Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies in the North Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union. The archipelago includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, administered together with the separate archipelago of the Savage Islands.

Madeira was re-discovered by Portuguese sailors in 1419, and settled after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Portuguese Age of Discovery.

Today, it is a popular year-round resort, being visited every year by about one million tourists, noted for its Madeira wine, flowers, landscapes and embroidery artisans, as well as for its annual New Year celebrations that feature the largest fireworks show in the world, as officially recognized by the Guinness World Records, in 2006. Madeira is currently the second richest region in Portugal, after Lisbon, with a GDP per capita of 103% of the European average.