Madeira’s Tourism in the 19th Century

Abstract

Tourism in Madeira has been a common subject of recent studies, which analyse the current tourist phenomenon, especially throughout the 20^th century. About what took place prior to that, only a few annotations remain. We can guarantee, and are not the only ones to state, that the history of Madeira’s tourism is still in the making.
Being the island of Madeira a tourist destination par excellence, it is required to know its background, the start of tourism on the Island, from an historical but also practical perspective.
These days information is an indispensable tool, knowledge over this study’s subject is a must, for all those who might be interested in areas such as History, Culture, Tourism and, of course, Madeira.
The main objective of the present study was to uncover the background in which Madeira’s tourism originated, emphasizing particularly on the 19^th century, through the identification of 1800’s Madeira’s Tourist Supply and Demand. We do not seek to present the history of tourism on the Island, instead we intend to contribute for a better understanding of Madeira’s tourist phenomenon in a relatively recent past.
In the pursuit of such objectives we called upon several sources, mainly articles and other types of literature, previously published, about the beginning of tourism on the Island. English travel literature, allusive to Madeira, provided the most valuable data.
With the obtained results, we intend to answer the following questions, relative to the 19^th century: (i) What was the tourist demand; (ii) Were there travelers, visitors or tourists, that came through here; (iii) Which were the factors of attractiveness; (iv) Which were the different forms in which tourism presented itself.
Given the almost absolute absence of studies in this area, we deemed relevant to elaborate this article, and hope that it becomes useful for all those who, up to this point, have felt that need for information.

Keywords

Culture; Tourism; Madeira.