Thursday, 21 June 2018

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal. The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is located on the main island's south coast. Since 1976, the archipelago has been one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (the other being the Azores, located to the northwest). It includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, administered together with the separate archipelago of the Savage Islands. The region has political and administrative autonomy. Today, it is a popular year-round resort, being visited every year by about 1,4 million tourists, almost five times its population. The region is noted for its Madeira wine, gastronomy, historical and cultural value, flora and fauna, landscapes (Laurel forest) which are classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and embroidery artisans. The most famous Madeiran is football player Cristiano Ronaldo.

On 1 January 1868, Portugal issued postage stamps for the islands of Madeira, consisting of the current stamps of Portugal overprinted "MADEIRA". Subsequent stamps were also overprinted, through 1881. The first stamps inscribed for Madeira were part of the Vasco da Gama Issue of 1898. Subsequently Madeira used stamps of Portugal, with two exceptions; the first was the Pombal Issue of postal tax stamps in 1925, and a variant on the Ceres design, issued 1 May 1928. The 21 values of Ceres stamps were obligatory on all mail for eight days in 1928 and 1929. The funds raised went to help build a museum. The Ceres stamps were the last to be produced for Madeira until 1980, when Portugal began issuing stamps inscribed "Portugal Madeira" that were valid in both Madeira and continental Portugal, similar to those issued for the Azores.

I sent a blank envelope to the Funchal main post office with an International Reply Coupon. After 33 days it came back with a stamp from the series Festa da Flor from 2015.

Stamps from Madeira can bought through the website of CTT, the Portuguese postal company: ctt.pt.

Date sent: 17 April 2017
Date postmark: 17 May 2017
Date received: 20 May 2017
Number of days: 33
Envelope in collection: 87



No comments:

Post a Comment