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    Açores - Postal History

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    Hervé Denis
    The Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal located in the North Atlantic consisting of nine volcanic islands about 850 miles west of Lisbon. The islands have experienced frequent seismic activity due to being located near the juncture of three major tectonic plates. Portugal first settled the Azores in the 15th century and the islands played an important role in protecting sea lanes. The Azores uses the Euro currency and issues its own stamps, though Portuguese stamps are also accepted for postage across Portugal and its territories.

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    Açores - Postal History

    Uploaded by

    Hervé Denis
    24 views1 page
    The Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal located in the North Atlantic consisting of nine volcanic islands about 850 miles west of Lisbon. The islands have experienced frequent seismic activity due to being located near the juncture of three major tectonic plates. Portugal first settled the Azores in the 15th century and the islands played an important role in protecting sea lanes. The Azores uses the Euro currency and issues its own stamps, though Portuguese stamps are also accepted for postage across Portugal and its territories.

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    Açores - Postal history

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    The Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal located in the North Atlantic consisting of nine volcanic islands about 850 miles west of Lisbon. The islands have experienced frequent seismic activity due to being located near the juncture of three major tectonic plates. Portugal first settled the Azores in the 15th century and the islands played an important role in protecting sea lanes. The Azores uses the Euro currency and issues its own stamps, though Portuguese stamps are also accepted for postage across Portugal and its territories.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    24 views1 page

    Açores - Postal History

    Uploaded by

    Hervé Denis
    The Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal located in the North Atlantic consisting of nine volcanic islands about 850 miles west of Lisbon. The islands have experienced frequent seismic activity due to being located near the juncture of three major tectonic plates. Portugal first settled the Azores in the 15th century and the islands played an important role in protecting sea lanes. The Azores uses the Euro currency and issues its own stamps, though Portuguese stamps are also accepted for postage across Portugal and its territories.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Azores

    Status: Autonomous Region of Portugal


    Location: Archipelago in Atlantic Ocean
    Area: 906 square miles
    Population: 246,746 (2011)
    Currency: 1 Euro = 100 cents. 1€ = $1.35 (2014)
    The Azores is an archipelago of nine volcanic islands
    about 850 miles west of Lisbon in the North Atlantic. Located
    near the juncture of three major tectonic plates, the Azores
    form part of a chain of undersea mountains that runs from
    Iceland to St. Helena and beyond. Most of the islands experi-
    ence frequent seismic activity.
    The first recorded landfall was in 1427 and, a decade later,
    Henry the Navigator settled them. The islands played an im-
    portant role in protecting and supporting the vital sea lanes
    from Portugal to the Cape and the Indies as well as Brazil and
    the Americas.
    To the Portuguese, the Azores are a part of Portugal rather
    than a colony. In the postal reform of October 27, 1852 —
    which led to the adoption of postage stamps — three of Por-
    tugal’s 216 post offices were located in the Azores. Portuguese
    stamps were introduced July 1, 1853. On January 1, 1868, be-
    cause of a 25% differential in the value of the currency, Por-
    tuguese stamps were overprinted specifically for the Azores.
    On June 1, 1892, Portugal replaced the general Azores issues
    with stamps inscribed for the three local administrative districts
    of Angra (for use in Graciosa, São Jorge, and Terceira), Horta
    (for Corvo, Faial, Flores, and Pico) and Ponta Delgado (for São
    Miguel and Santa Maria). Although Azores stamps were dis-
    continued under the new arrangement, extended commemora-
    tive sets inscribed Azores were issued in 1894, 1895,
    and 1898. Most of the commemorative stamps were
    actually sold in Portugal for the philatelic market.
    On July 19, 1905 the Portuguese government au-
    thorized a return of general Azores issues, and the
    following year Azores stamps replaced those of the
    three administrative districts. In mid-1931 Azores
    stamps were in turn superseded by those of Portugal,
    although all Azores issues after 1912 remained valid
    for postage until October 1, 1945.
    On July 1, 1976, the islands became an autono-
    mous region of Portugal, and in 1980
    Azores stamp issues resumed. Since
    then the stamps of Portugal and Azores,
    as well as those of Madeira, have been
    sold in all three jurisdictions and are
    valid interchangeably for postage. How-
    ever, postal clerks seem to favor Portu-
    guese stamps in all three jurisdictions.

    (For expanded text and


    additional illustrations, see
    www.stamps.org/AP-Album.)

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