Vila Franca do Campo, the first capital of São Miguel Island, is currently one of the main tourist centers of the Azores archipelago.
From its inception, prior to 1472, to 1499, the power of the prosperous and populous port-town extended to the whole island, with the domiciled captain, the landed nobility, the great farmers, and the wealthy merchants living there.
In the fertile land, the settlers cultivated wheat in abundance and two industrial plants, the pastel and the sugar cane which, worked in mills, were the object of active commerce with distant countries.
