![Madeira Ancient Map2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Madeira_Ancient_Map2.JPG)
The history of
Madeira begins with the discovery of the islands by
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
in 1419. There is no record of anyone living on the islands at that time. Portugal began populating the island in 1420.
Pre-Portuguese times
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
mentions certain Purple Islands, the position of which with reference to the
Fortunate Islands
The Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed ( grc, μακάρων νῆσοι, ''makárōn nêsoi'') were semi-legendary islands in the Atlantic Ocean, variously treated as a simple geographical location and as a winterless earthly paradise inhabit ...
or
Canaries might seem to indicate Madeira islands. Plutarch (''Sertorius'', 75 AD) referring to the military commander
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius (c. 126 – 73 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the l ...
(d. 72 BC), relates that after his return to
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
, "he met seamen recently arrived from Atlantic islands, two in number, divided from one another only by a narrow channel and distant from the coast of Africa 10,000
furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hor ...
s. They are called Isles of the Blest." The estimated distance from Africa, and the closeness of the two islands, seem to indicate
Madeira and
Porto Santo, which is much smaller than Madeira itself, and to the north east of it.
Tenth- or eleventh-century fragments of mouse bone found in Madeira, along with mitochondrial DNA of Madeiran mice, could maybe indicate that the Vikings may have came to
Madeira (bringing mice with them), prior to colonisation by Portugal. However, because of “widespread trade routes, a mouse from Scandinavia could easily have boarded a ship in what today is Portugal and sailed over to Madeira, as well as the Azores” (as pointed out by the geographer Simon Connor). The geographer concludes that there is no evidence of a Scandinavian settlement or sighting of the islands and that the Portuguese were the ones that brought those mice from northern Europe to Madeira.
There is a romantic tale about two lovers,
Robert Machim and Anna d'Arfet in time of the King
Edward III of England
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ...
, fleeing from England to France in 1346, were driven off their course by a violent storm, and cast on the coast of Madeira at the place subsequently named
Machico
Machico () is a municipality, parish and city in the southeast part of the island of Madeira, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The easternmost municipality on the island, it is also the third-most populous area with a population of 21,828 in ...
, in memory of one of them. On the evidence of a
portolan
Portolan charts are nautical charts, first made in the 13th century in the Mediterranean basin and later expanded to include other regions. The word ''portolan'' comes from the Italian ''portulano'', meaning "related to ports or harbors", and wh ...
contained in the
Medici Atlas
The Medici-Laurentian Atlas, also known simply as the Medici Atlas (and other variants, e.g. "Laurenziano Gaddiano", "Laurentian Portolano", "Atlante Mediceo" or "Laurentian Atlas"), is an anonymous 14th-century set of maps, probably composed by a ...
dated 1351, preserved at
Florence, Italy, it would appear that Madeira had been discovered long before that date, possibly by Portuguese vessels under
Genoese captains.
15th and 16th centuries
In 1419 two captains of Prince
Henry the Navigator,
João Gonçalves Zarco
João Gonçalves Zarco ( 1390 – 21 November 1471) was a Portuguese explorer who established settlements and recognition of the Madeira Islands, and was appointed first captain of Funchal by Henry the Navigator.
Life
Zarco was born in Portugal ...
and
Tristão Vaz Teixeira
Tristão Vaz Teixeira (c. 1395–1480) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer who, together with João Gonçalves Zarco and Bartolomeu Perestrelo, was the official discoverer and one of the first settlers of the archipelago of Madeira (1419–14 ...
, were driven by a storm to the island they called Porto Santo, or Holy Harbour, in gratitude for their rescue from shipwreck. The next year an expedition was sent to populate the island, and, Madeira being described, they made for it, and took possession on behalf of the Portuguese crown, together with captain
Bartolomeu Perestrello
Bartolomeu Perestrello (, in Italian ''Bartolomeo Perestrello''), 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo ( 1395 – 1457) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that is claimed to have discovered and populated ...
.
The discoveries of Porto Santo and Madeira were first described by
Gomes Eanes de Zurara
Gomes Eanes de Zurara (c. 1410 – c. 1474), sometimes spelled Eannes or Azurara, was a Portuguese chronicler of the European Age of Discovery, the most notable after Fernão Lopes.
