Province of the Azores Province of the Azores The Province of the Azores was an administrative unit of Portugal encompassing the archipelago of the Azores between 1832 and 1833. It was created by Decree 28 of 4 June 1832 and signed by Peter IV in the name of his daughter, Queen Maria II of Portugal. The Province of the Azores resulted from the abolishment of the Captaincy-General of the Azores, but retained its capital in the city of Angra do Heroísmo, on the island of Terceira. The administrative territory was divided three comarcas: Angra, administered by a prefect; Ponta Delgada, and Horta, administered by
Protected areas of the Azores today constitute the nucleus of the Island Nature Parks on each island. It was followed by Regional Legislative Decree 21/93/A (23 December 1993), which applied to the Azores the same jurisdictional regime established in national Decree 19/93 (23 January 1993), the "Rede Nacional de Áreas Protegidas" ("National Network of Protected Areas"). More than an adaption of the national regulations, it created the institutional structure that would give rise to Azorean protected areas, resulting in a reclassification of existing areas. Unfortunately, there were problems with the scheme, since the codification was not literally adaptable to the insular nature of the archipelago