AZORES GOLF COURSES

A green island on the middle of the Atlantic Ocean

The two westernmost Azorean islands (Flores and Corvo) actually lie on the North American plate and are only 1,925 km (1,200 mi) from St. John's in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Azores' most significant industries are tourism, cattle raising for milk and meat, and fishing.

The nine major Azorean islands and the eight small Formigas extend for more than 600 km (373 mi) and lie in a northwest-southeast direction.

The vast extent of the islands defines an immense exclusive economic zone of 1.1 million km². The westernmost point of this area is 3,380 km (2,100 mi) from the North American continent. All of the islands have volcanic origins, although Santa Maria also has some reef contribution. The mountain of Pico on Pico Island, at 2,351 m (7,713 ft) in altitude, is the highest in all of Portugal. The Azores are actually the tops of some of the tallest mountains on the planet, as measured from their base at the bottom of the ocean. The archipelago forms the Autonomous Region of Azores, one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal.

The nine islands have a total area of 2,346 km2 (906 sq mi). Their individual areas vary between São Miguel's 759 km2 (293 sq mi) and Corvo's 17 km2 (7 sq mi). Three islands (São Miguel, Pico and Terceira) are bigger in size than Malta (composed of three different islands), São Miguel Island alone being twice as big.

The nine islands are divided into three groups:
-The Eastern Group (Grupo Oriental) of São Miguel, Santa Maria and Formigas Islets
-The Central Group (Grupo Central) of Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico and Faial
-The Western Group (Grupo Ocidental) of Flores and Corvo.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Azores"