Vila do Corvo

Vila do Corvo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈkoɾvu] ^ⓘ) is the smallest municipality in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, constituting the island of Corvo in its entirety. With a population of 430 in 2011, it is the least populated of the Portuguese municipalities, and the only Portuguese municipality, by law, without a civil parish (freguesia, the smallest administrative unit in Portugal). Its area is 17.11 square kilometres (6.61 sq mi).

Vila do Corvo has at times been incorrectly referred to as Vila Nova do Corvo. The village, the unique agglomeration on the island of Corvo, is constructed of small homes located along narrow roadways and alleys rising along the hills of the southern one-third of the island. The coastal area of the village is dominated by the Corvo Aerodrome and ports linking the community to the outside world.

Despite the discovery of Carthaginian coins and the possible presence of a pre-Portuguese statue on Corvo, the current historical consensus is that the history of the Azores begins with non-official exploration during the period of the late 13th century in maps, such as the Genoese Medici Atlas (1351). Although it did not specify an island of Corvo, the Medici Atlas did refer to an Insula Corvi Marini ('Island of the Marine Crow'), in a seven-island archipelago. A later Mapa Catalão ('Catalan Map'), from Spain, referred to two islands of Corvo and Flores in 1375.

During Portuguese 'official history' the Western Group was discovered during the navigator Diogo de Teive and his son's (João de Teive) 1452 return from the Banks of Newfoundland, after his second voyage of exploration. The Portuguese Court began to refer to the new Ilhas das Flores ('Islands of Flowers'), identifying Corvo as the Ilha de Santa Iria ('Island of Saint Irene'), but other nautical charts continued to refer to this island as the Ilhéu das Flores ('Islet or Island of Flowers'), Ilha da Estátua ('Island of the Statue'), Ilha do Farol ('Island of the Lighthouse') or Ilha de São Tomás ('Island of Saint Thomas'). The island was placed under the control of Diogo Teive, who became the first Captain-Donatário.

Regardless, it was only in the following year that King Afonso V of Portugal "recognized" these new discoveries (January 20, 1453) and donated them to his uncle, Afonso, Duke of Braganza and Count of Barcelos. The first proprietor showed little interest in settlement, sending only the obligatory cattle to settle the island and establish his legitimate possession.

Fernão Telles, the third Captain-Donatário between 1475 and 1503, was the first to attempt to colonize Corvo (contracting with the Flemish entrepreneur Willem van der Haegen), but abandoned his settlement after a couple of years. By 1507, the islands of both Corvo and Flores were identified by Valentim Fernandes as unpopulated. Diogo das Chagas also referred to an initial settlement of 30 people, under contract of the Terceirenses Antão Vaz and Lopo Vaz de Azevedo (1508–1510), who had little success on Corvo; they eventually returned to Terceira in 1515, leaving António Silveira de Machado in charge. But the settlement did not persist. Following these successive failed attempts to settle the land, Gonçalo de Sousa (second Captain-Donatário of the islands of Corvo and Flores) was authorized to send slaves (likely from the island of Santo Antão in the Cape Verde archipelago) to Flores and Corvo as farmers and cattlemen (November 12, 1548).

In 1570, the building that would later become the Church of Nossa Senhora dos Milagres was constructed.

Around 1580, colonists from Flores arrived on Corvo, and a small self-sufficient, isolated settlement was formed. These Corvinos eked out a meagre existence, dedicating their venture to subsistence crops and grazing sheep and/or goats, along with fishing offshore. Commerce and trade primarily occurred across the channel, but weather conditions restricted maritime connections with the rest of the islands to between March and September. As Gaspar Frutuoso later indicated, by the end of the 16th century the population consisted of houses "...of 20 neighbours, renters and masters' blacks...certain slaves, and married mulattos with slaves...".