Ginetes
Ginetes is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese of the Azores. It is situated in the westernmost part of the island, near the coast. The population in 2011 was 1,378, in an area of.
History
At the earliest part of the island's settlement, this region was known as the parish of São Sebastião, based on its patron saint. The region was given the new name owing to its proximity to the Pico dos Genetantes, which was transliterated into Ginetes. Father Gaspar Frutuoso, writing in his tome Saudades da Terra, reiterated that the settlement obtained its name because it was sheltered from ocean winds by the Pico dos Ginetes, called this because it took the form of a saddle, as well as where Ginetes was raised, in the mountains.The parish church, dedicated to St. Sebastian, was constructed between 1603 and 1605, to substitute an older temple that existed since early settlement. The religious community also constructed the Church of Jesus, Mary and Jesus in the locality of Várzeam erected in 1702.
It is suggested that the historic Casa do Monte, located within Ginetes, was the first location where the autonomic flag was first raised over the territory of the Azores, in 1897.