Funchal

Settlement began between 1420 and 1425, when the explorer João Gonçalves Zarco, who held the captaincy of Funchal, settled with members of his family in a forested valley rising from the sea. The first settlers named the place after the wild fennel, funcho, that grew there in abundance. Its coastal position, the most productive on the island, made it the leading settlement from the start: it became a vila and municipal seat in the 1450s, a city in 1508 under King Manuel I, and in 1514, on the completion of its cathedral, the seat of a bishop. In the second half of the 15th century the sugar industry along the south coast made Funchal its industrial centre, and Genoese and Flemish traders were drawn to the island.

In 1566 French corsairs landed near the city and sacked it for fifteen days, after which little remained; a military architect was sent the next year to rebuild its defences, and the Fort of São Tiago followed in 1614. As sugar declined, wine took its place. From the 17th century commercial treaties brought English wine merchants to Funchal, and their trade with North America, the West Indies and England reshaped the city's economy, its houses — some with a tower for watching the harbour — and its way of life.

Later the gentle climate drew visitors hoping it would benefit their health, and Funchal became a centre of tourism and therapeutic health; the exiled Austrian emperor Charles I died on the island and is buried at Monte, and Winston Churchill came on holiday and painted. The port and the airport turned the city into an international tourist destination. In February 2010 floods and mudslides struck the city, closing the Lido pools for more than five years.

Football divides the city. Marítimo, founded in 1910, and Nacional contest the Madeira derby; a third club, União, also played in it until it was dissolved in 2021. Cristiano Ronaldo was born in Funchal, and the city has a museum of his trophies and a statue outside it, while the island's airport carries his name.

The calendar is full of festivals. Carnival brings parades before Lent; the Festa da Flor, which grew from a rose festival held in 1954, fills the streets in spring with flower carpets and a parade of dancers dressed as flowers; and Christmas begins in earnest on the night of 23 December, the Noite do Mercado, when people crowd the market and the surrounding streets to sing, dance and drink until morning. New Year's Eve draws visitors from abroad for the fireworks over the bay.

The English presence has left a mark on the city's religious life: Anglican services have been held at Holy Trinity Church since 1822, and the church looks after the British Cemetery. A synagogue was built in 1836 but is no longer used. Since 2011 a street-art project has painted the doors of houses and abandoned shops along Rua de Santa Maria in the old town, turning the street into an open-air gallery.

The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. At the 2011 census Santo António, a parish reaching into the mountainous interior, was the most populous with 27,383 people; São Martinho in the west, which includes the hotel zone of the Lido, had 26,482; and Sé, the historic centre around the cathedral, had 2,656.

Tourism is the main business. Funchal is the leading Portuguese port for cruise ship calls, and since 2007 its port has handled only passengers, ferries and leisure boats; in 2017 the last fishing boats and cargo trade moved to a new port at Caniçal, 19 kilometres east. The city is also the seat of the regional government and the diocese, and the airport handled more than five million passengers in 2024.

Daily life is shaped by the slopes. Homes climb from the seafront to around 800 metres, and the higher suburbs are often in cloud while the bay is in sunshine. Buses wind up and down the hillsides, people shop at the market and in the centre, and evenings fill the cafés of the old town and the seafront.

Espetada is the island's best-known dish: cubes of beef seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and bay leaf, threaded on bay laurel skewers and grilled, a Madeiran speciality with its origins around Câmara de Lobos, just west of the city. It comes with bolo do caco, a round flatbread traditionally cooked on a caco, a flat basalt slab, and often with milho frito, fried cornmeal cut into cubes, similar to a very firm polenta. From the sea comes espada com banana: fillets of black scabbardfish fried in batter or breadcrumbs and served with fried banana. Fresh tuna is also widely eaten on the island.

Bolo de mel, the traditional cake of Madeira, is the 'honey cake', traditionally made with molasses, and by custom it is not cut but torn into pieces by hand. The island's drink is poncha, made with aguardente de cana — a spirit distilled from sugar-cane juice — and honey, sugar and orange or lemon juice, with other fruit juices in some versions.

Madeira wine is the city's oldest export. Its younger blends are aged with the help of artificial heat; the older ones mature in casks warmed only by the natural heat of the warehouses, and can last for decades even after opening. The four main grapes, from sweetest to driest, are Malvasia, Bual, Verdelho and Sercial. The Mercado dos Lavradores, opened in 1940, sells the island's fruit, vegetables, flowers and fish.