The Golden Island
 
Porto Santo is a paradise about one hour away from Lisbon and an average of two and a half hours from the main European cities.
 
The island is well known for the 9 km long sand beach it has. The beach, with its yellow and fine sand, surrounds most of the southern coast of the island, between the harbour and Calheta.
Porto Santo is the second largest of the only two inhabited islands in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
 
Above all, it offers quietness and a contagious charm, for whoever visits this place is not left indifferent.
The origins of the island are wrapped up in mystery. At least such is the way Alberto Vieira, a Madeiran historian, begins a thorough work on the island of Porto Santo. This mystery is due, he says, to the lack of conclusive documents. “All of this favours the scholars’ imagination and creates difficulties to the historian”.
 
The largest problem resides in the origin of the name and in the way the island was discovered. According to the historian, the chronicles have been interpreted in many different ways. One of them, the most widely known and disclosed theory, talks of a storm, endured by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz, at the service of Prince Henry.
 
The historian recalls that, according to João de Barros, they were on their way to another destination when they got caught by a storm that made them leave their course.
In 1418, after many unpleasant hours and days, they arrived at the island, which they called Porto Santo.
 
Another, historically documented, version points at earlier times, when a ship found safe harbour on the island, after a violent storm.
 
In case this is a valid account, before the Portuguese began the settlement, the island had already been called Porto Santo.
 
This fact is confirmed in the so called “Atlas Medicis”, from about 1370.
In historical terms, Professor Alberto Vieira points out that the first years at the island of Porto Santo are defined mostly by three concepts: drought, hunger and pirates.
 
According to the historian, it is not possible to know how the settlement took place, nor the origin of the island’s settlers. He points out, however, that there is a strong presence of people from the Algarve and their aristocratic lineage.
 
Regarding the evolution of the settlement, it was made little by little, with occasional setbacks, such as the 1617 raid, recalls the historian, when the island was almost deserted. At that fateful date, the Algerians took 900 prisoners. According to Alberto Artur Sarmento, only 19 men and 7 remained.
The solution came from the Portuguese Crown, who on August 13, 1619, granted Martim Mendes de Vasconcellos the difficult task of repopulating the island with people from Porto da Cruz, Caniçal and Santa Cruz.
 
The settlement began in 1418.
Another piece of relevant data on the island of Porto Santo, glorified by Alberto Vieira, is the fact that the island comes about as the first Portuguese area in the Atlantic, “being thus an important milestone in the heroic deeds of the 15th century”.
 
There is also the fact that Porto Santo is connected to one of the most important events in the European expansion: the discovery of America by Columbus, who lived for some time on the island. When in Porto Santo, Columbus would have heard of the existence of land to the west, which took him to prepare his quest.
 
Unknown by many Madeirans is the fact that, as Professor Alberto Vieira recalls, the islets became famous and still are today occasionally called, in a pejorative manner, prophets.
It all started a long time ago, when in the 15th century a false prophet, Fernão Bravo, turned up, at a time when the main authorities were away from the island.
 
The shepherd had a mystical crisis and went down to the village, pointing out the sins of society. He led the people into an excess of religious fanaticism for 18 days.
In terms of economic activities, Porto Santo starts off by having poor agriculture. The economy of the island is based on trade and services. The last few years have known an increase in tourism, to which the ship that connects Madeira to Porto Santo has helped a lot. New hotel units and restaurants have been built, with increasingly more quality.
 
Other great projects are approved, which will grant the island with enough supply to enable charter fights to land there all year round.
 
The golf course, as well as the museums and leisure equipment that make Porto Santo a unique destination, must not be forgotten.
 
The island of Porto Santo has today about 5 thousand inhabitants and an area of 4,217 hectares.
The climate is dry and stable, with little thermal variation between the seasons. As such, it is quite common to go to the beach all year round.
The sea water is truly warm throughout the year.
 
 
How to Get There
 
Porto Santo has good quality maritime and air transportation.
By sea, a comfortable ferryboat, called “Lobo Marinho”, owned by the concessionaire company of Madeira and Porto Santo line –  Porto Santo Line – assures, on a daily basis, the connection between the island of Madeira and Porto Santo.
 
The trips last approximately 2:30 hours. The ship, with 112 metres long and an average cruise speed of 21 knots, has a capacity for 1,153 passengers and 47 crew members.
As a ferryboat, it has a capacity to transport 160 passenger cars, or 18 containers or trucks and 100 small cars.
 
In terms of services and infrastructures, it has a cinema with a maximum capacity of 120 people, multimedia room, children room, shopping area, restaurants, several bars, and a first class area on top of the compass platform.
 
 
 

 
There are also connections with Lisbon, with regular flights.