Life and career
Zurara adopted the career of letters in mid ...
in ''Chronica da Descoberta e Conquista da Guiné''. (Eng. version by Edgar Prestage in 2 vols. issued by the Hakluyt Society, London, 1896–1899: ''The Chronicle of Discovery and Conquest of Guinea''.)
Arkan Simaan relates these discoveries in French in his novel based on Azurara's chronicle: ''L’Écuyer d’Henri le Navigateur'', published by Éditions l’Harmattan, Paris.
The islands started to be settled circa 1420 or 1425. On September 23, 1433, the name ''Ilha da Madeira'' (Madeira Island or "island of the wood") appears in a map, by the first time, in a document. Since its discovery, the archipelago was property of the
Order of Christ, which promoted its settlement.
![Funchal ( Portugal )13](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Funchal_%28_Portugal_%2913.jpg)
The three
captain-major
A donatary captain was a Portuguese colonial official to whom the Crown granted jurisdiction, rights, and revenues over some colonial territory. The recipients of these grants were called (donataries), because they had been given the grant as a ( ...
s had led, in the first trip, the respective families, a small group of people of the minor nobility, people of modest conditions and some old prisoners of the
kingdom
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
. The settlement of Madeira and Porto Santo islands was a process defined by stages involving people from all over the kingdom.
In 1425
King John I officially made Madeira a full province of Portugal, handing it as a gift to the Henry the Navigator. Settlement then began in earnest. Three strapping young nobles were sent to marry Zarco's daughters, and members of some of Portugal's grandest families came along to help swell the population.
It was from the
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
that some of the early settlers set out. Many came with the important task of the landlord system employment. Servants, squires, knights and noblemen are identified as the ones who secured the beginning of the settlement. Later on, settlers came in big numbers from the
north of Portugal, due to overpopulation, namely from the region of
Entre Douro and Minho, who intervened specifically in the organization of the agricultural area.
Majority of settlers were fishermen and peasant farmers, who willingly left Portugal for a new life on the islands, a better one, they hoped, than was possible in a Portugal which had been ravaged by the
Black Death and where the best farmlands were strictly controlled by the nobility. To gain the minimum conditions for the development of
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
, they had to rough-hew a part of the dense forest of
laurisilva
Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of Subtropics, subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glo ...
. Then fires were started, which are said to have burned for seven years. The settlers constructed a large number of canals (
levada
A levada is an irrigation channel or aqueduct specific to the Portuguese Atlantic region of Madeira.
History
In Madeira, the levadas originated out of the necessity of bringing large amounts of water from the west and northwest of the island ...
s), since in some parts of the island, they had water in excess while in other parts water was scarce. In the earliest times, fish constituted about half of the settlers' diet, together with vegetables and fruit. The first local agricultural activity with some success was the raising of
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
. Initially, the settlers produced wheat for their own sustenance but, later began to export wheat to Portugal.
According to a
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
legend, Polish King
Władysław III survived the
Battle of Varna
The Battle of Varna took place on 10 November 1444 near Varna in eastern Bulgaria. The Ottoman Army under Sultan Murad II (who did not actually rule the sultanate at the time) defeated the Hungarian– Polish and Wallachian armies commanded ...
(although the Ottomans claimed to have his head, his body in royal armor was never found) and then he settled in Madeira. King
Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Afri ...
granted him the lands in
Madalena do Mar
Madalena do Mar is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta do Sol in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira. The population in 2011 was 516, in an area of 2.07 km².Saint Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
in
Madalena do Mar
Madalena do Mar is a civil parish in the municipality of Ponta do Sol in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira. The population in 2011 was 516, in an area of 2.07 km².Saint Joachim
Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocrypha ...
meeting
Saint Anne at the Golden Gate on a painting by Master of the Adoration of Machico (Mestre ''da Adoração de Machico'') in the beginning of the 16th century.
In the decade of 1450, wheat production began to fall. To get past the ensuing crisis, at the discretion of
Infante Dom Henrique, settlers began the planting of
sugarcane – rare in Europe and, therefore, considered a
spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spice ...
