Van der Haegen, a wealthy Flemish merchant who traded with the Portuguese, was invited by Joost de Hurtere (for four-years Captain-General of the island of Faial) to settle the island with him, in an archipelago that was becoming known as a "New Flanders" (or the "Flemish Islands"). Consequently, in 1470, with his wife Margarida da Zambuja and at his own expense, he offloaded two ships carrying his extended family, slaves and professionals of various services, to begin what was characterised as a "second-wave" of immigration to the island (the first having been pioneered by de Hurtere in the 1460s). Van der Haegen, by his virtues and distinguished personality, became popular on the island. But, sensing a level of bad faith on the part of de Hurtere and a growing rivalry, he abandoned his holdings on Faial, to settle in Quatro Ribeiras, on the island of Terceira. He begins to cultivate wheat and gather woad plants for export (specifically "Isatis tinctoria" which was also produced in the Picardy and Normandy Regions of France until that time). These plants, along with other species, were essential in the production of many of the dyes popular with mercantile classes. Most islands in the archipelago were populated, and the plants commercialized by the landed gentry for their exportable nature; early settlements were founded on the basis of agricultural and dye-based exports, such as woad. Van der Haegen's colonies were no exception.