Gonçalves (Commander Manuel)
Original title: Gonçalves (Comendador Manuel)
Funchal merchant (c.1867–1916) who sought to free local trade from foreign houses, founded the Companhia dos Sanatórios and extended the Monte railway to Terreiro da Luta.
He was an intelligent and active Funchal merchant whose enterprising spirit and bold initiative rendered excellent services to his homeland. His work would have been still broader and more valuable had a spiteful campaign against him not hindered the realisation of his projects. Great and fruitful were the efforts he made to free local trade from the influence of certain foreign houses, which were stifling the commercial and industrial activities of the island’s native merchants. The organisation of the Companhia dos Sanatórios is due chiefly to his efforts, as will be seen more fully in the article devoted to it.
As director of the Companhia de Ferro do Monte, he carried out the important improvement of extending the railway from Monte (‘hill’) to Terreiro da Luta (‘ground of the fight’), and had an excellent restaurant built there, which rivalled similar establishments abroad.
Commander Gonçalves was born in Funchal around 1867 and died in the parish (freguesia) of Monte on 18 August 1916.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 03
- Funchal
His birthplace and place of business.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Monte
Funchal. Starting point of the railway extension and parish where he died.
Parish of Nossa Senhora do Monte above Funchal, at about 600 m, where leafing occurs later than in Funchal. It contains the localities of Jardim Botânico, Igreja and Marmeleiros and the Quinta de Sant'Ana. The Elucidário notes its many plants, such as acacias and Sonchus fruticosus.
- Terreiro da Luta
Funchal. Terminus of the railway extension, where he built a restaurant.
The Terreiro da Luta is a scenic site in Monte parish at 850 m, where legend places an apparition of the Virgin. From 1912 it was the terminus of the Monte railway, with a restaurant, and official lunches for distinguished visitors were held there. It has a bronze statue of Zarco and the monument to Nossa Senhora da Paz, inaugurated in 1927.
People
People mentioned · 01- Manuel Gonçalvesc. 1867–1916
Funchal merchant and director of the Monte Railway Company who organised the Companhia dos Sanatórios.