Calheta (town and municipality)

The creation of the towns and municipalities of Funchal, Machico and Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) dates from the middle of the 15th century, these places being the capitals of the three captaincies into which the Madeiran archipelago was divided. The captaincy of Funchal, and particularly its seat, the town (vila) of the same name, grew remarkably from the earliest days of colonisation and quickly prospered. Important settlements formed within it and soon reached a high level of development, so that autonomous municipalities (concelho) became necessary, for the convenience of the inhabitants and the sound administration of public affairs. This is what happened with the establishment of the towns and municipalities of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’) and Calheta (‘small cove’).

The former was created in 1501, and there are good grounds for conjecturing that the latter was created at roughly the same time. It is regrettable that no record survives of the instrument that raised the parish (freguesia) of Calheta to the rank of town. The royal decree (alvará) that created the town of Ponta do Sol is recorded in the municipal archive of Funchal, and a copy of it also exists in the archive of the Council of that town.

On the instrument concerning Calheta, Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo says: ‘Of the charter that raised the village (lugar, settlement rank below a town) of Calheta to Villa Nova da Calheta there is no record in the Council concerned, because the old town hall and original archive were destroyed by the sea, as the President of that Council reports in an official letter of 30 October of this year 1871. Nor is it recorded in the archive of the Council of Funchal, and it is not copied in any of the manuscripts we possess. Only in the Breve Noticia of Paulo Perestrello, p. 54, do we find a note that Calheta was made a town in 1511, which is a manifest error, perhaps a typographical one, because the instrument below shows that Villa Nova da Calheta was already a town in August 1502’.

The instrument ‘below’ referred to here is a reply, dated 16 August 1502, containing certain instructions addressed by the monarch to the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of Funchal.

Several writings allude to the phrase, which became quite well known, ‘to his much beloved town of Calheta’, attributed to King Manuel I in a letter addressed to the Council of this municipality. We do not know the document in which this phrase is recorded, nor can we vouch for its genuine authenticity. If it is true, the Fortunate King must surely have been referring to the distinguished nobility of this town or municipality, for it is well known that a large galaxy of noble knights lived there, many of whom distinguished themselves valiantly in Africa, India and Brazil. Eloquent proof of Manuel I’s fondness for the town of Calheta survives in the rich tabernacle he presented to its mother church (igreja matriz), to which we have already referred in the article devoted to this parish.

Wishing to reward the services rendered by Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, 5th captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) of Funchal, to honour in him the deeds and heroic actions of his forebears, and also to add lustre to the rich and important house of which he was the representative, the monarch granted him the title of count by royal decree of 20 August 1576. The town of Calheta, for its importance and noble traditions, was chosen as the seat of the new countship. This title, as will be explained elsewhere, was incorporated into the marquisate of Castelo Melhor, and the holders of that title were also counts of Calheta until the decree of 15 October 1910 abolished all titles of nobility.

The following passage by Gaspar Frutuoso, which we transcribe below, is of interest regarding the points we have mentioned:

“

In this lugar (settlement ranking between a town and a parish) of Calheta, further down, close to a beautiful stream, the town was founded, which took the name of Calheta, the most fertile of all those of the island, because it has the largest district. This town is as noble in its inhabitants as it is well supplied with the many cheap provisions to be found in it. From it there went forth, in the company of the captains of Funchal, many noble knights to serve the King at their own expense in the strongholds of Africa, and in the relief expeditions that the captains led: where all of them, besides giving proof of their persons, spent much of their own wealth, for they were rich, owing to the great estates in this termo (municipal jurisdictional district, a subdivision of the comarca), such as the much-famed estate of Arco, and others, which are now divided among various heirs. This town of Calheta and its termo formed the countship of the Most Illustrious Captain Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, Count of this Vila Nova da Calheta, as will be told in its place’.

As we have already seen in the article on customs houses (Alfândegas), this town was the seat of a small customs office, or revenue guard post (posto fiscal), as it was then called, and the duty on sugar was originally collected there, later being collected at the Funchal customs house. Calheta had the offices of collector of the fifths (quintador), the officer levying the one-fifth duty on sugar, and clerk (escrivão) of the fifths (quintos, levy of one fifth on sugar), whose duties consisted in applying the taxes levied on the sugar produced there. These posts were abolished by royal decree of 30 July 1686.

In the Council of this town the juiz de fora (crown-appointed judge from outside the district) Dr António Rodrigues Veloso de Oliveira left on record some instructions on agricultural matters, truly remarkable for their time, of which various extracts have been published in several Madeiran newspapers. ‘They deal’, it is said somewhere, ‘with the cultivation of the vine and other plants – the chestnut on the common lands (baldios), fruit trees in sheltered places, cotton plants near the sea, mulberries along roads and in public places, pine woods on land unfit for any other crop, plants used in pharmacies, fields of maize, the raising of livestock, artificial meadows, sheltering hedges and other suggestions’. These instructions can still be read today with some profit.

Within this municipality lies the well-known and much-visited locality (sítio) of Rabaçal, to which we shall devote a full article.

The present municipality (concelho) of Calheta, created in 1835, and the former municipality or town do not differ very markedly in the extent of their areas. Since 1835, however, it has undergone some changes, some of which we can record here. In 1849 the municipality of Porto Moniz (‘Moniz’s harbour’), which had also been created in 1835, was suppressed, and the parishes (freguesias) of Achadas da Cruz (‘plateaus of the cross’) and Ponta do Pargo (‘sea bream point’) became part of the municipality of Calheta. These parishes were, however, reincorporated into the municipality of Porto Moniz when it was restored in 1855. The decree of 26 June 1871 detached the parish of Ponta do Pargo from the municipality of Porto Moniz and annexed it to that of Calheta. In 1895 the municipality of Porto Moniz was suppressed once more and annexed to the municipalities of Calheta and São Vicente, only to be restored again in 1898.

This municipality comprises the parishes of Calheta, Estreito da Calheta, Arco da Calheta, Prazeres, Jardim do Mar, Paul do Mar, Fajã da Ovelha and Ponta do Pargo.

As stated above, the town of Ponta do Sol was created in 1501, and the illustrious commentator of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) conjectured that Calheta had been created at about the same time. Today the exact date of its creation can be established, since in 1900 Dr Damião Peres published a second edition of the work of Gaspar Frutuoso, enriching it with a number of valuable annotations. In one of these, on p. 118 ff., the royal letter (carta régia) of 1 July 1502 that created the town of Calheta is transcribed in full; it is an exceptionally interesting document.