| Description : Madeira was probably already discovered by Phoenicians around
600 BC. In contrast to the Canary Islands, which were predominantly settled from ancient Mauritania from the
3rd century BC, the Madeira archipelago remained uninhabited. After almost a thousand years of isolation, the
Canaries were rediscovered in the 14th century and the Castilian manuscript Libro del Conosçimiento (Book of
Knowledge), written around 1385, also describes Madeira ("Leiname") ‐ however, in Portugal 1418 or 1419 are considered
the year of discovery, when João Gonçalves Zarco landed on the island of Porto Santo and Madeira. From 1420,
Madeira was settled by the Portuguese at the instigation of Henry the Navigator. The Sebaldines ("Wild Islands"), also part
of Macaronesia, first documented in 1375, are considered to have been discovered by Diogo Gomes in 1438 and are now part of
the Autonomous Region of Madeira. However, the group of islands lying 280 km south of Madeira is positioned out of
scale on the coin (above "...ug...19"). The cartographic lines on the coin design symbolising the principle of a contemporary
nautical portolan or "wind ray map" (radiating both from the centre of the map and from 16 points evenly distributed on a
circular line, the "wind roses") were used to determine a course by compass. The circular inscription reads "600 anos do
Descobrimento da Madeira e do Porto Santo" (600 years of the discovery of Madeira and Porto Santo) and "Portugal 2019". At
the top is "INCM" the mint mark of the Portuguese mint Imprensa Nacional‐ Casa da Moeda S.A. in Lisbon and
on the right ‐ in irregular, handwriting‐like characters ‐ the signet "POMAR" of the coin designer
Júlio Pomar. |
