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Madeiran wall lizard. Madeiran wall lizard ( Teira dugesii) captured in Levada do Norte, Madeira. The Madeiran wall lizard ( Teira dugesii) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to the Island where it is very common, ranging from sea coasts to altitudes of 1,850 metres (6,070 ft).
- Madeira (Disambiguation)
Madeira (the Portuguese word for wood), officially named the...
- Madeira Island
Madeira Island. / 32.65111°N 16.90972°W / 32.65111;...
- Hogna Ingens
Hogna ingens, the Deserta Grande wolf spider, is a...
- Madeira Wine
Madeira wine. Madeira is a fortified wine made on the...
- Flag of Madeira
You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit...
- Henry The Navigator
Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13...
- Robert Machin
Robert Machin or Machim (fl. 14th century) was an English...
- Madeira (Disambiguation)
- History
- Geography
- Administration
- Population
- Nature
- Economy
- Notes
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Discovery
Madeira's official written history began in 1418, when two captains under service to Prince Henry the Navigator, João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, were pushed by a storm to an island which they named Porto Santo (English: holy harbour). The following year, an organised expedition was sent to this new land to take possession of the island on behalf of the Portuguese crown. Later, the new settlerssaw an island to the southwest, and so the larger island of Madeira was discovered.
Settlement
The islands were found to be completely uninhabited, and their colonization by the Portuguese began around 1420 or 1425. To get the minimum conditions for the development of agriculture, they had to cut part of the dense forest and to construct a large number of canals (levadas) to carry water, since in some parts of the island there was excess water, while in others water was scarce. During this period, fish constituted about half of the settlers' diet, together with vegetables and fruits cu...
As other islands of the Macaronesia, the Madeira islands are of volcanic origin and with a subtropical climate.
In 1976 Madeira became one of the two autonomous regions of the Republic of Portugal (Azores is the other) under the Portuguese name Região Autónoma da Madeira, with its own executive and a regional legislature. The current presidentof the regional government is Miguel Albuquerque. The main offices of the regional government are in Funchal, making ...
According to the 2011 Census, the total population in the Autonomous Region of Madeira was 267,785: 126,268 men and 141,517 women. The density for the whole region is 334.3 persons/km2; calculating the density taking in account only the inhabited islands (Madeira and Porto Santo), the density would be 341.9 inhabitants/km2.
The region of Madeira is home to a great and important biodiversity, with an estimated 7,571 terrestrial species for the whole archipelago. The total number of endemic species and subspeciesis about 1,419 (1,286 species and 182 sub-species), which represents 19% of the overall species diversity. The most known environment of the archipelago is its ...
The local economy is based mainly on agriculture and tourism, the main resource. Agriculture produces bananas, flowers, and Madeira wine which is exported. The industrial area is not very diverse and they are relationated with food, beverages, tobacco and construction.
Statistics include Savage Islands, which are administered by the parish of SéStatistics include the mainland parish of Santa Cruz and the islands of the DesertasFreguesias de Portugal Archived 2013-05-26 at the Wayback Machine- 1418-1419
- c. 1425
- 30 April 1976
- Portugal
Madeira, officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira, is one of two autonomous regions of Portugal, the other being the Azores. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in a region known as Macaronesia, just under 400 kilometres (250 mi) to the north of the Canary Islands and 520 kilometres (320 mi) west of the Kingdom of Morocco.
- Hike a levada or a vereda. Nearly all of Madeira’s rain falls on the island’s north shore, so to facilitate agriculture on the island’s south, its early settlers created a series of man-made aqueducts known as levadas.
- Ride a cable car. Madeira’s coast is home to fajãs, areas backed by cliffs that were previously only accessible to boats. That is until a series of cable cars were built.
- Swim in a natural pool. The waters that surround Madeira have both an otherworldly azure hue and a temperature that’s accessible year-round. Unfortunately, the island’s rugged geography and stone beaches mean that accessing that water isn’t always easy.
- Taste fortified wine. Madeira’s eponymous wine was created when barrels of the stuff spent months on ships baking in the hot sun. This happy accident caused the wines to oxidize, giving them an entirely new and desirable set of flavors and aromas.
The islands started to be settled circa 1420 or 1425. On September 23, 1433, the name Ilha da Madeira (Madeira Island or "island of 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. Statue of João Gonçalves Zarco.
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Madeira is a sub-tropical archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and is an autonomous region of Portugal. The archipelago is made up of two populated islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, and two groups of unpopulated islands called the Desertas and Selvagens Islands. Geographically in Africa, it is an ultra-peripheral region of the European Union.
