Porto Santo (orography)
Original title: Porto Santo (Orografia)
Describes the relief of Porto Santo island: its hilly terrain, the main peaks with their heights, its two small plains and the chief headlands of its coast.
For an island of such small area, Porto Santo is mountainous in appearance and made up of decidedly rugged terrain. Pico do Castelo (‘castle peak’), which we have already described on p. 259 of volume I of this work, rises to 440 metres above the sea.
The principal heights of the island’s mountain range, known by the generic name of peaks (picos), are the following: Ninho do Guincho, Branco (423 m), Concelho, Maçaricos, de Baixo, Juliana (455 m), Facho (509 m), Atalaia or Gandaia (492 m), Castelo, Monte Vidio, Ana Ferreira, Facho da Malhada (265 m) and Calhau da Malhada (182 m).
Despite the marked relief of its surface, two small plains stand out and deserve mention: that of the Vila and that of the Areias (‘sands’).
The principal points or headlands of the coast are those of Cruz or Santa Cruz, Ninho do Guincho, Branca or Nordeste, Frades, Incão, Calheta, Malhada, Furado, Varadouros and Fonte da Areia.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 24
- Areias
Porto Santo. One of the island's two small plains.
Areias is the sandy central part of Porto Santo, one of the island's two small plains and one of its main localities, covered by sand blown from dunes in the north-west. Windbreaks of trees and reeds were planted to stop the sand spreading; the area receives channelled water as part of a natural infiltration reservoir and has large vineyards, some planted by state workers in the late eighteenth century.
- Pico Branco
Porto Santo. Peak of 423 m.
Mountain in north-eastern Porto Santo, about 420–423 m high. The last Porto Santo juniper survived there in 1903.
- Pico da Atalaia
Porto Santo. Peak of 492 m, also called Gandaia.
Pico da Atalaia is one of the main peaks of Porto Santo, rising to 492 m and also called Gandaia. The headword entry, however, describes a peak of the same name on Selvagem Grande, a 150-metre eroded volcanic cone.
- Pico de Ana Ferreira
Porto Santo. One of the island's main peaks.
One of the main peaks of Porto Santo, 278 m high, in the south-south-east of the island. Wild olive (var. buxifolia) grows as a shrub on its rocks, and the plant visco (Tolpis succulenta) has also been found there.
- Pico de Baixo
Porto Santo. One of the island's main peaks.
Pico de Baixo is a hill in the north of Porto Santo. It is one of the island's main peaks.
- Pico do Castelo
Porto Santo. Peak on Porto Santo given as 440 m high, described in volume I.
The best-known peak of Porto Santo, given as 440 or 441 m high, named after the ruins of an old fort on its crest. The steep peak served as the islanders' refuge from pirate raids and was fortified in the early 18th century. Its slopes, with trachyte outcrops, were reforested, and a channel was designed to capture their storm runoff.
- Pico do Concelho
Porto Santo. One of the island's main peaks.
Pico do Concelho is one of the main peaks of Porto Santo, a low hill under 300 metres in the north-east of the island.
- Pico do Facho
Porto Santo. Peak of 509 m, the highest listed.
This Pico do Facho is the highest mountain on Porto Santo, at 500 m, in the north of the island.
- Pico do Facho da Malhada
Porto Santo. Peak of 265 m.
Pico do Facho da Malhada is a 265 m hill in the south-south-west of Porto Santo.