The Azores is an archipelago of nine islands. In the meantime, no one doubts and no one interrogates. This is one of those universal truths that cannot be refuted. Even because they are in plain sight. However, it is much more difficult to defend and write about something that has not been seen or experienced, and the history of the discovery of the Azores has been going along different paths for some time.

We very early got used to this version of history: “Once upon a time there was an archipelago consisting of nine islands, discovered and inhabited by the Portuguese at the beginning of the 15th century.” This assumption is now disproved after a group of researchers led by ecologist Pedro Raposeiro, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the Scandinavians were “the first to settle in the Azores” by “rewriting history.”

CLASSICAL HISTORY OF THE AZORES The Azores Greenmark, the only company in the Azores that links the provision of environmental protection services to the organization of tourism entertainment, in the history of the Azores, the exact date of the opening of the archipelago is unknown, but it is believed that San Miguel and Santa -Maria “were the first islands recognized around 1427 by the Portuguese navigator Diogo de Silves”. Five years later, you can read on the website that in mid-August and on the day of the Assumption of the Virgin (15), navigator Gonzalo Velho Cabral and his team landed on an island they named Santa Maria as a tribute to them. to the Most Holy Theotokos. To facilitate the settlement of the island, João Soares de Albergaria, the nephew of Gonçalo Velho (the first captain-donat of Santa Maria), brought to the island continental families, namely from the Algarve, “who have recorded a great development of the same.” …

As for San Miguel, since 1444 it was inhabited by Gonzalo Velho Cabral, who dropped its inhabitants at Povoasan (from Extremadura, Alto Alentejo, Algarve, France). They, in turn, have spread over time throughout the coastal area “to obtain better accessibility, better living conditions and amenities.”

Then came the Island of Jesus Christ, which is now called Terceira, on which settlement began around 1450; The island of Graciosa, which is believed to have been first discovered in 1450 because it is near the island of Terceira, the date of its settlement is unknown; the island of São Jorge, the date of discovery and settlement of which is unknown, it is known that in 1439 it “saw” its first mention as an island and that in 1443 it was already inhabited; the island of Pico, which “watched” the beginning of its settlement around 1460; the island of Faial, discovered in the first half of the 15th century and receiving the first settlers from the north of mainland Portugal in 1460, and, finally, the island of Flores and Corvo, discovered by Diogo Teive and his son João Teive, around 1452.

Viking connection with the Azores But what if someone had already been there before the Portuguese? In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences led by ecologist Pedro Raposeiro, who collected and analyzed lake sediments, animal feces, fungi and even DNA from rats that still inhabit the island, once again states that “ the northern peoples were the first to settle in the Azores ”. “They came from a land of ice, snow and midnight sun, but still ended up in some beautiful places,” say researchers, who have found evidence to support the idea that Vikings settled on the pristine Azores coastline several times. years before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1427.

Since the Vikings are often associated with the frozen north, this “discovery” is surprising. However, “it’s based on solid scientific evidence,” argues a group of international researchers who recently analyzed lake-like sediments. Experts have begun collecting “cylindrical sediment cores from five lakes around the archipelago as part of an effort to detail the region’s climate history,” according to Science magazine and other publications such as The Guardian. The main goal is to find signs of human presence, such as “pollen from non-native crops or fungal spores that grow in cattle feces,” and the truth is that this wish came true. However, they were surprised to find that they were older than expected: they date back to the period from 700 to 850 (several centuries before the date indicated for the arrival of the Portuguese in the islands). “Our reconstructions are unequivocal evidence of the pre-Portuguese colonization of the Azores,” researchers led by Raposeiro told the British newspaper. From about AD 700 to AD 800, wind and weather in the northern hemisphere “probably helped settlers from higher latitudes and discouraged migrants from southern Europe, making it easier for people from the north to reach the Azores,” they explained.

Researcher and ecologist Raposeiro also told Science that sediments taken from Lagoa do Peisinho on Pico Island show “a sudden increase in the content of an organic compound called 5-beta-stigmastanol, which is found in the faeces of ruminants such as cows and sheep. … “. In addition, he explained, “the increase in the amount of charcoal particles and the decrease in the amount of pollen from native trees” shows that people were in place, burning trees to raise livestock. Thus, the team claims that “people lived on the archipelago 700 years before the estimated date.”

Raposeiro’s findings are also supported by research by evolutionary biologist Jeremy Searle of Cornell University, who also claimed that the Vikings were the first to arrive in the Azores, although his work is based on a completely different biological source: rats. According to him, rats sneak onto ships and spread to all corners of the world: “Where you find people, you will find rats and you can find out where these rats come from. So, there is an idea of ​​where these people had their original homes, ”the biologist told the Observer.

Comparing the DNA of Azorean rats to that of rats in other places where Vikings have been, such as the British Isles, Searle believes that “these were clearly random travelers who were transported by the Vikings across the Atlantic to Iceland and Greenland, as well as the Azores. and Madeira. ” “They were all areas of Viking influence, and the truth is that the rats analyzed in each of these areas carry the same genetic signature,” he explained. In short, Searle and his team believe they discovered the “Viking mouse” and have since looked for signs of its presence elsewhere.

But there are those who disagree with this thesis, such as Simon Connor, a geographer at the Australian National University who studies the paleoecology of the archipelago. An Australian geographer says the rat DNA data “can be misleading.”

The truth is that in October, the Center for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Research – Azores (CIBIO) already mentioned that the first evidence of human presence on the islands was discovered 700 years before the arrival of the Portuguese. However, it was not mentioned that these could be northern peoples.

At the time, Pedro Raposeiro emphasized that the study “shows the importance of promoting multidisciplinary research between the natural sciences and the humanities,” so that there is “a broader vision of what really happened in the past.” Now it looks like the Portuguese sailors were chasing the Vikings, or even their rats.