– promoting, for this, the introduction of
Sicilian beets as the first specialized plant and the technology of its agriculture. Sugarcane production quickly afforded the
Funchal
Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...
metropolis economic prosperity. The production of sugar cane attracted adventurers and merchants from all parts of Europe, especially Italians,
Basques,
Catalans
Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citize ...
, Genoese, Portuguese and
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
. This meant that, in the second half of the fifteenth century, the city of Funchal became a mandatory port of call for European trade routes.
Some years before his voyages across the Atlantic,
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
, who at the time was a sugar trader, visited Madeira. It is generally accepted that he was born in Genoa, Italy as Cristoforo Colon. In Portugal it has been claimed that he was born in that country, as
Salvador Fernandes Zarco but this is disputed. Columbus married the daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrello,
Filipa Moniz, in Porto Santo and so was well aware of the profits to be made. He also understood the necessary growing conditions for sugar and the navigational technique known as the
Volta do mar
, , or (the phrase in Portuguese means literally 'turn of the sea' but also 'return from the sea') is a navigational technique perfected by Portuguese navigators during the Age of Discovery in the late fifteenth century, using the dependable ...
. Christopher Columbus lived and studied navigation in Madeira after his marriage.
Sugarcane cultivation and the sugar production industry developed until the 17th century. It became a leading factor in the island's economy, and increased the demand for labor. Apparently it was in Madeira that, in the context of sugar production, slaves were first used in plantations, sharing the work with waged settlers. The colonial system of sugar production was first put into practice on the island of Madeira, on a much smaller scale, and then successively applied, on a large scale, to other overseas production areas. Slaves consisted of
Guanches
The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa.
It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only nativ ...
from the nearby
Canary islands, captured
Berbers, and after further exploration of the African coast, West Africans. This pattern for sugar cultivation became the model that would soon be transferred to the
Caribbean and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. In Madeira it became evident that a warm climate, winds to work windmills for sugar crushing and easy access to the sea (for transportation of the raw sugar to Europe) were, together with slave labour, important components in what became a huge and highly profitable industry, which funded industrialisation and European expansion.
The first slaves that were brought to Madeira happened in 1452 and were Berbers and Guanches. According to historical records, slaves to Madeira were mainly imported from
Northern Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
. Madeiran aristocracy at no point bred slaves or subjected them to the harsh regimented conditions found on slave plantations in Brazil, the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
or the rest of the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
. Slave owners were only a small minority of the Madeiran population, and those who did own slaves owned only a few. There are recorded 2,232 slaves owners in Madeira between 1400 and 1700, with their distribution being 1% in the XV century, 34% in the following and 65% in the XVII century. 89% of slavers owned one to five slaves. The most slaves ever owned by any individual was 14 belonging to João Esmeraldo. Slave prices kept rising each year, taking a toll even more in the slave population in Madeira. There are almost no traces of lineage coming from slaves in Madeira, due to low numbers and fertility rate. After the sugar trade collapsed in Madeira, there was no place for the slave, stranger to the European society ramified in the island. Many of them were sold to the more appealing American colonies and few that remained became house servants for aristocrats or fed the indigent and criminal class. Alberto Vieira, a highly respected expert in trans-Atlantic slavery, states that in the period of a deteriorated sugar trade in Madeira "the records show a high slave concentration in the urban areas revealing that we are faced with slavery of a domestic nature, with little or no relation to rural life." This meant that the slaves' daily life unrolls around the city near their masters, with their connection to rural life being nearly non-existent as guardians and workers of the land, both given to settlers.
In conclusion, this small scale of sugar production in the island was completely outmatched by Brazilian and
São Tomean plantations. Madeiran sugar production declined in such a way that it was not enough for domestic needs, so that sugar was imported to the island from other Portuguese colonies. Sugar mills were gradually abandoned, with few remaining, which gave way to other markets in Madeira.
17th, 18th and 19th centuries
Since the 17th century, Madeira's most important product has been its
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
, sugar production having since moved on to Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe, and elsewhere. Madeira wine was perhaps the most popular luxury beverage in the colonial Western Hemisphere during the 17th and 18th centuries.
