MADEIRA ISLAND - 600 Years of History

1418, is the year designated as the year of the discovery of Porto Santo Island, a circumstance that occurred after a storm on the high seas that diverted a boat that was following to the African coast. A year later, in 1419, another piece of land was sighted, which was called Madeira, due to the abundance of this raw...

14 Oct 2019 min de leitura

600 years of the discovery of the Madeira Island

Discovery

"We passed the great island of Madeira,

Which of the much grove it is called;

Of which we populated the first,

More famous by name than by fame.

But not because the world is the last,

How many venus do you love?

Before, this being yours, had forgotten,

From Cypro, Guido, Paphos and Cythera. "

"The Lusiadas", Luis de Camões

1418, is the year designated as the year of the discovery of Porto Santo Island, a circumstance that occurred after a storm at sea that diverted a boat that was following the African coast. Gonçalves Zarco and his crew were saved by this small piece of land which they named Porto Santo.

A year later, in 1419, another piece of land was sighted, which was called Madeira, due to the abundance of this raw material.

Gonçalves Zarco, Tristao Vaz Teixeira and Bartolomeu Perestrelo are the three navigators who arrived here and stayed here, each with their captaincy. Porto Santo to Bartolomeu Perestrelo, Machico to Tristao Vaz Teixeira and Funchal to Gonçalves Zarco, a few years later, in 1440, after the beginning of the Population Cycle, in 1425, by order of D. João I.

The settlement

The three donee captains and families began the settlement of the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo, a phased process involving people from all over the kingdom. From the Algarve, some of the main settlers left, with important functions in the implementation of the landlord system bases. We can also mention in this process the north of Portugal, namely the region of Entre Douro and Minho, origin of those who intervened specifically in the organization of the agricultural space.

From the Algarve, from the towns of Tavira, Lagos, Silves, Aljezur and Sagres, there are also several people traveling to the new islands of the Kingdom. Servants, squires, knights, and nobles were listed to mark the beginning of the settlement, which quickly expanded geographically to other areas, such as Santa Cruz, Camara de Lobos, Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol, and Calheta.

Cereal Cycle

Until the seventies of the fifteenth century, the agricultural landscape was dominated by cornfields. Cereal cultivation dominated the Madeiran economy, generating large surpluses from which the kingdom´s ports, African squares and the coast of Guinea were supplied.

All of this was a result of the high fertility of the soil caused by burning to make way for the first areas of cultivation. According to some records dating from the early fifteenth century, a harvest of three thousand moios (unit of measure equivalent to 60 bushels) was harvested, exceeding 65% of the needs of the local population.

One thousand Moios were destined to supply the African coast factories.

However, from the 1960s onwards, the introduction and spread of sugarcane cultivation led to a significant drop in cereal cultivation, which led to a deficit production from 1466, which severely compromised the supply commitments of African squares and factories. Since then, it has become necessary to import much of the grain that was consumed.

In 1479, the harvest was only for four months, depending on its supply to the remaining cereal imported from the Azores and the Canary Islands.

Sugar cycle

In the fifteenth century, Madeira begins a new economic cycle. The Sugar Cycle, also known as Ouro Branco.

Imported from Sicily, sugar cane quickly transforms the landscape completely, becoming a source of income par excellence attracting merchants from various parts of Europe, essentially. Funchal City becomes the center of the world and sugar cane is the main engine of the Madeiran economy.

In 1472, Madeira sugar began to be exported directly to Flanders, becoming the main distribution center, making Madeira Island recognized as an important axis in economic relations between Portugal and Flanders.

Sugarcane production has attracted and established adventurers and traders from the most diverse backgrounds, especially Italians, Basques, Catalans and Flemings.

Sugar trading in Madeira peaked in the 1920s, coinciding with the Flemish art business and coinciding with the dating of most Flemish art on the island, demonstrating the commercial prosperity that was notorious. Works of gigantic proportions were imported, mainly paintings, triptych apparatuses or mixed altarpieces, as well as large images of Bruges, Antwerp and Malines. Silver and copper objects and metal inlaid tombstones from Flanders and Hainaut were also imported, such as those currently seen at Funchal Cathedral and in Museums such as the Sacred Art.

Until the first half of the 16th century, Madeira was one of the main markets for sugar in the Atlantic, however, this cycle ended, with sugarcane being traded in other markets. Another cycle became the protagonist.

Wine cycle

The sugarcane queen has given way to the king, wine, liqueur, famous and appreciated in the four corners of the world. Even William Shakespeare, in the mid-16th century, highlighted in his play “Ricardo III” the growing notoriety of Madeira Wine, highlighting Malvasia in a drama in which Duke of Clarence, brother of King Edward IV of England, drowns in a vat of Madeira Wine.

The Malvasia vineyard was made by the Jesuit priests after the great corsair sacking of 1566.

The decline of sugar production in the late sixteenth century forced a reinvention of agricultural production, and the landscape was occupied by vineyards. Thus begins a new economic cycle on the island of Madeira, which once again designed this small island internationally, growing alongside wine production a new social class, the bourgeoisie.

With this new Cycle, new markets were opened, especially the English one, and with them the fixation on the Island of the wood of important English traders who gradually began to control this production. It was already the seventeenth century and new horizons and markets were opened and consolidated to the transaction of this nectar of the gods, namely North America and the Antilles. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Funchal moved from Sugar City to Wine City.

The nineteenth century brought with it two serious epidemics that attacked the vines causing substantial losses. In order to circumvent this situation and to ensure its maintenance in the international market, winemakers have opted to plant more resistant but lower quality grape varieties.

It was necessary to reinvent itself once again…

Tourism Cycle

In the nineteenth century, visitors to the island were distinguished among patients, travelers, tourists, and scientists. Most of the visitors belonged to the wealthy European aristocracy, namely princes, princesses and monarchs that found in Madeira Island, an essentially therapeutic port.

However, some of the unique features of this island caught the attention of those who visited us, namely the walking, horse riding and hammock, which made it possible to explore beyond the limits of the city, with the interior being sought by visitors. It was then necessary to create a set of infrastructures to support those who moved inland, this in the forties of the nineteenth century. But it was not until 1887 that an adequate network of inns outside Funchal was established. This fact did not collide with existing structures to the south, namely houses and farms.

It was precisely at this time that the first Tourist Guide, dating from 1850, appeared to support visitors and tourists. This guide highlighted the island from a historical and geological point of view, as well as highlighting the flora, fauna and customs.

The English and Germans were the first to lay the foundations for the construction of the Madeiran hotel chain.

Source: 600 Years Madeira