| Native name: Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha | |
|---|---|
Sancho Bay and Dois Irmãos Island |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Atlantic Ocean |
| Archipelago | Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha |
| Total islands | 21 |
| Major islands | Fernando de Noronha; Ilha Rata; Ilha do Meio; Ilha Sela Gineta; Ilha Rasa |
| Area | 26 km2 (10 sq mi) |
| Length | 10 km (6 mi) (Fernando de Noronha Island) |
| Width | 3.5 km (2.17 mi) (Fernando de Noronha Island) |
| Highest elevation | 323 m (1,060 ft) |
| Highest point | Morro do Pico |
| Country | |
| Region | Northeast |
| State | Pernambuco |
| Largest city | Vila dos Remedios |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 3,012 (as of 2010) |
| Additional information | |
| Official website | www.Noronha.pe.gov.br |
| Official name: Brazilian Atlantic Islands: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves | |
| Type: | Natural |
| Criteria: | vii, ix, x |
| Designated: | 2001 (25th session) |
| Reference #: | 1000 |
| State Party: | Brazil |
| Region: | Latin America and the Caribbean |
Fernando de Noronha (Portuguese pronunciation: [feʁˈnɐ̃du dʒi noˈɾõɲɐ]) is an archipelago of 21 islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, 354 km (220 mi) offshore from the Brazilian coast. The main island has an area of 18.4 square kilometres (7.1 sq mi) and had a population of 3,012 in the year 2010.[1] The area is a special municipality (distrito estadual) of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco (despite being closer to the state of Rio Grande do Norte)[2] and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its timezone is UTC-02:00. The local population and travellers can get to Noronha by plane or cruise from Recife[3] (545 km) or by plane from Natal (360 km). A small environmental preservation fee is charged from tourists upon arrival by Ibama (Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources).
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The climate is tropical, with two well-defined seasons. The rainy season lasts from March to September, the rest of the year sees little rain.[4]
The islands of this archipelago are the visible parts of a range of submerged mountains. Consisting of 21 islands, islets and rocks of volcanic origin, the main island has an area of 18 km² (7.1 miles²), being 10 km (6.2 mi) long and 3.5 kilometres (2.170 mi) wide at its maximum. The base of this enormous volcanic formation is 756 m below the surface. The main island, from which the group gets its name, makes up 91% of the total area; the islands of Rata, Sela Gineta, Cabeluda and São Jose, together with the islets of Leão and Viúva make up the rest. The central upland of the main island is called the Quixaba.[5]
The island was covered in forest until the 19th century, when it was cleared to prevent prisoners on the island from building rafts. The islands are now predominantly covered by shrubs, with some areas of recently planted secondary forest. Many of the plants on the island today were introduced by people.
The United Nations Environment Programme lists 15 possible endemic plant species, including species of the genera Capparis, (2 species) Ceratosanthes (3 species), Cayaponias (2 species), Moriordica, Cereus, Palicourea, Guettarda, Bumelia, Physalis, and Ficus noronhae.[6] Combretum rupicola is also a likely endemic.
The islands have two endemic birds — the Noronha Elaenia (Elaenia ridleyana) and the Noronha Vireo (Vireo gracilirostris). Both are present on the main island; Noronha Vireo is also present on Ilha Rata. In addition there is an endemic race of Eared Dove Zenaida auriculata noronha. An endemic sigmodontine rodent, Noronhomys vespuccii, mentioned by Amerigo Vespucci, is now extinct.[7] The islands have two endemic reptiles, Amphisbaena ridleyi and Trachylepis atlantica.[8]
The life above and below sea is the main attraction of the island. Sea tortoises, dolphins, albatrosses and many other species are frequently observed.
Many controversies mark the discovery of the archipelago by Europeans. At least three names - São Lourenço, São João, and Quaresma - have been associated with the island around the time of its discovery.
Based on the written record, Fernando de Noronha island was discovered on August 10, 1503, by a Portuguese expedition, organized and financed by a private commercial consortium headed by the Lisbon merchant Fernão de Loronha. The expedition was under the overall command of captain Gonçalo Coelho and carried the Italian adventurer Amerigo Vespucci aboard, who wrote an account of it.[9] The flagship of the expedition hit a reef and foundered near the island, and the crew and contents had to be salvaged. On Coelho's orders, Vespucci anchored at the island, and spent a week there, while the rest of the Coelho fleet went on south. In his letter to Soderini, Vespucci describes the uninhabited island and reports its name as the "island of St. Lawrence" (August 10 is the feast day of St. Lawrence; it was a custom of Portuguese explorations to name locations by the liturgical calendar).
Its existence was reported back to Lisbon sometime between then and January 16, 1504, when King Manuel I of Portugal issued a charter granting the "island of St. John" (São João) as a hereditary captaincy to Fernão de Loronha.[10] The date and new name in the charter has presented historians with a puzzle. As Vespucci did not return to Lisbon until September, 1504, the discovery must have been earlier. Historians have hypothesized that a stray ship of the Coelho fleet, under an unknown captain, may have returned to the island (prob. on August 29, 1503, feast day of the beheading of St. John the Baptist) to collect Vespucci, did not find him or anyone else there, and went back to Lisbon by himself with the news.[11] (Vespucci in his letter, claims he left the island August 18, 1503 and upon his arrival in Lisbon a year later, on September 7, 1504, the people of Lisbon were surprised, as they "had been told" (presumably by the earlier captain?) that his ship had been lost.)[12] The captain who returned to Lisbon with the news (and the St. John name) is unknown. (some have speculated this captain was Loronha himself, the chief financier of this expedition, but that is highly unlikely.)
