This project is developed within a PhD scholarship with the funding reference PRT/BD/154375/2023.

The strategic value of the Azores is often invoked in public and academic discussions. Yet, there has been little attempt at defining it systematically. This thesis attempts to provide acomprehensive study of the strategic significance of this Portuguese archipelago, looking past contextual factors to uncover deeper patterns, by examining it as a strategic location from 1430 to 2022. Asking how these small islands fit into the grand strategies of great powers, as well as the small state that has sovereignty over them, turns the Azores into a case study in 'strategic geography' and, specifically, 'strategic islandness'. These two concepts bring value to Strategic Studies and Island Studies, respectively, since theyilluminate both the unique characteristics of small islands in strategy and the impact of strategic significance on the islands. This thesis conducts a strategic history of the islands through narrative process tracing and using mainly secondary sources. A typology of recurring strategic roles is extracted from this historical survey and then read against the p+M18resent strategic environment (2022). It finds that the main driver of strategic value of the Azores has been the strategy of the great(s) power(s) that dominates or tries to dominate Atlantic sea lanes. However, once they gain strategic value, the Azores also constrain the strategies of those great powers in unexpected ways, not least by empowering the small state of Portugal in its dealings with them. The same logic is expected to apply to other insular territories and to the Azores in the future. 

Keywords: Azores, strategy, geopolitics, islands, transatlantic relation.

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