With the increase of commercial treaties with England, important English merchants settled on the Island and, ultimately, controlled the increasingly important island wine trade. The English traders settled in the Funchal as of the seventeenth century, consolidating the markets from North America, the West Indies and England itself. The
Madeira Wine became very popular in the markets and it is also said to have been used in a toast during the
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
by the
Founding Fathers.
In the eighteenth and the nineteenth century, visitors to the island integrated four major groups: patients, travellers, tourists and scientists. Most visitors belonged to the moneyed aristocracy, with an endless list of aristocrats, princes, princesses and monarchs. As a result of a high demand for the season, there was a need to prepare guides for visitors. The first tourist guide of Madeira appeared in 1850 and focused on elements of history, geology,
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
,
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...
and customs of the island.
The
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
occupied Madeira as a result of the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, a friendly occupation which concluded in 1814 when the island was returned to Portugal. The
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
first amicably occupied the island in 1801 whereafter Colonel
William Henry Clinton
General Sir William Henry Clinton (23 December 1769 – 15 February 1846) was a British general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars as well as the First Miguelist War. He was also the grandson of Admiral George Clinton and elde ...
became governor. A detachment of the
85th Regiment of Foot under Lieutenant-colonel
James Willoughby Gordon
General Sir James Willoughby Gordon, 1st Baronet (21 October 1772 – 4 January 1851) was a general officer in the British Army. He notably served as most long-standing Quartermaster-General to the Forces, holding the position for some 40 years.
...
garrisoned the island. After the
Peace of Amiens, British troops withdrew in 1802, only to reoccupy Madeira in 1807 until the end of the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
in 1814. In 1846
James Julius Wood
James Julius Wood (1800–1877) was a 19th-century Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland 1857/8.
Life
He was born in Jedburgh on 4 September 1800 the son of Dr William Wood MD and ...
wrote a series of seven sketches of the island. In 1856, British troops recovering from
cholera, and widows and orphans of soldiers fallen in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, were stationed in Funchal, Madeira.
When, after the death of king
John VI of Portugal, his usurper son
Miguel of Portugal seized power from the rightful heir, his niece
Maria II, and proclaimed himself 'Absolute King', Madeira held out for the Queen under the governor
José Travassos Valdez
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...
until Miguel sent an expeditionary force and the defence of the island was overwhelmed by crushing force. Valdez was forced to flee to England under the protection of the Royal Navy (September 1828).
In 1891 a census revealed the population on Madeira to be 132,223 inhabitants.
Twentieth century
Just before this the Germans were constructing what is today the "
Hospital dos Marmeleiros" (the only building the Germans began to build), the Germans were given a tax break and did not need to pay tax on anything needed to construct the hospital. The site was left abandoned until 1930 when the Madeirans continued to build the Hospital dos Marmeleiros.
Locals say that the reason that the hospital construction was abandoned by the Germans was not just because of their colonization plans being discovered. It was that during the construction of the hospital the Germans needed special materials not available on Madeira, so it was agreed that Madeirans would take the materials up to the site from the German ship in the harbour. The strongest horses were used to bring up the wooden barrels. The local Madeiran with the strongest horses bringing up the materials was suspicious that what he was taking up the hill was heavier than what should be needed to construct the hospital, so he on purpose let one of the barrels roll down the hill and smash open. It is alleged that it was filled with rifles. When the locals looked inside what was already constructed they found ammunition and more guns. This caused the Madeirans to confiscate all German property in Madeira and stop the construction of the hospital.
World War I
In 1914 all
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
property was confiscated in Madeira, including the ship, the Colmar, built in 1912 which was interned in Madeira in 1914. In 1916 it was renamed Machico and in 1925 it was bought from the Portuguese Government and renamed Luso; in 1955 it was scrapped after grounding damage.
