Conquest of the Azores the rapid Spanish conquest of the Azores, facilitating the integration of the Kingdom of Portugal and its colonial possessions into the Spanish Empire. Following a day's fighting, forces of the island of Terceira were defeated by Spanish Tercios, using the strategies and tactics of Álvaro de Bazán. A few days later, a contingent of Spanish-Portuguese troops landed on the island of Faial, where they defeated and captured a garrison of five French and one English companies (700 men in total). At the end of the campaign, approximately 9,000 Portuguese, French, Italian and English were captured by the Spanish. The French,
Captaincies of the Azores economic administration of the archipelago. Therefore, the captaincy system was employed on the islands, which in the beginning were limited to a group of rocky outcrops (the Formigas) and the unspoiled island of Santa Maria, where settlers had made a beachhead in the northern region of Anjos. With progressive discoveries, the number of captaincies expanded, only broken by inter- and intra-island rivalries and death. As "discoverer" and commander of the expedition to the Atlantic, Cabral was the first commander to obtain the title of "Captain of the Donatary" in the Azores. Yet, the title bestowed on Gonçalo Velho is not