Fazenda (Lajes das Flores)
Template:Geobox Fazenda is a civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores, on the island of Flores, in the Azores. The population in 2011 was 257,[1] in an area of 9.47 km².[2] This parish is the youngest in the municipality, having been de-annexed from the Vila of Lajes das Flores in 1919.
History
The first settlements In this region occurred In the zone called Eirinha Velha during the 16th Century. Few historians would refer to the area of Fazenda, until Father José António Camões elaborated on the history of the island; from the Ribeira Funda, He would recount,
- "In about 55 arms-lengths, the river runs to the sea along a cliff called Fazenda...continuing to the south-southeast, In the same bay, is a lowland called Cherne. A short distance from this lowland is a small point called Ponta da Fazenda".
Later, Father Camões would note that the zone was occupied by 72 homes, 395 inhabitants In total (198 men, 197 women). He would go on to elaborate about the local industry, describing how the men were "hearty, robust and jovial", and responsible for the production of best roof-tiles on the island.
Albeit only administratively autonomous in 1919, it was religiously independent of Lajes das Flores in 1904. At that time, Senator André de Freitas had unsuccessfully attempted to promote the village to civil parish status. Similarly, and much later, Senator Machado Serpa had a similar idea; on December 9, 1919, organic law no.915 was promulgated creating the civil parish of Fazenda. On November 10, 1959, Bishop D. Manuel Afonso de Carvalho establishes Fazenda As a parochial church congregation with all the rights under Canonical Law.
Geography
Fazenda is administrative division of Lajes das Flores, and located to the north and northeast of the municipal seat. It extends from the eastern coast where it slopes along a north-northwest to south-southeast orientation to the center of the island. The settlements in this parish area oriented along the Regional Road connecting them to the parishes of Lomba (to the north) and Lajes das Flores (to the south).
Economy
Fazenda has been characterized for its fertile soils, and the local population is primarily involved In agriculture and animal husbandry associated with the dairy industry. The parish's experience with cooperativism started on April 4, 1919, with the establishment of the Fructuária de Produção de Lacticínios da Freguesia do Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres da Fazenda, later renamed the Cooperativa Agrícola Fructuária de ProduçãO de Lacticínios Senhor Santo Cristo by its founder, Father José Furtado Mota. In 1950, the co-operative's constitution was amended (November 29) and elaborated, becoming known As the Cooperativa Agrícola de Lacticínios do Senhor Santo Cristo, SCARL, under new directors Fernando Pereira Gomes, Francisco de Freitas Silva and Fernando Gomes Trigueiro. In 1968, the cooperative adapted new technologies and processes to produce a variant on the "São Jorge" cheese, while reducing the production of its local butter (At its only factory In Ribeirinha). At the time it was considered pioneering, and later duplicated by other dairy producers on the island. Later, In order to secure a greater portion of the export market, along with other branches on the island, the cooperative formed the União de Cooperativas da Ilha das Flores.
During the 1940s, a small whale−hunting business was operated by Fazendense Francisco Nunes Azevedo.