On 9 March 1916, Germany declared war on Portugal, followed by Portugal declaring war on Germany and starting to organise Portuguese troops to go to the
Western Front. The effect of the
Portuguese participation in World War I was first felt in Madeira on 3 December 1916 when the
German U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
, , captained by
Max Valentiner
Captain Christian August Max Ahlmann Valentiner (15 December 1883 – 19 July 1949) was a German U-boat commander during World War I. He was the third highest-scoring U-boat commander of the war, and was awarded the Pour le Mérite for his achievem ...
went into
Funchal
Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...
harbour on Madeira and torpedoed and sank 3 ships, CS ''Dacia'' (1,856 tons), (2,493 tons) and ''Surprise'' (680 tons). The commander of the French
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.
History Pre-ste ...
Surprise and 34 of her crew (7 Portuguese) died in the attack. The Dacia, a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
cable laying vessel, had previously undertaken war work off the coast of
Casablanca and
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...
, was in the process of diverting the South American cable into Brest, France. Following the attack on the ships, the Germans proceeded to bombard Funchal for two hours from a range of about . Batteries on Madeira returned fire and eventually forced the Germans to withdraw.
In 1917 on December 12, two German U-boats, and (captained by
Max Valentiner
Captain Christian August Max Ahlmann Valentiner (15 December 1883 – 19 July 1949) was a German U-boat commander during World War I. He was the third highest-scoring U-boat commander of the war, and was awarded the Pour le Mérite for his achievem ...
) again bombarded
Funchal
Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...
, Madeira. This time the attack lasted around 30 minutes. Forty, 4.7 inch and 5.9 inch shells were fired. There were 3 fatalities and 17 wounded, In addition, a number of houses and Santa Clara church were hit.
A priest, José Marques Jardim, promised in 1917 to build a monument should peace ever return to Madeira. In 1927 at
Terreiro da Luta he built a statue of Nossa Senhora da Paz (Our Lady of Peace) commemorating the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. It incorporates the anchor chains from the sunken ships from Madeira on 3 December 1916 and is over 5 metres tall.
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
, the last Emperor of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, went into exile in Madeira after his second unsuccessful
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. He died there on 1 April 1922 is buried in the
Church of Our Lady of Monte
The Church of Our Lady of the Mount () is the main church in the civil parish of Monte, in Funchal, Madeira island.
History
In 1470 a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Incarnation was built on this mount by Adão Gonçalves Ferreira, the f ...
. Charles I had tried in 1917 to secretly enter into peace negotiations with France. Although his foreign minister,
Ottokar Czernin
Ottokar Theobald Otto Maria ''Graf'' Czernin von und zu Chudenitz ( cs, Otakar Theobald Otto Maria hrabě Černín z Chudenic; 26 September 1872 – 4 April 1932) was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat and politician during the time of World War I, nota ...
, was only interested in negotiating a general peace which would include Germany as well, Charles himself, in negotiations with the French with his brother-in-law,
Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma
Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma (; 1 August 1886 – 14 March 1934) was a member of the House of Bourbon-Parma, a Belgian officer in World War I, and the central figure in the Sixtus Affair, an attempt to negotiate a treaty to end Austria-Hungary' ...
, an officer in the Belgian Army, as intermediary, went much further in suggesting his willingness to make a separate peace. When news of the overture leaked in April 1918, Charles denied involvement until the French Prime Minister
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
published letters signed by him. This led to Czernin's resignation, forcing Austria-Hungary into an even more dependent position with respect to its seemingly-wronged German ally. Determined to prevent a restoration attempt, the Council of Allied Powers had agreed on Madeira because it was isolated in the Atlantic and easily guarded.
World War II
Portugal in World War II was neutral and become non-belligerent in 1943.
Salazar's decision to stick with the oldest alliance in the world, cemented by the
Treaty of Windsor (1386)
The Treaty of Windsor is the diplomatic alliance signed between Portugal and England on 9 May 1386 at Windsor and sealed by the marriage of King John I of Portugal ( House of Aviz) to Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Du ...
between Portugal and England (still in force today), meant that the
Anglo-Portuguese Alliance
The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance (or , "Luso-English Alliance") is the oldest alliance based on known history in the world that is still in force by politics. It was established by the Treaty of Windsor in 1386, between the Kingdom of England ( ...
allowed Madeira to take in refugees on a humanitarian basis; in July 1940, around 2,000
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
ian evacuees were shipped to Madeira due to the high risk of
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
being attacked by either Spain or Germany; the Germans had planned but never initiated an attack on the British colony, code-named
Operation Felix.
