São Jorge Island

São Jorge ]) is an island in the central group of the Azores archipelago and part of the autonomous region of Portugal. Separated from its nearest neighbors by the 15-kilometre Pico-São Jorge Channel, the central group is often referred colloquially as part of the Triangulo group or just "The Triangle". São Jorge is a relatively long thin island with tall cliffs, whose 9500 inhabitants are concentrated on various geological debris fields along the north and south coasts; from east to west, the island is 53 kilometres long and, north to south, 8 kilometres wide: its area is 237.59 square kilometres .

It is unclear when the first explorers discovered the island of São Jorge; as part of the politics of human occupation, the Azores were populated after 1430 through the initiative of Prince Henry the Navigator. 23 April, known as the feast day of Saint George, has been cited by historians as the reason for the island's name, although this is likely conjecture. Genovese and Catalan maps of the 14th century originally designated the long, slender island "São Jorge", a designation that was maintained by Infante D. Henrique when settlers from northern Europe began to colonize the island .

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