Atlantis: The Lost Tribe of the Azores Islands

The Azores are a group of 9 small islands lying in the central northeastern Atlantic, northwest of Portugal. The Canary islands lie off the west coast Morocco. Plato place the islands of Atlantis to the west of the Gibraltar Straight, which is between these two island chains.

.Since we are taking Plato’s (real) history literally, we should then expect to find artifacts from a very early civilization on both of them.

The artifacts, (people) should be distinct from other known cultures and also be anomalous, outliers as it were. If these requirements are met, bingo Atlantis evidence, however, if there are none, then the Atlantis history sinks.

Finding such artifacts would lend solid support to the account given by Critias in Plato’s dialogue; on the flip side if none exist it would bolster the case of modern historians against it.

The Strait of Gibraltar was the terminus for early Greek and Egyptian seafarers. They were warned that what lay beyond was a virtually unknown, watery abyss, (In fact the Atlantic Ocean.)

Nonetheless, tales of islands in that uncharted ocean, legendary and otherwise, have been reported since classical antiquity. Romantic songs of the ‘Fortunate Islands’ (or ‘Isles of the Blessed’) were sung by poets such as Homer and Horace

By the late 14th century a number of maps were published based on various sailing expeditions into the central and northeastern Atlantic. The Azores were known at this point in time..

However, the ships were not landing and exploring during those early expeditions. They were simply there to observe and collect data for detailed maps.

Nonetheless, once that task was finished the Portuguese did send ships to the Azores and sailors to go ashore and investigate. After that they began to colonize the islands throughout the 15th century and beyond.

Neither the early expeditionary ships, nor the eventual colonists, encountered an indigenous population on any of the Azores Islands. They were studied by early historians and geographers thereafter, and all agreed there were no signs of previous inhabitants at any time in prehistory either..

Once that conclusion was reached anthropologists and archaeologists paid no attention to them from then on, in that regard. There was no point, if humans had never occupied the islands, nothing for them to study.

Over the centuries, that fit the view of conventional historians who completely dismissed Plato’s Atlantis. On the other hand, it was a blow to those who considered that Plato’s account was based on historical fact. I am an example and I expected there to be some evidence of human occupation on the Azores as there was on the Canary Islands..

That would verify that it had either been part of Atlantis or on the periphery of it at least. The Azores were a fly in the Atlantis ointment for myself and other alternative researchers. For years, as I accumulated more and more evidence around the globe, the Azores haunted the back of my mind, a lurking shadow that cast doubt.

Then one day a few years ago some unexpected news came across my desk. The headline grabbed my attention: “Pyramid discovered underwater of Azores Islands”.

I was totally surprised. I raced through the piece. Here was the smoking gun proof I thought did not exist. But when I finished it I felt that twitch, in my deeper psyche, telling me something was not right.

If that gut feel is strong enough I go with it. The article did do something positive, however. It triggered me to launch into a new probe of the Azores. It did not go well for at first. I spent a lot of fruitless hours just digging for fool’s gold..

Then as I was about to toss in the towel, while searching through every kind of media and document source,  I could think of, I finally got a hit. Well, it proved to be more than that, far more.

I ran across an obscure archaeological report. It was for real. A pair of archaeologists had conducted recent investigations of the islands. Their findings were incredible! They completely contradicted the old narrative that claimed there was zero evidence of previous habitation.

In the paper, I found that the archaeological community received a shock in 2012. That year a number of large rock walls, stone circles, and even the remains of some kind of road were found near the village of Serreta.

In addition, another group of more complex structures had also been examined near Mount Brazil, including several man made caves and megalithic dolmen. This was the real deal and I was thrilled, ecstatic, finally!

However, this undeniable evidence of prehistoric human activity, on the Azores, was NOT broadcast to the general public. I was more annoyed than surprised by the fact that the submerged pyramid grabbed the headlines.. The archaeologists were keeping their far more significant actual findings under wraps and that was a diversion.

The article about the underwater pyramid was published in 2013. A curious and suspicious sequence of events. 1) Archaeologists find proof of early humans, heretofore thought not have been on the Azores and 2) that is not broadcast to the general public but the sensational sunken pyramid is!

