Criação Velha is a civil parish in the municipality of Madalena

Madalena (Azores)

Madalena is a municipality along the western coast of the island of Pico, in the Portuguese Azores. The municipality has a population of 6,184 inhabitants and a total area of 147.1 km²...

 on the island of Pico

Pico Island

Pico Island , is an island in the Central Group of the Portuguese Azores noted for its eponymous volcano, Ponta do Pico, which is the highest mountain in Portugal, the Azores, and the highest elevation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge...

 in the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

. Census records for the community in 2001, found about 818 inhabitants in residence in the parish.

History

Historical evidence, from the municipality of Madalena, relates that the name Criação Velha comes from an agricultural reference: it was an area where cattle (no distinction) were raised long ago. The term criação means "raising", and Velha is old, referring to historical records that the area was (and continues to be) important in this pursuit. Owing to the rich fertile lands the early settlers occupied most of their time with agriculture and wine production, slowly developing a commerce sector and industry later into its existence.

The church of Nossa Senhora das Dores was constructed in the late part of the 18th Century.

Geography

The parish is located in the western coast of the municipality, sandwiched between the parishes of Madalena and Candelária; a pie-shaped wedge that extends just to the base of Ponte do Pico to an area of about 2.75 kilometers at its maximum width. Unlike the other parishes with the municipality of Madalena, Criação Velha's borders does not extend to the top of Pico (its limit stops about 2 kilometers from the summit of the stratovolcano). The area is relatively hilly, sloping gradually from forested parcels into an area of semi-cultivatable land and then scrub pasture-lands. Most practical farming occurs around the central parish, since the forested lands are dense and impractical. The area is recognized for a series of grottos, with about 5 kilometers of extensions, carved from the dykes and subterranean lava fields along the island's history.