From the discovery of Madeira to its white gold – Sugar
In 1339, the islands of the Madeira archipelago were to be found already described in the chart of Angelino Dulcret. From 1350 onwards, maritime charts and portolans marked the islands of the Madeira archipelago, as, for example, did the Pizzigani chart of 1367. A cartographical representation of Madeira can be found in the Medici Atlas between 1351 and 1357, and in the 1375 chart of Abraham Cresques.
The official discovery of Porto Santo took place in 1418 and that of Madeira in 1419.
Prince Henry the Navigator, the Lord of the Islands, made a letter of donation of the captaincy of Funchal to João Gonçalves Zarco, that of Machico to Tristão Vaz and that of Porto Santo to Bartolomeu Perestrelo. These were to serve as an administrative model for other territories in the Portuguese expansion. The settlement of the archipelago began around 1425, and in 1497 it passed into the direct possession of the crown.
After the introduction of cereals, the most profitable product in terms of trade was to appear with the plantation of sugar cane. This initiative was linked to Prince Henry the Navigator himself, who at the same time encouraged the creation of the first sugar mills, such as that of Diogo Teive in 1452.
In 1494, most of the sugar produced came above all from Funchal, Câmara de Lobos, Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol and Calheta. The peak of sugar production must have been between 1450 and 1506, despite there also being some ups and downs.
Madeira brought the widespread consumption of sugar to Europe, subsequently disseminating its technology, especially in São Tomé, Brazil and the Caribbean.
Sugar exports began to be made to the main European ports, attracting many foreigners to the island, such as Christopher Columbus, who first visited Madeira as a sugar trader, later marrying Filipa de Moniz, the daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrelo, the 1st Captain Major of Porto Santo. Antwerp became the hub of the Madeiran sugar trade to northern Europe, justifying the presence of works of art commissioned directly from Flanders, beginning in the late 15th century and continuing throughout part of the 16th century. Many Italian traders came to the island of Madeira, from where they controlled a significant part of the trade with the Mediterranean.
The Portuguese royal crown took control of exports, establishing quotas in 1498 and attempting to control the fluctuations in prices. This situation reveals the special attention that Dom Manuel I paid to his island.
Madeira became a clear experiment in establishing Portugal in the Atlantic, and its artistic collections bear witness to the interest and proximity of the crown, even including the royal gifts that were made to Funchal Cathedral and which arrived in 1527.

From the sugar crisis to the introduction of wine
The sugar crisis was not only due to the competition coming from other centres of production, such as Brazil, but also to problems caused by the exhaustion of the soil, the shortage of labour, and diseases that spread across the sugar cane plantations.
At the end of the 16th century, sugar began to be imported from Brazil to maintain supplies to our confectionery industry. With the different woods that were used to make the chests for the transport of Brazilian sugar, the local cabinet-makers created the so-called sugar chest furniture. Objects were imported from the metropolis on a larger scale, and there was a widespread increase in the contacts established with the worlds of the Iberian expansion in the Far East, via the Cape and Acapulco Routes.
The last quarter of the 16th century was marked by the increasingly frequent introduction of wine. In 1571, Jorge Vaz, from Câmara de Lobos, stated in his will: on the land that has always been used for the planting of sugar cane, the malmsey vine will now be planted to make better profit therefrom.
Vines had been introduced to the island since the very beginning of its settlement, with significant results, firstly in the production of Malmsey wine.
The establishment of Madeira wine in the colonial Atlantic market derived from its high alcohol content and the island’s geographical position, since it was situated on the main shipping routes of the British Empire. This fact led to the birth of the famous vinho da roda, a term that meant that the wine was sent on a round trip from Madeira to India and then back again to England. When the wine passed through the tropics, the heat generated in the holds caused it to age more rapidly.
Over the centuries, other grape varieties were introduced, such as verdelho, boal, sercial and tinta negra. Wine was the product that provided the greatest stimulus to the island’s foreign trade. From the mid-17th century onwards, production continued to increase sharply, being dominated firstly by the French market and, immediately afterwards and most importantly, by the English market, followed by the American market.
England played an important role in the spread and increased trade of Madeira wine, and its presence in that country is documented from as early as the 15th century.
William Shakespeare suggests that Madeira wine was already an everyday feature of English life in his time. In his play Henry IV (Part 1), he has John Falstaff selling his soul to the devil “for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg”.
England’s mercantilist policy meant that ships flying the English flag had control over its vast empire. With few exceptions, it was established that after 1663 Madeira wine would be imported directly. These privileged contacts were increased with the signing of the Methuen Treaty in 1703.
There are records dating from 1665 of the sale of Madeira wine in America, firstly in Boston and later in New York. The American Declaration of Independence in 1776 was toasted with Madeira wine.

The First Tourists
By the beginning of the 19th century, the export of Madeira wine was already becoming progressively more concentrated, with its main destinations being centred once again in mainland Europe and England, while exports to the colonies were reduced. With the Napoleonic wars, England’s domination of the market became even more notable with its occupation of Madeira.
In the second quarter of the 19th century, London and St. Petersburg were the two main ports receiving imports of Madeira wine.
The crisis in wine production began in the 1820s, and, in the second half of the century, serious diseases, such as the outbreak of powdery mildew in 1852 and the first great attack of phyloxera in 1872, led to a decrease in exports.
From the second half of the 18th century onwards, largely due to the sizeable English population living on the island, Madeira became progressively better known as a centre for health tourism. Funchal’s reputation was greatly enhanced among the European aristocracy, being considered fundamental as a resort for alleviating the ailments of consumption, powers that were largely attributed to the mildness of its climate and the beauty of its landscape.
The first Quintas of Funchal were established as hotels. The Reid family created The Royal Edinburgh Hotel, followed by the Santa Clara Hotel, the Carmo Hotel and the Reid’s New Hotel. Júlio Dinis and António Nobre visited Madeira towards the end of the first half of the 19th century, as did Prince Alexander of Holland and Princess Dona Amélia of Brazil, between 1852 and 1853. The Habsburg family were regular visitors in the winter months.
Our first tourists were sick people, but the more adventurous devotees of the European Grand Tour also came regularly. They sought the delights of nature in the raw and many of them kept travel diaries and made sketches, some of which were published in the form of albums of engravings. Dating from the last quarter of the century are the many photographs that were taken by travellers, as well as the reports that were compiled about the island’s main historical events.

The Paths of Modernity
The beginning of the 20th century is evoked here by the work of two Madeira-born artists, the brothers Henrique and Francisco Franco, who were to take part in the birth of modernism in Portugal. They studied firstly in Lisbon and then in Paris, but they are fine examples of the way in which the call of one’s homeland can be fundamental in the formation of one’s creative imagination, even though they never ceased to retain a certain curiosity for novelty, something that was afforded to them by the possibility of other experiences on the continent and in Paris.
Proximity and distance, a sense of openness to the world and absolute certainty in what was to be their most profound principle, namely the idea of authenticity.