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History and Migration | The West Indies | People and Culture
165th Anniversary of the Madeiran Portuguese in Trinidad & Tobago
Antigua & Barbuda | Barbados | Cura�ao | Guyana | Jamaica | St. Kitts-Nevis | St. Vincent & the Grenadines | Trinidad & Tobago
MADEIRA - ISLANDS OF ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES

by Dr Alberto Vieira

Director of the Centro de Estudos de Hist�ria do Atl�ntico
(Centre for Studies of the History of the Atlantic)

An island is a space open to the world, a harbour for regular arrivals and departures. Within and outside of Madeira, historical events and movements determined the many waves and cycles of the movement of Madeirans.  These movements also determined the nature of the island's attraction to other peoples.

European expansion opened the doors to settlers, the enslaved, merchants and adventurers. The archipelago of Madeira in the Atlantic became attractive to new immigrants, and played a role in providing new avenues for immigration for scholars, tourists, political refugees, and deportees. 

Internal conditions, such as a lack of space, along with news and offers of paradise and wealth, set in motion a centripetal force that sent out our islanders almost all over the world.  The first ports of call were Portuguese settlements in the Atlantic and in the Indian Ocean, followed by areas colonised by other empires, whether on  continents or on islands.

The phenomenon of Madeiran migration can be defined in two main waves.  First of all, Madeirans were involved in the (re)discovery, conquest and occupation of Atlantic and Indian Ocean spaces. Afterwards, the conditions offered in those spaces, along with the difficulties of life in the island, were reasons for the migration of many Madeirans.

Nineteenth century emigration exhibits different characteristics.  Before that time emigration was based largely on external demands, along with a spirit of adventure linked to economic and political issues. The movement of peoples was an initiative of the Crown and of private ventures.  The objective was the occupation of uninhabited spaces, as a means of consolidating Portuguese sovereignty.

From the nineteenth century, migratory movements began to be dominated by domestic issues, unique to Madeira itself.  The land, which itself had received immigrants four hundred years before, now found itself as stepmother, incapable of meeting vital needs. For this reason, Madeirans were driven to the Americas, hoping to find improved living conditions.  

Emigration has been a constant feature of Madeiran society.  In the second half of the nineteenth century, emigration was fuelled by incessant market demands for labourers and also by difficult living conditions locally brought about by the economic crisis, or by the oppressive form of land ownership, through a system known as the contrato de colonia.  Emigration was therefore considered the only escape from hunger and from this bondage.

In the nineteenth century, conditions did not favour the Madeiran.  The crisis of trade and of wine production (the basis of the economy) caused famines.  The most well-known of these famines happened in 1847, during which time Jos� Silvestre Ribeiro was Prefect.

On the other side of the Atlantic, it was a time of economic euphoria, with mining and agro-industrial crops, which could not survive after the abolition of slavery.  In this context, the Madeiran islander, dispossessed of land inheritance and burdened by the demands of the economy, abandoned his own home. The emigrant went to these destinations, enticed by the offers of recruiters in service of the British, who were seeking to replace former slave labour. For this reason, many politicians of the era considered this form of labour recruitment as a new form of slavery, or as "white slavery".

In the years 1844 to 1846, religious proselytism, led by Robert Reid Kalley, ultimately forced out many of those Madeirans who had decided to join this Protestant movement, when the State decided to persecute them.  

The second phase of the diaspora, more important than the first, reached its peak in 1847. This was a result of the economic crisis, aggravated by the state of viticulture. The diseases that attacked vine cultivation (oidium in 1852 and phylloxera in 1872) dashed the only economic hope of Madeirans, forcing them to flee to the Hawai'ian islands. From this time, the destinations of Madeirans begin to diversify, and are directly linked with changes in the markets and labour demands.

The American continent was the principal destination for Madeirans in the nineteenth century, receiving 98% of Madeiran migrants. The three main destinations were the then British West Indies, North America and Brazil. The British West Indies was the main market to receive Madeiran labour, with 86% of legal migrants scattered across St. Kitts, Suriname, Trinidad, Jamaica and Demerara, areas known to the Madeiran and linked to Madeira through the wine trade. In the period from 1853 to 1881, more than 40,000 Madeirans migrated to the West Indies.

(Translated by J.S. Ferreira)

Madeira - Ilha de Chegadas e Partidas

(Original Version in Portuguese - Vers�o original em portugu�s)

A ilha � um espa�o aberto ao mundo, um cais de permanentes chegadas e partidas. Os ritmos hist�ricos internos e do entorno definiram diversas formas e ciclos da mobilidade dos madeirenses e a atrac��o da ilha para outras gentes.

