Giraldes (Joaquim Pedro Cardoso Casado)

During the time of the French invasions, the army officer Casado Giraldes was sentenced to deportation to this island on suspicion of having provided information to Napoleon's troops when they invaded our country. Once the falseness of the accusation was proven, Geraldes continued to reside in Madeira and held the important position of general secretary of the government here. He was a patient investigator of Madeiran affairs, and it is affirmed that many documents were found in his estate that were of great interest to the history of this archipelago. In the first quarter of the 19th century, he published in Paris the Historical-Geographical Statistics of the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo, of which an edition in the French language was also published in the same city (See Authorities of the Archipelago). He wrote several works, including a four-volume geography compendium, which was very popular in his time. He died in the city of Genoa, where he was the consul of Portugal, on September 3, 1845.