Probably Madeira was already discovered by Phoenicians around 600 BC. Contrary to the Canarian Islands that were mainly settled from the antique Mauritania from the 3rd century B.C., the Madeira archipelago remained uninhabited. After almost a thousand years of isolation, the Canary Islands were rediscovered in the 14th century and the Castilian manuscript "Libro del Conosçimiento" (Book of Knowledge), written around 1385, also describes Madeira ("Leiname") - however, in Portugal, 1418 and 1419 are considered the year of discovery, when João Gonçalves Zarco landed on the island of Porto Santo and Madeira respectively. From 1420 Madeira was settled by the Portuguese at the instigation of Henry the Navigator. The Sebaldines ("Wild Islands"), also belonging to Macaronesia, first documented in 1375, are considered to have been discovered by Diogo Gomes in 1438 and are now part of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. However, the archipelago 280 km south of Madeira is positioned on the coin (above "...ug...19") at an unscale. The cartographic lines symbolising the principle of a contemporary nautical portolan or "wind ray" map on the design of the coin (which radiate from the centre of the map as well as from 16 points evenly distributed on a circular line, the "wind roses") were used to determine course by means of a compass. |
