Santa Cruz (; "Holy Cross") is a municipality, a parish and a city in the eastern part of the island of

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

. It is the second most populous municipality, behind

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

. The population in 2011 was 43,005, in an area of 81.50 km².

History

''"...passing a turn in the land, they entered a cover in the beach, in which they saw a deliteful valley covered in the trees in order, where they found on land a few older fallen columns, from whom the captain ordered the construction a cross, which they raised to the heights of a tree, giving the place the name of Santa Cruz, where later that founded the noble village."''Gaspar Frutuoso, 1817 To commemorate the construction of this cross, a second cross was raised, of marble, but was later destroyed, around 1889.

Geography

It is located southeast of

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

, southwest of

Machico Machico () is a municipality, parish and city in the southeast part of the island of Madeira Island, Madeira, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The easternmost municipality on the island, it is also the third-most populous area with a populati ...

and northeast of the regional capital (

); it is linked by an expressway to Funchal and Machico, as well as an ancillary road linking it to

Urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

from Funchal extends along Santa Cruz's western frontier, while the eastern part of the municipality is the base for Madeira's

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

. Five parishes comprise the municipality of Santa Cruz: * Camacha * Caniço (city) * Gaula * Santa Cruz (city) (includes the offshore

Desertas Islands The Desertas Islands (, , "Deserted Islands") are a small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the larger Portuguese Madeira Archipelago. The archipelago is located off the coast of Morocco. Deserta Grande Island is located about southea ...

) * Santo António da Serra

Economy

Agriculture and fishing are still considered the primary industries in this region, although widespread expansion of tourism in the south, and the development of the international airport has increased the number of commercial and tourist-related activities (primarily in the city of Santa Cruz).

Notable people

* Joseph Costa (1909 in Caniço – 1998) a Portuguese American aviator * Bishop José Alfredo Caires de Nobrega (born 1951 in Caniço) the bishop of the Diocese of Mananjary in Mananjary, Madagascar * José Manuel Coelho (born 1952 in Gaula) a Portuguese politician. * João Rodrigues (born 1971 in Santa Cruz) a windsurfer; competed in every Summer Olympic Games from 1992 to 2016 * Vânia Jesus (born 1979 in Santa Cruz) a Portuguese politician.

References

;Notes ;Sources *Fructuoso, Gaspar, ''Saudades da Terra'' (Vol.2), originally published 1873, various reprints since 1966, Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel. .

External links

Official site
{{authority control Cities in Portugal Madeira Island Municipalities of Madeira