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.