In fact, the public is never informed of these kinds of discoveries, which trouble the academic, historical community. The pyramid story has not been confirmed to date. Moreover, the real discoveries disclosed in the paper still have not been announced in the mainstream media.

It has been dribbling out to people via the web, however.

Those issues aside, for the moment, let us proceed with what I learned from the report referred to above. Several archaeologists had conducted initial investigations of the artifacts and areas they were found in.

What exactly did they uncover on these remote islands in the Atlantic that might be from or related to Atlantis?

Okay, pardon the cliff-hangar, honestly I am not using the technique to create suspense. Here, I genuinely feel the need as well as the desire to establish the physical reality of the islands.

Moreover, to set the stage that shows how incredibly powerful this discovery is. So, kindly bear with me. I assure you it will be worth your time and patience in the end.

The Azores are composed of nine islands situated in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean about 850 miles west of continental Portugal, about 550 miles northwest of Madeira, and 2,500 miles east of New York.

The main islands, and an islet cluster, are formed in three main groups. These are Flores and Corvo, to the west; Graciosa,Terceira, São Jorge, Pico, and Faial in the center; and São Miguel, Santa Maria, and the Formigas Reef to the east.

They extend for more than 370 miles and lie in a northwest- southeast direction. All the islands have volcanic origins, although some have no recorded activity since the islands were settled by the Portugal. Mount Pico is the highest point, at 2,351 m (7,713 ft.).

Though they are on the same latitude as Portugal and Spain, the islands do not have their continental climate. In fact for their northerly location, the climate of the Azores Islands is very mild.

That is the result of being influenced by their distance from the continents and the relatively warm currents of the Gulf Stream. ( The climate of the Azores is very hospitable, Critias (Plato) described the climate of Atlantis as being ideal.

Because of the marine influence, temperatures never get very hot or cold, but remain mild year-round. Daytime temperatures normally fluctuate between 16 °C (61 °F) and 25 °C (77 °F) depending on season.

In the dialogue Plato notes that after the cataclysm, which sank most of Atlantis, what remained were small islands:

📷“Critias… “The consequence is, that in comparison of what then was… there are remaining only the bones of the wasted body, as they may be called, as in the case of small islands, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away, and the mere skeleton of the land being left…”

📷

We can picture the volcanic Azores matching that description thousands of years ago after the main island was destroyed. They are after all like dry, rocky icebergs, these islands floating on top of the ocean with their volcanic peaks sticking up above the surface.

Critias: “But in the primitive state of the country, its mountains were high hills covered with soil, and the plains, as they are termed by us, of Phellus were full of rich earth, and there was abundance of wood in the mountains.”

He goes on to relate that even these remnants give us a glimpse of the rich fertile terrain that Atlantis once possessed. In fact volcanic islands have fairly rich soil and they regenerate plant communities faster than you might think.

Today these islands have green fields and forests and they give us a slice of what Atlantis may have actually looked like, (as shown in the following insert.)

Now, let us cut to the chase at this point.

The artifacts discovered and described in the report included megalithic dolmen; stone fences laid out in curious patterns; manmade caves (even a hypogeum) that included a stairway leading to a cistern complex…in addition, sophisticated, manmade objects and more, were listed.

That is what I found listed in the archaeologist’s paper. In fact, during subsequent interviews -- after they had spoken at a conference -- the researchers made the following comments:

“A monument located at ‘Monte do Facho’ shows inbuilt sink- shaped carvings linked to water conduits for libations. There are ‘chairs’ carved into the rock, a ceremonial-tank covered by vegetation, and dozens of post holes indicating the existence of a shelter over the area,” they told the interviewer.

Readers are being told of what sound like some pretty sophisticated artifacts. Sinks, chairs, a ceremonial-tank and so on. The archaeologists were obviously not describing any primitive Stone Age materials. The conventional, credentialed (APIA) researchers then added,

“The temples carved inside the hypogea (manmade caves) structures are large and very well-preserved and were drawn almost in a triangular shape...”

Their comments are enigmatic and most intriguing, but let us now turn to the particulars of this new evidence. We shall soon see that it clearly shows that humans once inhabited the Azores. Evidence which offers huge support for Plato’s Atlantis history.