São Vicente (town and municipality) 1Origins and creation of the town
São Vicente (town and municipality)
Original title: São Vicente (Vila e Município de)
History of the town and municipality of São Vicente on Madeira's north coast, raised to a town (vila) by royal charter in 1744 to free northern parishes from distant Machico, and reorganised as a municipality in 1835. It also covers later boundary changes involving Porto Moniz and plans to move the municipal seat.
1Origins and creation of the town
It is known that the towns (vilas) of Funchal, Machico and Porto Santo were created around the middle of the 15th century, and those of Santa Cruz, Ponta do Sol and Calheta at the beginning of the 16th century. No town at all was established in Madeira during the 17th century; that of São Vicente (‘St Vincent’) was created in the second quarter of the 18th century.
The village (lugar, settlement rank below a town) of São Vicente, made a parish towards the end of the 15th century, was one of the parishes of northern Madeira that acquired the greatest importance from the earliest days of colonisation and where the population grew densest; even today it is the most populous of them all. It belonged to the captaincy of Machico, and the town of that name was the seat of all public administration. The people of the north of the island were therefore forced to make long and dangerous journeys to reach the capital of their captaincy whenever pressing circumstances obliged them to do so.
Because many parishes on the north coast had easier and more frequent communications with Funchal, the people of those parishes sought on several occasions to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the captaincy of Machico and be incorporated into that of Funchal, or else to obtain the creation of a municipality with its seat in São Vicente, covering this parish and other neighbouring ones.
2Charter, municipality and later changes
This legitimate wish of the northern communities was fulfilled only in 1744, with the creation of the town of São Vicente. Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo makes not the slightest reference to this event and was certainly unaware of the instrument that raised the parish (freguesia) of São Vicente to the rank of town. The royal decree (alvará régio) concerned, a lengthy and exceptionally interesting document, is dated 25 August 1744 and was first published in no. 14 and following issues of the newspaper A Revista Madeirense (‘Madeiran Review’) in 1902. With the establishment of constitutional government, the archipelago was divided into municipalities (concelhos), and the existing division into towns or municipalities was profoundly altered. The municipality of São Vicente was set up in 1835 and consisted, as it still does today, of the parishes of Boaventura, Ponta Delgada and São Vicente. The decree of 10 December 1867 abolished the municipality of Porto Moniz (‘Moniz’s harbour’) and incorporated the parishes of Seixal, Ribeira da Janela and Porto Moniz into that of São Vicente; shortly afterwards, however, the abolished municipality of Porto Moniz was restored. It was abolished again by the decree of 18 November 1895 and restored once more by the decree of 13 January 1898. During this short period the parishes of Seixal, Ribeira da Janela and Porto Moniz were once again part of the municipality of São Vicente.
Because the town of São Vicente lies in a confined site and has only a limited number of inhabitants, it has not enjoyed the growth and development befitting a place that was once the seat of a judicial district (comarca), enjoys the honours of a town, is the capital of a municipality and is the centre of a municipal court district (julgado municipal). It would therefore be advantageous to move it to a more spacious site, where a sizeable population could grow up around the municipal offices, as generally happens elsewhere. The idea of transferring the municipal seat to a locality (sítio) better suited to the purpose is not new. As recently as 1929 the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the municipality took up the matter with keen interest: a site was actually chosen and a plan for the future town was drafted. It may be presumed that the old judicial district will be restored, lending considerable importance to whatever settlement may come to be created.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 09-
São Vicente was constituted as a parish in the late fifteenth century.
-
São Vicente was raised to a town, the first new town in Madeira since the early 16th century.
-
A royal charter raised the parish of São Vicente to the status of a town and municipality, attaching northern localities such as Porto Moniz, Ponta Delgada and Seixal to it and further reducing the municipality of Machico.
-
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.
-
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.
-
A decree suppressed the Porto Moniz municipality for a second time, annexing its parishes to Calheta and São Vicente; it was restored in 1898.
-
A decree of 13 January 1898 restored the municipality of Porto Moniz, which was reinstalled on 13 February.
-
The 1744 charter of São Vicente was first published in A Revista Madeirense.
-
São Vicente's municipal administrative commission chose a new site and sketched a plan for moving the municipal seat.
Place
Places mentioned · 12- São Vicente · Subject
Subject of the entry, a town created in 1744 and a municipality since 1835.
São Vicente is a town and municipality on Madeira's north coast. It was raised to a town (vila) by royal charter in 1744 to free the northern parishes from distant Machico, and was reorganised as a municipality in 1835. The entry also covers later boundary changes involving Porto Moniz and plans to move the municipal seat.
- Boaventura
São Vicente. Parish forming part of the municipality of São Vicente.
North-coast parish in the municipality of São Vicente, one of the three parishes forming its julgado and concelho. Its serras are a habitat of the pau branco, and it suffered damage in the floods of 1895. Off its coast lie the Boaventura islets, also called ilhéu Porco and ilhéu Vermelho.
- Calheta
Town created in the early 16th century.
Calheta is a town, parish and municipality on Madeira's south-west coast and one of the island's oldest settlements. The Elucidário covers its name, early settlers such as Pedro Berenguer, its church and many chapels, including one of a former Franciscan convent, and the 1834 riot.
- Funchal
Town created in the 15th century, whose captaincy some northern parishes wished to join.
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
Seat of the captaincy to which São Vicente originally belonged.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Ponta Delgada
São Vicente. Parish forming part of the municipality of São Vicente.
Ponta Delgada is a parish on Madeira's north coast, one of the three parishes of the concelho of São Vicente, with a headland and a small fishing harbour. Its feast of Senhor Jesus is a great pilgrimage of vows, and it was the seat of a capitania-mor. It recorded 409 cholera deaths in 1856.
- Ponta do Sol
Town created in the early 16th century.
South-coast parish and municipality, settled from about 1440 by Rodrigo Enes 'o Coxo'. Its parish church of Nossa Senhora da Luz holds a triptych. The Elucidário also records its quay of 1848, paid for by the council, and the royal visit of 1858.
- Porto Moniz
Municipality twice suppressed and merged into São Vicente, then restored.
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
Town created in the mid-15th century.
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 da Janela
Porto Moniz. Parish temporarily attached to São Vicente when Porto Moniz was suppressed.
Ribeira da Janela is a parish on Madeira's north-west coast in the municipality of Porto Moniz. It is named after the island's longest and most abundant stream, which rises on the Paul da Serra and feeds the Rabaçal levadas, and after a window-like islet near its mouth. Its uplands include Fanal, and its forests were damaged by fire in 1919.
- Santa Cruz
Town created in the early 16th century.
Santa Cruz is a parish and one of Madeira's oldest settlements, named after a cross Zarco had raised there at the discovery. The Elucidário covers its early ecclesiastical history, collegiate church, chapels, noble settlers and localities.
- Seixal
Porto Moniz. Parish temporarily attached to São Vicente when Porto Moniz was suppressed.
Parish on the north coast of Madeira, created in 1553 and part of the municipality of Porto Moniz; it was temporarily attached to São Vicente when Porto Moniz was suppressed. It has a quay and the Ponta do Buraco, and was damaged by the 1895 flood. The Elucidário records native plants growing there and names it as the birthplace of João de Azevedo.
People
People mentioned · 01- Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo1825–1898
Madeiran historian who, according to the Elucidário, made no mention of São Vicente's elevation to a town and was apparently unaware of the 1744 charter.