Ribeira Quente

Ribeira Quente is a civil parish in the municipality of Povoação in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The population in 2011 was 767, in an area of 9.04 km². It is the smallest (by area), the lowest (by elevation) and the southernmost of the parishes in municipality.

History

Around the middle of the 15th century, the first settlers began occupying land along the coast of what would become Ribeira Quente. Sometime in 1588, a huge landslide from the valley of Furnas, provoked by intense rainfall, caused the expansion of the land in Ribeira Quente. A similar volcanic eruption on 2 September 1630, within the Furnas craters, also provoked a debris flow of debris, that inundated the river and covered the coast, limiting the access of local shipping that once crossed the area. It was within this problem environment that a small sedentary community continued occupy and develop along the coast. This community was populated by a poor peasant class, that includes generations of fishermen, for the greater part of its history. A local historian once described the heritage of this community, and particular, the rise of a few families: