Madeira Island is located in the Atlantic Ocean, around 1,000 kilometers away from the coast of Portugal and its capital city Lisbon. On the map, the island is situated to the West from the coast of the African continent and Morocco, just 400 kilometers north of Tenerife. Its mild climate offers almost a year round paradise in amazing biodiversity, which probably represents the main tourist attraction of the island.
The population of Madeira Island is around 270,000 people. The capital city of Madeira Island is Funchal, located on the southern coast. The population of Funchal is around 111,000 people, which means that more than 40% of Madeira’s population lives in Funchal.
The island was completely uninhabited till 15th century when it was discovered by Portuguese sailors. In this period, called the age of discovery, Portugal started building new navy ships and started exploring and discovering new worlds. Madeira is considered to be the first discovery of this era. There are many sources that testify that the island may had been discovered even before, but in history the Portuguese discovery was taken as the official date.
In 1418, two Portugal captains were taken off course by a storm and ended up on the island that they named Porto Santo (Holy Harbor) because they escaped a shipwreck. In 1419, an expedition was organized to explore this island. Newcomers saw a heavy cloud in the direction of southwest, which finally turned out to be the largest island of the archipelago Madeira. Therefore, both discovered islands Porto Santo and Madeira were claimed by Portuguese crown and soon afterwards colonized.
First colonizers of the island completely cleared large areas of dense forests in order to build a vast network of canals (called levada) which supplied with necessary water those drier parts of the island.
This work was carried out by prisoners at first and slaves later. At the beginning, the economy was based on agriculture and production of grain. Afterwards, more profitable species were introduced (sugarcane) which fueled Portuguese economy. In more recent history, the numbers of banana trees were planted and various passion fruit varieties which are all used in production of Poncha (traditional Madeira drink) which is a actually a liquor made of bananas or passion fruits.
The island of Madeira is a volcanic island that literary looks like a mountain surrounded by the ocean. The slopes of the island are very steep and the whole of the island coast is rocky. This means that there are no natural sandy beaches and that they had to be made. These beaches are located in most cities and had to be protected by heavy concrete barriers in order to give refuge to swimmers from large ocean waves and to protect the beach itself from winter storms. Because of its unique climate and biodiversity the island is best known for its nature, perfect for those that enjoy walks, tropical fruits, beautiful flowers etc.
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Madeira is a beautiful island in the Atlantic Ocean that is teeming with life, offers a display of brilliantly coloured flowers and fragrant fruits which most visitors might have never seen before, wonderful nature, splendid views, amazing hiking trails etc. it is so hard to put into words the uniqueness of Madeira Island and its nature. The volcanic nature of the island cossets away most of the island’s beaches behind its high cliffs, but instead offering spectacular viewpoints onto the ocean, lush forests that hide incredible animal and plant species as well as many hidden locations waiting to be uncovered. Even though the main attractions of the island are its exotic tropical nature and botanical gardens, Madeira also has well-developed cities catering for the needs of modern tourists with a lot of sights, history, shopping areas, restaurants etc.
The capital of Portugal, located in the extreme western part of the Iberian Peninsula, is Lisbon. Tucked among seven hills, on the north side of the river Tejo, Lisbon is often referred as the city of hills. We will selfishly say that this is the most beautiful city in Europe. It lies on the Atlantic coast, rich in history and culture. As the largest city in the country, it has approx. 2.9 million inhabitants with suburbs. It is the trade, economic, cultural and political center of Portugal
Romantic, inspiring, Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and lies along the Douro River, occupying the northern part of the country and is often called the "Capital of the North". It is known for its wines, gastronomy, granite, football, moderate-continental climate and beautiful landmarks. It belongs to the district of Porto, and forms one of the centers of the Iberian Peninsula. Flowery balconies, narrow streets, bridges and tiles are something that gives this city a personal touch and makes it perhaps one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The origin of the name Port is linked to the ancient Roman city called Portus Kale. The name of the country Portugal is derived from the same name. Porto has been on the list of UNESCO's world cultural heritage since 1996. Porto is known for its historic center which looks colorful, and the rest of the city is very young and energetic, just like its inhabitants.
