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
Captaincy-General of the Azores José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquess of Pombal, then prime minister. A Captaincy-General operated from the Palace of the Captains-General, under the direction of the titular Captain-General, who operated as the Governor of the Azores, with additional jurisdiction on every island of the Azorean archipelago. The Captaincy-General was succeeded by the Province of the Azores, an ephemeral administrative structure that was collapse in the immediate years. The settlement of the Azores coalesced in the second half of the 15th century, in a late medieval context, that translated into the establishment of a governing structure based on the signeur system.