Columbus Festival September 10, 2008

Vila Baleira devotes three days to the mariner Christopher Columbus, who lived several years of his life in Porto Santo. Columbus’s first contact with Madeira was in 1478, when Funchal was a centre for the sugar trade. However, his closest ties to the archipelago are the result of his marriage to Filipa Moniz, daughter of the first donee of Porto Santo.

Columbus lived in the archipelago in the last quarter of the 15th century and his first child, Diogo, was born in Porto Santo. This festival harks back to the discoverer’s life in the Madeira Archipelago, his voyages to the Americas and the height of the Ages of Discoveries.

The event includes a number of initiatives alluding to life on the island at the time, with lots of music, street shows and exhibitions. The high point of this event is the re-enactment of the arrival of Columbus and his party at the city’s quay.