In the beginning of the 17th-Century Diogo das Chagas, referred to the villa of Santa Cruz as the "head of the island" and the center of the administration, noting ""village...is very well located with the best port on the island..."". He described his hometown as built on "firm foundations", delimited by its interlocking roads that began at the Santa Cruz sandbar and the other the port of Poças, all in the direction of Monte Calvário (today, Monte das Cruzes). He described ""...the first road of the village and from the Porto das Poças another road, which is the last in the village, and where the rest of the roads intersect..."". This year marked the municipal administration of the northern half of the island; part of the administrative regalia, was the obligatory construction of a lighthouse.