Fajãs
General entry on fajãs, the flats of land formed by landslides in Madeira. It lists the best-known examples and records notable landslips of 1689, 1804, 1856 and 1894.
Fajãs and notable landslides
There is a parish (freguesia) known as Fajã da Ovelha (‘the ewe’s flat’), and in the parishes of São Gonçalo, Faial, São Jorge, São Vicente, Porto Moniz, Ponta do Pargo, Arco da Calheta, Estreito da Calheta, Canhas, Ribeira Brava, Campanário, Curral, etc., there are fajãs (strip of flat land at the foot of a cliff) of greater or lesser extent and age.
The Fajã da Ovelha, in the parish of that name, the Fajã dos Padres (‘the priests’ flat’) (Campanário), the Fajã dos Asnos or do Gregório (Câmara de Lobos) and the Fajã da Areia (São Vicente) are the best known on the island.
On the subject of landslips, we may say that Lugar de Baixo (‘lower place’) has been much larger since 1804 than before, because in that year a large part of the land of the lombada (long ridge between valleys) fell towards the sea and formed an extensive, productive plain there. The shock of the fall, says Dr Azevedo, was such that the sea rose above its level along the whole adjacent coast, and the tremor was felt both on land and at sea more than 10 kilometres away. The sea surged far into the town (vila) of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’).
The late António Pedro de Azevedo found a letter written in 1689 that speaks of the displacement of a tract of land about half a légua (league, about 5 km) long, which had occurred a short time before at Arco de São Jorge (see that entry). If what the author of the letter says is true, the movement was so slow and gentle that the buildings standing on the land suffered nothing from their change of position.
In April 1856 a considerable tract of land shifted at Machico, and all the huts built on it collapsed. In 1894 a great landslide (quebrada) occurred on Deserta Grande (‘great deserted island’), as a result of which the sea advanced and retreated noticeably at several points on the south coast of Madeira, much as it had at the time of the earthquake of 1755.
Fajãs are common in certain ravines of the interior, and some of them have caused more or less considerable diversions in the original course of the waters. When these fajãs lie near settlements, people usually farm them, since they are generally very productive. However, torrents sometimes ravage and erode them during the winter season, and may even destroy them if they are very low-lying or imperfectly consolidated.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 05-
On Easter night a great landslide, about half a league long, at Arco de São Jorge carried land into the sea, forming the Quebrada.
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The great earthquake struck Portugal and caused sea movements on Madeira's coast.
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A great landslide from the Lombada enlarged Lugar de Baixo and drove the sea into Ponta do Sol.
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A considerable landslide at Machico destroyed the huts built on it.
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A great coastal rockfall on Deserta Grande caused sea surges along Madeira's south coast.
Place
Places mentioned · 23- Fajãs · Subject
Câmara de Lobos
General term for fajãs, flats of land formed by landslides in Madeira. The Elucidário lists the best-known examples and records notable landslips of 1689, 1804, 1856 and 1894.
- Arco da Calheta
Calheta. Parish containing fajãs.
Arco da Calheta is a parish in the municipality of Calheta, created in 1572 around the chapel of São Brás, whose church holds sixteenth-century paintings. The Elucidário covers its early settlers such as the Andrades, sugar estates, chapels, entails, unrest in 1834 and 1887, and irrigation by the Rabaçal and Pico da Urze levadas.
- Arco de São Jorge
Santana. Site of a slow landslide described in a 1689 letter.
North-coast parish of the municipality of Santana, separated from São Jorge in 1676, over which the Pico do Arco de São Jorge (837 m) rises. It still had no cemetery in 1862 and became a julgado of the Funchal comarca in 1927. It is linked to Boaventura by a path across the Entrosa escarpment, and its forests were damaged in the 1919 fire.
- Campanário
Ribeira Brava. Parish containing fajãs, including Fajã dos Padres.
Campanário is a parish in Madeira, formerly part of Câmara de Lobos and later joined to the municipality of Ribeira Brava, drained by the Ribeira do Campanário (or da Lapa). The Elucidário records its landing, its band, its capitania-mor, its tithes paid to the Jesuits, a former chapel of St John founded in 1728, and the vicar sentenced by the Alçada of 1823. It was also the birthplace of Bishop D. Manuel Joaquim Gonçalves de Andrade and the jurist Francisco Justino Gonçalves de Andrade.
- Canhas
Ponta do Sol. Parish containing fajãs.
Canhas is a parish in the municipality of Ponta do Sol on Madeira's south coast, named after the Canha family and created in 1577, first installed at the chapel of São Tiago. The Elucidário records its church and chapels, local dress and speech, industries and localities such as Outeiro and Carvalhal e Carreira, its irrigation by a small private levada, and the sesmaria of Martim Afonso da Cunha.
- Curral das Freiras
Câmara de Lobos. Parish containing fajãs.
Small inland parish set in a deep valley believed to be an extinct volcanic crater and Madeira's main eruptive focus. The estate was bought for the nuns of Santa Clara, who fled there in 1566 and gave it their name, and it was created a parish in 1790. It was earlier a pasture and a refuge for runaway slaves and criminals, and it became a julgado of the Funchal comarca in 1927.
- Deserta Grande
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Site of a large rockfall in 1894 that disturbed the sea on Madeira's south coast.
The largest island of the Desertas, 490 m high, seasonally visited by hunters, fishers and orchil gatherers. The steamer Lagos ran aground there in 1902, and it was visited by the Prince of Monaco in 1888 and by the Dana scientists. Its landing at Carga da Lapa is 21.5 miles from Funchal.
- Estreito da Calheta
Calheta. Parish containing fajãs.
Estreito da Calheta is a parish of Calheta municipality in western Madeira, bounded by the Ribeira de São Bartolomeu and the Ribeira Funda. Its parish church of Nossa Senhora da Graça was founded by the França family, and the entry covers its landholding settlers, chapels, localities, schools and irrigation by the Levada Nova do Rabaçal; Prazeres was separated from it in 1733.
- Faial
Santana. Parish containing fajãs.
Faial is a north-coast parish of Santana municipality created in 1550, whose mountain springs feed the Levada da Serra. It contains Chícharos and the Diferença chapel, owns the eastern part of Pico Ruivo, and is noted for cheese-making and columnar basalt.
- Fajã da Areia
São Vicente. One of the best-known fajãs of the island.
Well-known coastal fajã and principal locality of São Vicente parish, with a beach and a small port. The port, about two kilometres from São Vicente, was preferred to the town's own landing place, though it is also listed as a poor port. An unsuccessful attempt at salt-making was made there.
- Fajã da Ovelha
Calheta. Parish named after a fajã, and one of the best-known fajãs.
Fajã da Ovelha is a parish in the municipality of Calheta, western Madeira. It grew from the chapel of São Lourenço, and its new church was built in the 18th century. It is watered by the old Rabaçal levada, contains the Pico da Fonte do Bispo in its uplands, and is noted for producing some of Madeira's best peaches.
- Fajã dos Asnos
Câmara de Lobos. One of the best-known fajãs, also called Fajã do Gregório.
A partly cultivated fajã in Câmara de Lobos, before Cabo Girão, also called Fajã do Gregório and counted among the best-known fajãs. It is notable for the rare Helichrysum monizii growing on its cliffs.
People
People mentioned · 02- Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo1825–1898
Madeiran historian cited for the account of the 1804 Lombada landslide and its effects on the sea.
- António Pedro de Azevedo1814–1889
Researcher who found a 1689 letter describing a landslide at Arco de São Jorge.