A Bit of History

Madeira was discovered entirely by accident in the early 15th century at the height of Portugal's "Golden Age of Discovery" as Henry the Navigator was putting together teams of explorers. In 1418 João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira were blown off course during a particularly savage storm on their way to Guinea. By the time the storm subsided, they had drifted hundreds of miles off course and were lucky enough to hit upon an uninhabited island that they christened Porto Santo (Holy Port). Based on the sea captains' reports, Henry the Navigator gave the order to colonize. When Zarco and Teixeira returned to the area in 1419, they disembarked on a larger island, then covered with a nearly impenetrable forest. Zarco named it Madeira, which means "wood" in Portuguese. The name of the first settlement, Funchal, was inspired by the word funcho (fennel). In the 15th and 16th centuries the colony grew rich from its sugar plantations. Later, Madeira's wine industry sustained the island's growth, and in recent decades, tourism has become big business, making the island one of Portugal's top travel destinations. A statue of João Gonçalves Zarco stands at the main intersection of Avenida Arriaga and Avenida Gonçalves Zarco in Funchal, the island's capital.