Talk:History of the Azores

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This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 04:55, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Was Columbus really captured on return from his first voyage to the Americas?
Was Columbus really captured at the Azores island of Santa Maria, or just some of his crew? About half of the articles I've found online make this claim, including this Wikipedia article, and the other half claim that only some of his crew were taken prisoner. I've found only one article which cites a source, which goes into a little more detail, which says that only some of the crew was captured:

http://www.lajes.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123326510

The article at that link says: "According to Silvio A. Bedini's Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, a small group of Columbus men were attending mass when they were taken prisoners by a group of local villagers under the orders of the island's captain, João de Castanheira. It is also believed that there were some attempts to capture Columbus, but Columbus successfully evaded the presumable captors, sailing around the islands of Santa Maria and São Miguel for five days, awaiting the release of his men."

Without more and better sources for either scenario, I don't feel the Wiki article should make a definitive claim either way, so I've edited it to reflect that there's a difference of opinion. JohnSawyer (talk) 14:13, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

From the article
An IP left a personal opinion in the article, which is worthwhile to copy here.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:18, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

This entire paragraph is very misleading almost all current history research and evidence on the Azores shows several settlements already in the first 2 islands by the 1422 and in Terceira by 1427. additionally island maps from 1430 already show the freguesias ( towns) and the dates of settlement. Including Povoacao 1418 ( first settlement) ,Ponta delgada 1419, Relva 1422 etc. The most plausible discovery of the Azores is direct result of migratory fishing ( sardines/codfish) and whaling along with the ocean currents. As heading west from Madeira will lead you to a circular current that will lead you to the Azores almost regardless of time of year. it would be hard to fish off the grand banks in the late 1390's without discovering the Azores first.( there are several older references in Leon and Portuguese. Lastly and perhaps more important was the legal question of map making in Portugal. As any map found not owned by royalty was deemed treason. Therefore very few maps exist before 1460 after the death Prince Henry as he would be r responsible for financing the trips, the discovery and the settlement

Early evidences via biomarkers in sediments
It seems there is now even more solid evidence of establishment in 700-850 CE beyond simply mouse DNA. Studies of sediments have shown presence of human and livestock fecal sterol biomarkers. Yesat (talk) 10:22, 18 August 2022 (UTC)