Gonçalo Aires (stream)
Original title: Gonçalo Aires (Ribeira de)
Stream in São Gonçalo parish, named, according to Gaspar Frutuoso, after the explorer Gonçalo Aires who came down it during the first exploration of Madeira; the Gonçalo Aires lazaretto stands at its mouth.
Gaspar Frutuoso, referring to the first exploratory work when the settlement of this island began, relates, among other episodes, the following: ‘Gonçalo Ayres went with his companions over the land for the space of three hours, at the end of which the captain was already growing vexed at their delay, when, behold, they appeared coming down the stream with garlands on their heads, and decked with branches they came talking with great pleasure, saying that they had found no living thing but birds; and hence the name “Ribeira de Gonçalayres” remained.’ This stream crosses the parish (freguesia) of São Gonçalo (‘St Gonçalo’), and at its mouth stands the Lazareto (‘quarantine hospital’) known as Gonçalo Aires.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 04- Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires · Subject
Funchal. The stream that is the subject of the entry.
The Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires is a stream in São Gonçalo parish, named, according to Gaspar Frutuoso, after the explorer Gonçalo Aires, who came down it during the first exploration of Madeira. The lazaretto stands at its mouth, which was a vertex of Funchal's 1909 city limits.
- Gonçalo Aires · Subject
Funchal
Gonçalo Aires is a cove and stream mouth in Funchal, covered by the Forte de Loures. According to Gaspar Frutuoso, the stream (Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires) is named after the explorer who came down it during the first exploration of Madeira. The Gonçalo Aires lazaretto stands at its mouth.
- Lazareto de Gonçalo Aires
Funchal. Lazaretto at the stream's mouth.
The Lazareto de Gonçalo Aires is a quarantine building at the mouth of the Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires, decreed in 1849. It was turned into a plague isolation hospital and sacked by rioters on 7 January 1906. It was later used to intern political deportees, including those of 1919, and German residents during the Great War.
- São Gonçalo
Funchal. Parish crossed by the stream.
São Gonçalo is a suburban parish at the eastern end of Funchal, created in the sixteenth century, part of whose territory was added in 1927, when it also became a julgado of the Funchal comarca. The Elucidário notes its professional embroiderers producing the finest work, its levadas, its hay supply to Funchal, its shearwater hunters, and that it was the birthplace of Padre Manuel Fernandes de Sant'Ana; it contains Alpires and the Quinta do Rochedo.
People
People mentioned · 02- Gaspar Frutuoso1522–1591
Azorean chronicler whose account explains the origin of the stream's name.
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Companion of the first settlers who explored the land and gave his name to the stream.