History of the Azores passed to João Fonseca and settlers streamed through the port of Armoeira to the small hamlets. The island became permanently populated during the reign of King Manuel I, in the year 1510, by people from various regions of continental Portugal, but mainly from the northern provinces. The island became arable, and grain and vegetables were cultivated. According to Santos et al.'s 2003 maternal DNA study of the Azores, people from Flores exhibit high genetic ancestry (~90%) with the Portuguese mainland, and Pacheco et al.'s 2006 paternal DNA study confirms that around 60% of all Azorean paternal lines are correlated to
Azores hotspot plume has been suggested to be located 100 to 200 km east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the island of Faial. The Azores domain comprises the Azores Plateau and the Azores archipelago (formed of 9 islands extending a distance of 480 km) which has been volcanically active for around 7Myr. The archipelago lies on the lateral branch of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the junction of three major tectonic plates; the North American Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate. This unique location causes the area to have ridge-hotspot interaction with a variation of volcanic processes. The Azores archipelago rises