A expans�o europeia abriu as portas aos colonos povoadores, os escravos, os mercadores, aventureiros. O protagonismo do arquip�lago no espa�o atl�ntico definiu outra forma de atrac��o e novas vias de imigra��o com os cientistas, turistas, foragidos e perseguidos pela pol�tica, deportados.

As condi��es internas do espa�o juntas com noticias e propostas aliciadoras de outros para�sos e riqueza definiram uma movimento centr�peto que projectou a ilha em quase todo o mundo. Primeiro �s �reas de fixa��o lus�ada no Atl�ntico e Indico. Tamb�m os demais espa�os de outros imp�rios, seja em continentes ou em ilhas.

O fen�meno da emigra��o madeirense pode ser definido em dois momentos distintos. Primeiro tivemos a interven��o dos madeirenses no processo de descobrimento, conquista e ocupa��o de espa�os no atl�ntico e indico. Depois foram as condi��es propiciadas por todos estes espa�os, associadas as dificuldades da vida na ilha, a motivar a sa�da de muitos madeirenses.

A emigra��o do s�culo dezanove assume caracter�sticas diferentes das situa��es. At� ent�o est�vamos perante uma sa�da de acordo com as solicita��es externas, em que se aliava o desejo de aventura aos interesses econ�micos e pol�ticos. O movimento de gentes era da iniciativa da coroa ou particular e tinha por objectivo a ocupa��o dos espa�os n�o habitados como forma de consolida��o da soberania.

A partir do s�culo XIX os movimentos migrat�rios passaram a estar dominados por factores internos da pr�pria ilha. A terra, que os recebera h� quatrocentos anos apresentava-se agora madrasta e incapaz de satisfazer as suas necessidades vitais e, por isso mesmo, impelia-os para fora rumo �s terras americanas na esperan�a de uma mudan�a das condi��es de vida.

A emigra��o foi uma constante da sociedade madeirense, na segunda metade do s�culo XIX sendo alimentada pelas inces�santes solicita��es do mercado internacional da m�o-de-obra como pelas dif�ceis condi��es de vida dos madeirenses provocadas pela crise econ�mica, ou pela forma opressiva como se definiu o sistema de propriedade da terra, atrav�s do contrato de colonia. A emigra��o era assim considerada a �nica fuga poss�vel � fome como a esta servid�o.

No s�culo XIX as condi��es n�o foram favor�veis ao madeirense. A crise do com�rcio e produ��o do vinho pautou a conjuntura econ�mica, provocando crises de fome. Destas ficou conhecida a de 1847, quando era governador civil Jos� Silvestre Ribeiro.

Do outro lado do Atl�ntico est�vamos perante um momento de euforia econ�mica, com a minera��o ou safra agro-industrial, que n�o se compadecia com as medidas de aboli��o da escravatura. Perante isto o ilh�u, desapossado da terra pelo regime sucess�rio e de mando econ�mico, abandonou o pr�prio meio e saiu rumo a estes destinos, aliciado pelas propostas dos engajadores ao servi�o dos ingleses que os procuravam para substituir a m�o-de-obra escrava. Por esta raz�o, muitos pol�ticos da �poca consideravam esta forma de recrutamento de m�o-de-obra como uma nova escravid�o, ou seja, uma �escravatura branca�.

Nos anos de 1844-46, o proselitismo religioso, protagonizado por R. Kalley, veio a for�ar a sa�da de muitos madeirenses que haviam aderido ao protestantismo, quando o Estado decidiu persegui-los. A segunda fase da di�spora, mais importante que a primeira, atingiu o apogeu a partir de 1847, sendo resultado da crise econ�mica, agravada depois pela situa��o da viticultura. As doen�as que atacaram a cultura da vinha (o o�dio em 1852 e a filoxera em 1872) deitaram por terra a �nica esperan�a econ�mica dos madeirenses, obrigando-os a sair rumo �s ilhas de Havai.

A partir de agora os destinos da emigra��o madeirense diversificam-se e articulam-se de forma directa com as altera��es da conjuntura do mercado de m�o-de-obra.

O continente americano foi o principal porto de destino da emigra��o madeirense no s�culo XIX, recebendo 98% dos emigrantes sa�dos da Madeira. S�o tr�s as principais �reas de destino: Antilhas inglesas, Am�rica do Norte e Brasil.

As Antilhas inglesas foram o principal mercado receptor da m�o-de-obra madeirense com 86% dos sa�dos legalmente, que se distribu�ram de forma irregular por St. Kitts, Suriname, Trinidad, Jamaica e Demerara, �reas conhecidas do madeirense e ligadas � ilha atrav�s do com�rcio do vinho. No per�odo de 1853 a 1881 entraram nas Antilhas inglesas mais de quarenta mil madeirenses.

� Alberto Vieira

9 May 2011