The nine islands of the Azorean archipelago seem built to deceive. They are only the tips of volcanoes set on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs along the ocean’s unseen floor like a knobbly spine. Their black, basaltic shores are modelled from bubbling lumps of stilled lava, frozen in the moment of their creation. In feel, neither European, nor American, nor even African—although historically ascribed to all three—they are caught between cultures, and geologic aeons. The three groups of islands, set on three different tectonic plates, are in the process of being pulled apart. They have been colonised since the 15th century—Colombus called here on his way back from America, to give thanks for his discovery—but seem to resist the modern world in their sublime isolation. The Azores were the setting for the mystery of the Mary Celeste. moreintelligentlife/content/places/philip-hoare/wild-thing-sperm-whale
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 14:00:01 +0000
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