PORTUGAL : Madeira - History
It might well be possible that the Phoenecians already discovered
Madeira at a very early period. The Roman historian Pliny mentions
certain Purple or Mauretanian Islands, the position of which with
reference to the Fortunate Islands or Canaries might seem to indicate
the Madeira islands.
However, the first settlement of people on the island took place in the
early 15th Century led by the Portuguese explorer João Gonçalves Zarco.
In 1419 two of the captains of Prince Henry the Navigator, João
Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, were driven by a storm to the
island called by them Porto Santo, or Holy Port, 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.
Sugar cane was grown and by 1514 there were already some 5.000 permanent
inhabitants. It became a fought over prize for both the French and the
Spanish until 1662 when the Portuguese regained control. By 1890s the
island had attracted tourists and has since continued as a very popular
location due to the climate never being too hot or too cold. In 1921,
the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Charles I was deported to Madeira, after an
unsuccessful coup d'état. He died there one year later.
In 1976, following the democratic revolution of 1974, Portugal granted
autonomy to Madeira.
