Place peak/mountain Porto Santo
Pico do Castelo
Porto Santo
Peak in the parish and municipality of Porto Santo, island of Porto Santo
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.
1Mentioned in
· 9
- Porto Santo (parish) — Refuge of the islanders during pirate raids.
- Castilian rule — Porto Santo fort built in the Spanish period.
- Levadas — Peak whose slopes' runoff the channel captures.
- Pico (fortress) — The peak on which the fortress stood.
- Peaks — Porto Santo peak listed at 441 metres.
- Porto Santo (raids on the island) — Steep peak used as the inhabitants' refuge, fortified in the early 18th century.
- Porto Santo (waters of) — The peak whose slopes shed the storm runoff that the channel was designed to capture.
- Porto Santo (orography) — Peak on Porto Santo given as 440 m high, described in volume I.
- Porto Santo (island) — Site of recent afforestation and of trachyte outcrops.
2Chronology
-
Gaspar Frutuoso described the Pico do Castelo on Porto Santo as naturally defensible.
-
North African corsairs sacked Porto Santo, killing or carrying off most of the population, burning the parish church and destroying the council and parish archives; the raid prompted fortification of Pico do Castelo.