Have You Heard of Madeira Island?

Madeira Island, Portugal has always been of interest to me, since our trip to Southern Spain and the Rock of Gibraltar about 10 years ago. The other day I posted a video and description of Menorca Island, Spain. Both islands are tourist destinations of most Europeans, because of its perfect climate and historical attractions. In this week ABC TV show, The Bachelorrete featured Madeira Island that inspired me to write this short article. I hope you enjoyed the video above. Do not forget to click on the promotional video in this set if you have plans of visiting Madeira Island soon.

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between 32°22.3′N 16°16.5′W and 33°7.8′N 17°16.65′W, just under 400 kilometres (250 mi) north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union. The archipelago comprises the major part of one of the two Autonomous regions of Portugal (the other being the Azores located to the northwest), that includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, administered together with the separate archipelago of the Savage Islands.

Madeira was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the service of Infante D. Henrique (Henry the Navigator) in 1419, and settled after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Portuguese Age of Discovery.

Today, it is a popular year-round resort, being visited every year by about one million tourists, noted for its Madeira wine, flowers, landscapes and embroidery artisans, as well as for its annual New Year celebrations that feature the largest fireworks show in the world, as officially recognized by the Guinness World Records, in 2006. The main harbour in Funchal is the leading Portuguese port in cruise liner dockings, being an important stopover for commercial and trans-Atlantic passenger cruises between Europe, the Caribbean and North Africa.

Madeira is currently the second richest region in Portugal, after Lisbon, with a GDP per capita of 104% of the European average.