The Battle of Praia Bay was fought by the coast of

Terceira Island Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the North Atlantic Ocean at a similar latitude to Portugal's capital Lisbon, with the island group forming an insular part of Portugal. It is one of the ...

on August 11, 1829, between Portuguese liberals and a Miguelite fleet as part of the

Portuguese civil war The Liberal Wars (), also known as the Portuguese Civil War () and the War of the Two Brothers () was a civil war in Portugal that lasted from May 1828 to May 1834, fought between liberal progressive constitutionalists (led by former King Pe ...

. The Miguelites under command of

José António Azevedo e Lemos José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

attempted to disembark troops on

Terceira island Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the North Atlantic Ocean at a similar latitude to Portugal's capital Lisbon, with the island group forming an insular part of Portugal. It is one of the ...

, but were defeated by the liberal troops under command of the Duke of Terceira who controlled a dozen small

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

s and

artillery batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

along five kilometers of the coast. The defeat of the miguelites in this battle was decisive for the affirmation and posterior victory of the liberal ideas in Portugal. After the war, the municipality of ''Praia'' was renamed as ''Praia da Vitória''.

References

Conflicts in 1829 1829 in Portugal Battles of the Liberal Wars Military history of the Azores Naval battles of the Liberal Wars August 1829 {{Portugal-battle-stub