in the Outback. Some of the well known destinations include Devils Marbles, Kakadu National Park, Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), MacDonnell Ranges and Uluru (Ayers Rock).

Mining
Other than agriculture and tourism, the main economic activity in this vast and sparsely settled area is mining. Owing to the almost complete absence of mountain building and glaciation since the Permian (in many areas since the Cambrian) ages, the outback is extremely rich in iron, aluminium, manganese and uranium ores, and also contains major deposits of gold, nickel, copper, lead and zinc ores. Because of its size, the value of grazing and mining is considerable. Major mines and mining areas in the Outback include opals at Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge and White Cliffs, metals at Broken Hill, Tennant Creek, Olympic Dam and the remote Challenger Mine. Oil and gas are extracted in the Cooper Basin around Moomba.

In Western Australia the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley was once the world's biggest producer of natural diamonds and contributed approximately one-third of the world's natural supply, but was closed down in 2020 due to financial reasons. The Pilbara region's economy is dominated by mining and petroleum industries. The Pilbara's oil and gas industry is the region's largest export industry earned $5.0 billion in 2004/05 accounting for over 96% of the State's production. Most of Australia's iron ore is also mined in the Pilbara and it also has one of the world's major manganese mines.

Population
Aboriginal communities in outback regions, such as the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands in northern South Australia, have not been displaced as they have been in areas of intensive agriculture and large cities, in coastal areas.

The total population of the Outback in Australia declined from 700,000 in 1996 to 690,000 in 2006. The largest decline was in the Outback Northern Territory, while the Kimberley and Pilbara showed population increases during the same period. The sex ratio is 1040 males for 1000 females and 17% of the total population is indigenous.

Facilities

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) started service in 1928 and helps people who live in the outback of Australia. Previously, serious injuries or illnesses often meant death owing to the lack of proper medical facilities and trained personnel.

In many outback communities, the number of children is too small for a conventional school to operate. Children are educated at home by the School of the Air. Originally the teachers communicated with the children via radio, but now satellite telecommunication is used instead. Some children attend boarding school, mostly only those in secondary school.

Terminology
The term "outback" derives from the adverbial phrase referring to the back yard of a house, and came to be used meiotically in the late 1800s to describe the vast sparsely settled regions of Australia behind the cities and towns. The earliest known use of the term in this context in print was in 1869, when the writer clearly meant the area west of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. Over time, the adverbial use of the phrase was replaced with the present day noun form.

It is colloquially said that "the outback" is located "beyond the Black Stump". The location of the black stump may be some hypothetical location or may vary depending on local custom and folklore. It has been suggested that the term comes from the Black Stump Wine Saloon that once stood about 10 km out of Coolah, New South Wales on the Gunnedah Road. It is claimed that the saloon, named after the nearby Black Stump Run and Black Stump Creek, was an important staging post for traffic to north-west New South Wales and it became a marker by which people gauged their journeys.

"The Never-Never" is a term referring to remoter parts of the Outback. The Outback can also be referred to as "back of beyond" or "back o' Bourke", although these terms are more frequently used when referring to something a long way from anywhere, or a long way away. The well-watered north of the continent is often called the "Top End" and the arid interior "The Red Centre", owing to its vast amounts of red soil and sparse greenery amongst its landscape.

Transport
The outback is criss-crossed by historic tracks. Most of the major highways have an excellent bitumen surface and other major roads are usually well-maintained dirt roads.

The Stuart Highway runs from north to south through the centre of the continent, roughly paralleled by the Adelaide–Darwin railway. There is a proposal to develop some of the roads running from the south-west to the north-east to create an all-weather road named the Outback Highway, crossing the continent diagonally from Laverton, Western Australia (north of Kalgoorlie, through the Northern Territory to Winton, in Queensland.

Air transport is relied on for mail delivery in some areas, owing to sparse settlement and wet-season road closures. Most outback mines have an airstrip and many have a fly-in fly-out workforce. Most outback sheep stations and cattle stations have an airstrip and quite a few have their own light plane. Medical and ambulance services are provided by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

title: Outback


text:
Absolute infinite

The absolute infinite (symbol: Ω), in context often called "absolute", is an extension of the idea of infinity proposed by mathematician Georg Cantor. It can be thought of as a number that is bigger than any other conceivable or inconceivable quantity, either finite or transfinite. Cantor linked the absolute infinite with God,  and believed that it had various mathematical properties, including the reflection principle: every property of the absolute infinite is also held by some smaller object.

Cantor's view
Cantor said:

"The actual infinite was distinguished by three relations: first, as it is realized in the supreme perfection, in the completely independent, extra worldly existence, in Deo, where I call it absolute infinite or simply absolute; second to the extent that it is represented in the dependent, creatural world; third as it can be conceived in abstracto in thought as a mathematical magnitude, number or order type. In the latter two relations, where it obviously reveals itself as limited and capable for further proliferation and hence familiar to the finite, I call it Transfinitum and strongly contrast it with the absolute."

Cantor also mentioned the idea in his letters to Richard Dedekind (text in square brackets not present in original):

The Burali-Forti paradox
The idea that the collection of all ordinal numbers cannot logically exist seems paradoxical to many. This is related to the Burali-Forti's "paradox" which implies that there can be no greatest ordinal number. All of these problems can be traced back to the idea that, for every property that can be logically defined, there exists a set of all objects that have that property. However, as in Cantor's argument (above), this idea leads to difficulties.

More generally, as noted by A. W. Moore, there can be no end to the process of set formation, and thus no such thing as the totality of all sets, or the set hierarchy. Any such totality would itself have to be a set, thus lying somewhere within the hierarchy and thus failing to contain every set.

A standard solution to this problem is found in Zermelo's set theory, which does not allow the unrestricted formation of sets from arbitrary properties. Rather, we may form the set of all objects that have a given property and lie in some given set (Zermelo's Axiom of Separation). This allows for the formation of sets based on properties, in a limited sense, while (hopefully) preserving the consistency of the theory.

While this solves the logical problem, one could argue that the philosophical problem remains. It seems natural that a set of individuals ought to exist, so long as the individuals exist. Indeed, naive set theory might be said to be based on this notion. Although Zermelo's fix allows a class to describe arbitrary (possibly "large") entities, these predicates of the meta-language may have no formal existence (i.e., as a set) within the theory. For example, the class of all sets would be a proper class. This is philosophically unsatisfying to some and has motivated additional work in set theory and other methods of formalizing the foundations of mathematics such as New Foundations by Willard Van Orman Quine.

title: Absolute infinite