Municipalities 1Creation of the municipalities
Municipalities
Original title: Municípios
Overview of the eleven municipalities of the Madeira archipelago, with the dates of their creation, suppression and restoration from the 15th century to 1914, and a reflection on the political significance of municipal government under the donataries.
1Creation of the municipalities
Of the 11 municipalities in the Madeira archipelago, 7 were established under the absolute monarchy, 3 under the constitutional government and 1 under the republican government. The first group comprises the municipalities of Funchal, Machico, Porto Santo, Ponta do Sol, Calheta, Santa Cruz and São Vicente; the second those of Câmara de Lobos, Santana and Porto Moniz; and the third only that of Ribeira Brava.
The municipality of Funchal already existed in 1450, for in that year the donatary (donatário) was ordered to propose to the Senate (senado, the municipal council) the persons from among whom the alcaide (town officer with police and jail duties) was to be chosen. The municipalities of Machico and Porto Santo, it may be supposed, were created at about the same time or shortly afterwards, since tradition identifies their towns as among the earliest.
The municipality of Ponta do Sol was established in 1501 and that of Calheta in 1502. To this end the municipality of Funchal was divided up; in the 15th century it had stretched from Ponta do Tristão (‘Tristão’s point’) to the Ribeira do Caniço (‘Caniço stream’), and was bounded inland by the mountain range running from this stream to the same point. The municipality of Machico, made up of the rest of the island, was likewise divided in 1515, the year in which the municipality of Santa Cruz was established. The municipality of São Vicente was not created until 1743.
The municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Santana and Porto Moniz date from 1835. In his royal decree (alvará) of 10 August of that year, the prefect (prefeito) of the province ordered that the proceedings for the municipal elections, which were to be held throughout the archipelago on 4 October, should be presided over in the first of these municipalities by a councillor of the Funchal Council, in the second by a councillor of the Machico Council, and in the third by a councillor of the São Vicente Council. On that occasion the electors of the municipality of Funchal elected 7 councillors (vereadores); those of Porto Santo, 3; and those of the remaining municipalities, 5. The municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Santa Cruz and Santana were abolished by the decree of 10 December 1867 and restored shortly afterwards. The municipality of Porto Moniz was abolished by this same decree, which remained in force for only a very short time, and also by the decrees of 7 November 1849 and 18 November 1895; it had already been restored by 1855 and by the beginning of 1898 respectively. The municipality of Ribeira Brava, the most recent in the archipelago, was created by the decree of 16 August 1914.
The decree of 10 December 1867 mentioned above, which abolished the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Santana, Santa Cruz and Porto Moniz, divided the archipelago into 6 municipalities, with 21 civil parishes and 50 ecclesiastical parishes. (See Administrative organisation.)
2Significance of municipal government
The establishment of municipal government in the archipelago in the 15th and 16th centuries was a useful provision for the people, despite the scarcely democratic character of the laws that governed the old municipalities. Under this new government the people felt stronger and happier, because they understood that above the will and whims of the donataries and the nobles stood the laws that laid down individual liberties and privileges. If the councillors (vereadores) did not respect the laws of the municipality, or harassed the people with their acts or resolutions, there was the right of appeal to the king, who in former times seldom failed to hear the complaints of his oppressed subjects.
It may be supposed that the donataries did not look kindly on the installation of the municipal corporations, which came to strip them of part of the jurisdiction they exercised under perfectly legal grants. However, being more prudent than the nobles of the time of John II, they offered no serious resistance to the royal will. They thus allowed a measure to be carried out that must be regarded as the first step towards the destruction of the privileges of the high nobility and the aggrandisement of monarchical power in the archipelago.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 12-
The Funchal municipality already existed, the donatary being ordered to propose candidates for alcaide to its senate.
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By royal charter of D. Manuel I, Ponta do Sol was raised to the status of town and municipality.
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By royal charter Calheta was raised to a town and made a municipality, reducing the area of Ponta do Sol.
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King Manuel raised Santa Cruz to a town and municipality, created from Machico territory (dated 20 or 26 June 1515).
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São Vicente was raised to a town and municipality, separated from Machico and taking in Porto Moniz.
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A new administrative organisation gave Madeira ten municipalities, creating among others Câmara de Lobos, Santana (including Porto da Cruz, over Machico's protests), Porto Moniz, São Vicente, Calheta and a reorganised Ponta do Sol; Funchal's limits were fixed at the end of the year and the district head became Civil Governor.