The Gibraltarians are fondly remembered on the island, where they were called Gibraltinos. Some Gibraltarians had married Madeirans during this time and stayed after the war was over.
Tito Benady
Mesod Benady MBE (born 17 July 1930) is a Gibraltarian historian of Sephardic Jewish descent. He currently lives in Grendon, Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom.
Benady was involved in local politics during the seventies; he contested the 1 ...
, a historian on Gibraltar Jewry, noted that when some 200 Jews of the 2000 evacuees from Gibraltar were evacuated as non-combatants to Funchal at the start of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, they found a
Jewish cemetery that belonged to the Abudarham family. This is the same family after whom the
Abudarham Synagogue in Gibraltar was named.
On November 12, 1940,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
issued Führer Directive No. 18, which provided the possibility to invade Portugal. He stated "I also request that the problem of occupying Madeira and the Azores should be considered, together with the advantages and disadvantages which this would entail for our sea and air warfare. The results of these investigations are to be submitted to me as soon as possible."
On the May 28th 1944, the first party of evacuees left Madeira for Gibraltar; by the end of 1944, only 520 non-priority evacuees remained on the island.
[Garcia, pp. 20]
In 2008, a monument was made in Gibraltar and shipped to Madeira, where it has been erected next to a small chapel at Santa Caterina park in Funchal. The monument is a gift and symbol of everlasting thanks given by the people of Gibraltar to the island of Madeira and its inhabitants.
www.love-madeira.com (accessed 13 December 2010)
The city of Funchal and Gibraltar were twinned on 13 May 2009 by their then-mayors, the mayor of Funchal Miguel Albuquerque
Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque (born 4 May 1961) is a Portugal, Portuguese politician of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal), Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the current Presidents of the Regional Government of Madeira, President of the ...
and the mayor of Gibraltar, who had been an evacuee from Gibraltar to Madeira Solomon Levy
Solomon "Momy" Levy MBE JP (26 October 1936 – 22 December 2016), was a Gibraltarian estate agent and the Mayor of Gibraltar. He held office from 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.
A member of the Gibraltarian Jewish community, Levy was the ne ...
, respectively. The mayor of Gibraltar then had a meeting with the then-President of Madeira Alberto João Jardim
Alberto João Cardoso Gonçalves Jardim, GCC, GCIH (, born 4 February 1943) is a Portuguese politician who was the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal, from 1978 to 2015. He is a controversial political figure in Portugal.
...
.
Autonomy
On 1 July 1976, following the democratic revolution
Democratic Revolution () is a Chilean centre-left to left-wing political party, founded in 2012 by some of the leaders of the 2011 Chilean student protests, most notably the current Deputy Giorgio Jackson, who is also the most popular public fi ...
of 1974, Portugal granted political autonomy to Madeira, celebrated on Madeira Day. The region now has its own government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
and legislative assembly.
On September 1978, the Madeira flag was adopted. The blue part symbolizes the sea surrounding the island and the yellow represents the abundance of life on the island. The red cross of the Order of Christ, with a white cross on it, is identical to the one on the flag of Prince Henry's ships that discovered the island. On September 1980, the official anthem was adopted.
In 1980, the Madeira International Business Centre was created.
From 1976 to 2019, the center-right Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(PPD/PSD) had a majority of MPs in the regional parliament and ruled on its own. During most of that time, from 1978 to 2015 (37 years), the regional government was headed by Alberto João Jardim
Alberto João Cardoso Gonçalves Jardim, GCC, GCIH (, born 4 February 1943) is a Portuguese politician who was the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal, from 1978 to 2015. He is a controversial political figure in Portugal.
...
, making him one of the longest-serving democratically elected leaders in the world.
In the 2019 election, PPD/PSD won once again, but lost the majority it had always held. Now it governs in coalition with the Popular Party.
See also
* History of the Azores
The following article describes the history of the Azores, an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean, about west of Lisbon, about northwest of Morocco, and about southeast of New ...
* Funchal history and timeline
A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events.
Timelines can use any suitable scale represen ...
References
{{British overseas territories