João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira who discovered Porto Santo island in 1418 after being diverted by a storm and Madeira island in 1419 when serving the Infante D. Henrique (Prince Henry) of mainland Portugal. They first disembarked in Machico.

The Portuguese knew of the Madeira archipelago as early as the 14th century, their settlement was ordered after 1418 by the Infante D. Henrique or Prince Henry the brilliant instigator of Portugal's maritime discoveries.

Cristofõm Colon (Christopher Columbus) called at Madeira and Porto Santo several times and here he married the daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrello, Porto Santo's first hereditary governor. Read on...