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Ponta Delgada had its beginnings as a simple village inhabited by fishermen attracted by its safe inlets. Due to its great location on the South Coast it became the main port of the island, thus justifying the transfer of the custom-house to Ponta Delgada in 1518 and its being made capital of Sao Miguel in 1546. Fortifications were built in the 16th and 17th century to defend it from corsair attacks. Economic expansion brought prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries which led to the town's construction boom of palaces, mansions, churches and other monuments. In 1831 the constitutional forces landed in Pesqueiro da Achadinha in the north-eastern region, and Ponta Delgada became the port of departure of the liberal expedition that went ashore in northern Portugal in 1832 right after the siege of Oporto. Ponta Delgadas was promptly proclaimed the Constitutional Charter of Queen Maria II, daughter of D. Pedro IV. About 3,500 Azoreans, most of them from Sao Miguel took part in the successful expedition.
The building of the artificial port, work on which was started in 1861, came to lend dynamism to Ponta Delgada, and several industries wore set up around it. In 1947 the opening of the road artery called Avenida do Infante D. Henrique changed the appearance of the town and hid the original ports of Sao Francisco and Caldeira da Ribeira de Valverde, closely linked to line island's history, Nowadays Ponta Delgada is one of the administrative centres of the Autonomous Region and the main pole of the University of the Azores set up in 1975. It is also the largest town in the archipelago.

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