Baku, May 21, AZERTAC The Azores Islands are a Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, located about 1,500 km from Lisbon and about 3,900 km from the east coast of North America.The nine major Azorean islands extend for more than 600 km. The Azores islands were first discovered in 1427 by Portuguese navigators. The official language in Azores is Portuguese. Nowadays the Azores’ main industries are tourism, raising cattle for milk and meat, and fishing. The verdant valleys, steep ocean-side cliffs, rows of blue hydrangeas, and scattering of waterfalls make the Azores a paradise worth exploring.