Azoreans in New England (Boston, New Bedford: employment, high school, living)

[CLTKing]

I was watching TV the other night, and The Discovery Channel was airing a show called Anthony Boureg (sp), about the Azores and the big amount of those islands residents that live in New England (Cape Cod). I then remembered that I had an ex-coworker that was also from the Azores but used to live in Boston. Can anybody tell me why did the Azoreans migrated to MA in such big numbers? Thanks!!

[nate14ri]

Whaling Industry and Portuguese Immigration Centered in New Bedford, Mass.

With the shift of the whaling industry from Newport, Rhode Island, to New Bedford, Massachusetts, during the first half of the nineteenth century, the latter community became the focus of Portuguese immigration and settlement. In fact, New Bedford was eventually known as the "Portuguese capital of the United States." At the beginning of the twentieth century, New Bedford was the town with the largest Portuguese population, counting 7,300 first- generation Portuguese and 4,600 Americans born of Portuguese parentage. The total constituted 16 percent of the city's entire population.

The vast majority of the Portuguese residents came from the Azores, reflecting their early involvement in the whaling industry. After completing one or more whaling voyages, many remained in New Bedford, settling in the southern and western sections of the town. This area was known as "Fayal," deriving its name from one of the islands in the Azores where many of the immigrants had previously lived. Following the decline of the whaling industry in the 1870s and 1880s, Azoreans continued to settle in New Bedford, finding employment in the city's burgeoning cotton-textile industry. New Bedford and its harbor are depicted on this 1846 Coast and Geodetic Survey chart, documenting the importance of its coastal location for the whaling trade. Charts such as this, which were first published in the 1840s by this new federal agency, aided in the safe navigation of the United States coastal waters.


Whaling Industry and Portuguese Immigration Centered in New Bedford, Massachusetts

[lrfox]

The Azoreans still play a crucial role in the New Bedford Fishing Industry (which is the highest grossing fishing fleet in the nation for some 5 or 6 years straight), but they began coming to the area with the growth of the whaling industry. The show you were watching was "Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations" and the city that the show visited (at the beginning) and filmed was Fall River, Massachusetts, not Cape Cod (though Anthony mentioned that there were many Azorean residents living and working in Provincetown on the Cape when he started working there).

The cities of New Bedford and Fall River are the two primary settlements for the Azoreans, but but places like Provincetown and Bristol, Rhode Island also see heavy Azorean heritage.

Today, one of the highlights of both Fall River and New Bedford (which are both cities that are struggling) is the presence of the Portuguese (namely, the Azoreans). They add a lot of culture and character to the area.

[clevedark]

If you look at the map, the Azores are pretty close to Boston. I think the only flights to the Azores from this country leave from Boston. We went there on our honeymoon many moons ago and though we were starting out from NYC we had to go to Boston for our flight there.

[brightdoglover]

The second-largest linguistic group in MA is Portuguese, not Spanish. There are also hundreds of thousands of Brazilians in the area, and more every day, drawn at least in part to the number of Portuguese-speaking people already here.

[clevedark]

Boston has a large Cape Verdean population, too, and they also speak Portuguese.

Has anyone here ever tried to learn Portuguese? It's hard! It's frustratingly similar to Spanish, but that "ssh" sound is everywhere!

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by clevedark

Boston has a large Cape Verdean population, too, and they also speak Portuguese.

Has anyone here ever tried to learn Portuguese? It's hard! It's frustratingly similar to Spanish, but that "ssh" sound is everywhere!

My high school offered it on the Southcoast. I considered taking it, but MAN, it was tough. I had taken a few years of Spanish so I got all mixed up.

[clevedark]

Yes, that's exactly what happened to me! I'm pretty good with languages and I bought some tapes and I could barely repeat a word.

[luciabc]

Originally Posted by CLTKing

I was watching TV the other night, and The Discovery Channel was airing a show called Anthony Boureg (sp), about the Azores and the big amount of those islands residents that live in New England (Cape Cod). I then remembered that I had an ex-coworker that was also from the Azores but used to live in Boston. Can anybody tell me why did the Azoreans migrated to MA in such big numbers? Thanks!!

economic and political issues, especially in the first 3/4 of the past century

[clevedark]

Are the Azores a part of Portugal, or independent like Cape Verde?