History
The Azores may have been known to the ancients and were included on a map in 1351. Portuguese sailors reached them in 1427 or 1431, but colonization did not begin until 1445 under Diogo de Sevilha or Gonçalo Velho Cabral (who may have been there in 1431). During the colonial period, the Azores were a stopover point for treasure fleets returning from the New World, and many ships were lost there due to hurricanes or pirates. The islands were used as a place of exile and were also the site of naval battles between the English and the Spanish. In the 19th cent. they were used by supporters of Maria II against Dom Miguel. In the 20th cent., there has been a large outmigration to the United States.
Postal History
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Madeira - Introduction
Madeira Islands , archipelago (1991 pop. 257,692), 308 sq mi (798 sq km), autonomous region of Portugal, in the Atlantic Ocean c.350 mi (560 km) off Morocco. Madeira, the largest island (35 mi/56 km long and 13 mi/21 km wide), and Porto Santo are inhabited. Two island groups, the Desertas and the Selvagens, are uninhabited. The chief town is Funchal on Madeira.
Economy
Mountain peaks, which descend steeply into deep, green valleys and advance to the sea as precipitous basalt cliffs, give the islands unusual scenic beauty. The delightful climate is marred only by the occasional leste, a hot Saharan wind. Madeira is a year-round resort. Sugarcane, Madeira wine, bananas, embroidery, and reed furniture are produced, and there is fishing. Remittances from residents who have emigrated are also important to the economy.
History
The islands were known to the Romans as the Purple Islands and were rediscovered (1418–20) by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vas Teixeira. Settlement took place rapidly under the orders of Prince Henry the Navigator. Madeira was temporarily occupied by the British in the early 19th century. Today it belongs to Portugal and it is a strategic touristic island too.
Postal History
Postal History of Madeira 1690-1800
The Island of Madeira is situated in the Atlantic Ocean some 400 miles (640km.) West of Morocco. It is about the size of the Isle of Man with a mountainous central area rising to over 6000 ft. (1850 metres).
When discovered by Zarco, a Portuguese explorer and navigator, in 1420, Porto Santo had been discovered a year earlier; it was covered by thick forests, hence the name 'Madeira', meaning wood in Portuguese.
The postal history of the Island, is very much tied up with the British merchants on the Island and their need for world wide communications.
Portugal had a private postal system, 'Correio Mor', that was responsible in Portugal and from 1657 with maritime posts, 'Correio-Mor da Mar', to Portuguese possessions with its agents in these countries, this included Madeira. Unfortunately there was an enormous popular resistance to these nominations, specially in Brazil causing conflict between city officials and the postal agents, so much so that it was almost impossible for this postal service to function. This also was probably the situation in Madeira as few, if any, letters with 'Correio-Mor da Mar' markings are known. Due to this impasse between 'Correio-Mor da Mar' agents and civic officials, further appointments were not made until the postal service was taken over by the Crown in 1798.
All mail, therefore, had to be carried privately. The effect of this can be seen in the way that packet mail to Lisbon had to be sent on to Madeira by forwarding agents, established in Lisbon, by using private ships.
The earliest mail that one tends to come across, is that of the Heysham/Bolton correspondence during the period about 1690 to 1710. Bolton was an English merchant in Madeira carrying on a general business of import/export in conjunction with his agent Heysham in London. Most of this mail which has survived, some 200 or more items, was from Madeira to London, which went privately by merchant ship to Lisbon and thence by the Falmouth Packet, or if handled by a forwarding agent there, privately. Alternatively, it was sent privately by any merchant ship going in the general direction of England.
Prior to 1764, packet mail via Lisbon had an extra charge in reis added, which was entered at the top right hand corner of the letter. The charge was to collect revenue to defray the cost of running the Falmouth Packet imposed by the British Post Office, amounting to 600 reis less 10% for every ounce of mail sent by these means. This was a bulk charge.
The West Indies Packet, that had begun in 1764, is known to have started calling at Madeira in 1769 with mail for the Island on its outward journey and this service continued until 1781, when the packets stopped calling on their voyage to the West Indies. There is a strong probability that the service to Madeira began earlier as a British Packet Agent, Mr. A Donaldson, was appointed on the Island in 1764 and also the W.I. Packet 'Sufolk' from Falmouth called at Madeira on the 16/17 February 1765 on its outward journey. There must have been some packet mail then for him to be appointed. Also there is a strong possibility that packets to North America, specially to South Carolina carried Madeira mail as many called at the Island on their outward journey. This is over and above the West Indies packets that called at Georgetown South Carolina on their return journeys to Falmouth.
In 1780 the Carolina boats and in 1781 the West Indies boats missed out Madeira on their outward journey, thus terminating the service. The reasons given by the British Post Office for this decision was, the lack of mail and the problem of smuggling. It is interesting to note that the packet agent often doubled as the British Consul on the Island.
From 1781 to 1798, there was no official postal service to the Island although there are some items of packet mail, that from the charges marked on the covers, appear to have been carried by the West Indies Packet. This question of whether some of the packets to the West Indies did call at Madeira needs to be resolved. The packet rate to Madeira was the same as to the West Indies, namely, 1/- single, 2/- double 3/- triple sheet and 4/- for one ounce. From 1781 all packet mail was sent by the Falmouth Packet to Lisbon, where it was either handled by the British Packet Agent there or by a forwarding agent. The Items handled by the British Packet agent had no Portuguese charge marks on the letters, so were not handled by them. These items have an extra charge in sterling marked on the front of the letters, which was an extra charge for conveying the mail to Madeira where the charge was recovered by the British packet agent in Madeira. These 'To Pay' marks are known to vary from 9d. to 2/6. They seem rather excessive and one suggestion as to this, is that the charges were made to defer some of the cost of running the Falmouth Packet to Lisbon similar to that of the 600 reis per ounce charge on mail handed to the Portuguese postal authorities.
Packet charges to Lisbon were, 1/6 for a single letter, increasing to 1/8 in 1797. The 'To Pay' marks appear to stop in 1799, one year after the Portuguese had set up a maritime postal service to the Island, called the 'Correio Maritimo'.
This 'Correio Maritimo' started in April/May 1798, after the 'Correio Mor' had been taken over by the Crown, and by June of that year a permanent postal agent had been appointed. The early covers were marked 'Corro Maritimo' and thus marked are very rare. This soon changed to various 'Lisboa' (Lisbon) marks, the earliest known to the writer being July 1798. The 'Lisboa' marks continued in use whilst the 'Correio Maritimo' was operating. By the end of October 1838, the 'Correio Maritimo' was then absorbed into the general postal services of Portugal.
The charges for this service were:-
upto 4 Oitavos 1/2 oz. 40 reis
upto 6 oitavos 3/4 oz. 60 reis
upto 1 oz. 80 reis
and so on.
20 reis was equivalent to 1d. in old currency. This rate was half the rate of mail going to Brazil.
Even though this maritime postal service had been set up, it still relied on merchant ships to carry the mail between Lisbon and Madeira.
M J Taylor.
Sources:-
Lloyd's Lists.
Public Record Office Kew.
Post Office Records, Freeling House, London.
Contribuicao para o Estudo da Historia Postal da Madeira, 1999 by Dr. Luis Frazao