Madeira, officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira, is one of two autonomous regions of Portugal, the other being the Azores. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in a region known as Macaronesia, just under 400 kilometres (250 mi) to the north of the Canary Islands and 520 kilometres (320 mi) west of the Kingdom of Morocco. Madeira is geologically located on the African Tectonic Plate, although it is culturally, politically and ethnically associated with Europe, with its population predominantly descended from original Portuguese settlers. Its population was 251,060 in 2021. The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is located on the main island's south coast.
Funchal is the capital, largest city and the municipal seat of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal's main tourist attractions; it is also popular as a destination for New Year's Eve, and it is the leading Portuguese port on cruise liner dockings.
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr and the Portugal national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has won five Ballon d'Or awards, a record three UEFA Men's Player of the Year Awards, and four European Golden Shoes, the most by a European player. He has won 33 trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champions Leagues, the UEFA European Championship and the UEFA Nations League. Ronaldo holds the records for most appearances (183), goals (140) and assists (42) in the Champions League, goals in the European Championship (14), international goals (128) and international appearances (205). He is one of the few players to have made over 1,200 professional career appearances, the most by an outfield player, and has scored over 850 official senior career goals for club and country, making him the top goalscorer of all time.
Madeira Airport, informally Funchal Airport, formerly Santa Catarina Airport and officially Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport, is an international airport in the civil parish of Santa Cruz in the Portuguese archipelago and autonomous region of Madeira. The airport is located 13.2 km (8.2 mi) east-northeast of the regional capital, Funchal, after which it is sometimes informally named. It mostly hosts flights to European metropolitan destinations due to Madeira's importance as a leisure destination, and is pivotal in the movement of cargo in and out of the archipelago of Madeira. It is the fourth-busiest airport in Portugal. The airport is named after Madeiran native Cristiano Ronaldo, considered one of the greatest footballers of all time. During its renaming ceremony in 2017, the airport drew media notoriety for an infamous bust of Ronaldo unveiled at the ceremony, now replaced.
Pestana Group is a Portuguese tourism and leisure group. Its hotel chain Pestana Hotels and Resorts has 100 hotels with over 12,000 rooms. The group manages Pousadas de Portugal since 2003.
Estádio da Madeira, formerly named Estadio Eng. Rui Alves and informally known as Estádio da Choupana is a football stadium in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. It is primarily used as the home stadium for C.D. Nacional.
Clube de Futebol Andorinha de Santo António is a Portuguese football club based in Santo António, Funchal, on the island of Madeira. The name andorinha came about following a shot by a team player that followed the trajectory of one of these birds.
The 2009 Mediterranean wildfires were a series of wildfires that broke out across France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey in July 2009. Strong winds spread the fire during a hot, dry period of weather killing at least eight people, six of whom were in Spain. Some of the wildfires were caused by lightning, along with arson and military training.
On the island of Madeira, a large number of different sports are practiced, both outdoor and indoor the various facilities available throughout the island.
Events in the year 2017 in Portugal.
The Museu CR7 is a museum that is dedicated to Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's trophies. It is located in Ronaldo's birthplace, the city of Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
A series of four initial deadly wildfires erupted across central Portugal in the afternoon of 17 June 2017 within minutes of each other, resulting in at least 66 deaths and 204 injured people.
Emanuel Jorge da Silva Santos is an artist from Madeira, Portugal. In 2017 he became famous for a sculpture of Madeiran native footballer Cristiano Ronaldo which was widely derided in media articles. The English newspaper The Guardian commented Suddenly, this sculptor was the most famous artist in the world.
A series of wildfires in Greece, during the 2018 European heat wave, began in the coastal areas of Attica in July 2018. 104 people were confirmed dead from the Mati fires. The fires were, at that time, the second-deadliest wildfire event in the 21st century, after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia that killed 173.
The 2021 Greece wildfires were multiple wildfires in Greece in August 2021, which killed 3 people, injured at least 20 others and burned dozens of homes, after a historic heatwave for the country, with the highest temperatures reaching 47.1 °C (116.8 °F). Authorities evacuated several villages and towns. According to BBC News, Greece experienced the worst heatwave since 1987. These fires were the worst fires in Greece since the 2007 Greek forest fires which burnt more than double the area of the 2021 fires.
Events in the year 2022 in Portugal.
Multiple wildfires broke out across Italy in the summer of 2021. The first wildfires were reported in Sardinia on 24 July, which would go on to become one of the worst affected regions along with Calabria, where five people died, and Sicily, which recorded one further fatality. Wildfires in Lazio on 17 August damaged the estate of the presidential summer residence.