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The prefect's order arranged municipal elections, including in the new councils.
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Municipal elections were held throughout the Madeiran archipelago.
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A decree abolished the municipality of Porto Moniz, whose parishes passed to Calheta; it was restored a few years later.
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The municipality of Porto Moniz was restored, and the parish of Ponta do Pargo, among others, rejoined it.
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A short-lived decree abolished the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Santa Cruz, Porto Moniz and Santana, merging Porto Moniz's parishes into São Vicente; they were soon restored.
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A decree suppressed the Porto Moniz municipality for a second time, annexing its parishes to Calheta and São Vicente; it was restored in 1898.
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A decree of 13 January 1898 restored the municipality of Porto Moniz, which was reinstalled on 13 February.
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The municipality of Ribeira Brava was created by decree.
Place
Places mentioned · 13
- Calheta
Municipality created in 1502 from Funchal.
Calheta is a town and municipality in western Madeira, created by royal charter of 1 July 1502. It later became the seat of a countship granted to the captains of Funchal and was reorganised as a concelho in 1835.
- Câmara de Lobos
Municipality created in 1835, briefly suppressed in 1867.
Câmara de Lobos is a municipality of Madeira whose seat was historically a 'lugar' rather than a vila. The Elucidário quotes Gaspar Frutuoso's description of it and outlines the creation of the concelho in 1835 and later changes to its parishes.
- Funchal
Oldest municipality, existing by 1450 and originally covering the whole south-west of the island.
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.
- Machico
Early municipality, divided in 1515 to create Santa Cruz.
Machico is a town and municipality of Madeira set in a valley. The Elucidário traces its municipal history from its probable creation around 1451, through the loss of territory to Santa Cruz, São Vicente and Santana. It also records its arms, its privileges and its new town hall of 1929.
- Ponta do Sol
Municipality created in 1501 from Funchal.
Town and municipality of Ponta do Sol on Madeira, an early sugar-producing centre raised to a town in 1501. The Elucidário traces the changes in its municipal territory and its role as seat of a judicial district (comarca).
- Ponta do Tristão
Porto Moniz. Western limit of the 15th-century Funchal municipality.
Ponta do Tristão is a headland in north-western Madeira that marked the northern end of the boundary between the captaincies of Funchal and Machico and the western limit of the north coast. It marked the end of the discoverers' first exploration, and its area has only recently been explored botanically, yielding several notable plants. The notes place it variously in Achadas da Cruz and in the parish of Porto Moniz.
- Porto Moniz
Municipality created in 1835 and suppressed and restored several times.
North-western parish and municipality with a quay and a tolerable port that serves as a good landing when southerly winds close the south coast. It has one of the oldest Magdalene chapels in northern Madeira, whose feast falls on 22 July. It was the birthplace of Dr Manuel Gomes Jardim.
- Porto Santo
Early municipality, electing three councillors in 1835.
An island of the archipelago, settled alongside Madeira and forming one of the three captaincies. It has always constituted a single parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade, whose church was repeatedly sacked. The Elucidário records the Moorish pirate raid of 1617, its own Misericórdia and a rainwater channel built on this drought-prone island.
- Ribeira Brava
Newest municipality, created in 1914.
Municipality of Madeira created in 1914 from parishes of Ponta do Sol and Câmara de Lobos. Its seat, the sítio of Lugar, was raised to the status of vila in 1928.
- Ribeira do Caniço
Santa Cruz. Eastern limit of the 15th-century Funchal municipality.
Stream in the parish of Caniço that rises in Camacha. It served as the boundary between the captaincies of Funchal and Machico, being named as a limit in the Machico donation. It also marked the eastern limit of the 15th-century Funchal municipality and a boundary of the Ornelas land grant.
- Santa Cruz
Municipality created in 1515, briefly suppressed in 1867.
Santa Cruz is a town and municipality in eastern Madeira, raised to the status of vila in 1515 within the captaincy of Machico. The Elucidário covers its customs house, its Misericórdia, its rivalry with Machico and later changes to its boundaries.
- Santana
Municipality created in 1835, briefly suppressed in 1867.
Municipality on Madeira's north coast, created in 1835. It lost Porto da Cruz to Machico in 1852 and was briefly abolished in 1867.
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People
People mentioned · 01-
King of Portugal whose nobles resisted royal power, contrasted here with the more prudent Madeiran donataries.