The history and the tradition of an historic region.
Discovering the archipelago
Madeira archipelago was discovered, or, according to a few historians, re-discovered in 1418, more specifically, through Porto Santo island. It was in 1419, a year later, that its discoverers have arrived to Machico’s bay. Henry the Navigator (Infante Dom Henrique) claimed the Island and ordered its settlement and agricultural exploitation. To keep the order around the islands on the early stages of colonization, Henry the Navigator, the archipelago’s claimer, nominated three captain-majors: Bartolomeu Dias (Porto Santo), Tristão Vaz Teixeira (Machico) and João Gonçalves Zarco (Funchal).