This account, reconstructed from the written record, is severely marred by the cartographic record. An island, named Quaresma, looking very much like Fernando de Noronha island, appears in the Cantino planisphere. The Cantino map was composed by an anonymous Portuguese cartographer, and completed before November 1502, well before the Coelho expedition even set out. This has led to speculation that the island was discovered by a previous expedition. However there is no consensus on which expedition that might have been. The name, "Quaresma" means Lent, suggesting it must have been discovered in March or early April, which does not correspond well with the known expeditions. There is also a mysterious red island to the left of Quaresma in the Cantino map that does not fit with Fernando de Noronha island. Some have explained these anomalies away by reading quaresma as anaresma (meaning unknown, but sidesteps the Lent timing),[13] and proposing that the red island is just an accidental inkblot.[14]
Assuming Quaresma is indeed Fernando de Noronha, then who discovered it? One proposal is that it was discovered by a royal Portuguese mapping expedition that was sent out in May, 1501, commanded by an unknown captain (possibly André Gonçalves) and also accompanied by Amerigo vespucci.[15] According to Vespucci, this expedition returned to Lisbon in September 1502, just on time to influence the final composition of the Cantino map. Unfortunately, Vespucci does not report discovering this island then - indeed he is quite clear that the first time he (and his fellow sailors) saw the island was on the 1503 Coelho expedition. However, there is a letter written by an Italian saying that a ship arrived "from the land of Parrots" in Lisbon on July 22, 1502 (three months before Vespucci).[16] This could be a stray ship from the mapping expedition that returned prematurely, or another expedition altogether, about which we have no information.[17] The timing of its reputed arrival (July, 1502), makes it possible that it stumbled on the island sometime in March 1502, on the homeward voyage, well within Lent.
A third possible (but unlikely) theory is that the island was discovered already in 1500, shortly after the discovery of Brazil by the Second India Armada under Pedro Alvares Cabral. After his brief landfall at Porto Seguro, Cabral dispatched a supply ship under either Gaspar de Lemos or André Gonçalves (sources conflict) back to Lisbon, to report the discovery. This returning supply ship would have returned north along the Brazilian coast and might have come across Fernando de Noronha island, and reported its existence in Lisbon by July, 1500.[18] However, this contradicts the Quaresma name, since the returning supply ship was sailing well after Lent.
A fourth (but also unlikely) possibility is that it was discovered by the Third India Armada of João da Nova, which set out from Lisbon in March or April 1501, and arrived back on September 1502, also in time to influence the Cantino map. Chronicler Gaspar Correia asserts that on the outward voyage, the Third Armada made a stop on the Brazilian coast around Cape Santo Agostinho.[19]. Two other chroniclers (João de Barros and Damião de Góis) do not mention a landfall, but do report they discovered an island (which they believe to be identified as Ascension island, but this is not certain).[20] So it is possible that the Third Armada may indeed have discovered Fernando de Noronha island on their outward leg. However, the timing is very tight: Easter landed on April 11, 1501, while the estimated departure date of the Third Armada from Lisbon ranges from March 5 to April 15, not leaving enough time to reach those environs within Lent.
As a result of these anomalies, some modern historians have proposed that Fernando de Noronha is not depicted on the 1502 Cantino map at all. Instead, they have proposed that Quaresma island and the accompanying red "inkblot" are in fact the Rocas Atoll, slightly misplaced on the map. This reserves the discovery of Fernando de Noronha island itself as indeed on August 10, 1503, by the Gonçalo Coelho expedition, as originally reported by Vespucci.[21]
The transition of the name from "São João" to "Fernando de Noronha" was probably just natural usage. A royal letter dated May 20, 1559, to descendants of the Loronha family, still refers to the island by its official name of ilha de São João.[22], but already in other places, e.g. the logbook of Martim Afonso de Sousa in the 1530s, it was referred to as the "island of Fernão de Noronha" ("Noronha" being a common mis-spelling of "Loronha"). The informal name eventually displaced the official name.
The Lisbon merchant Fernão de Loronha held not only Fernando de Noronha island as a hereditary captaincy but also (from 1503 to around 1512) a commercial monopoly on trade in Brazil. Between 1503 and 1512, Loronha's agents set up a string of warehouses (feitorias) along the Brazilian coast, and engaged in trade with the indigenous peoples in Brazil for brazilwood, a native red dye wood highly valued by European clothmakers. Fernando de Noronha island was the central collection point of this network. Brazilwood, continuously harvested by the coastal indians and delivered to the various coastal warehouses, was shipped to the central warehouse on Fernando de Noronha island, which was intermittently visited by a larger transport ship that would carry the collected loads back to Europe. After the expiration of Loronha's commercial charter in 1512, the organization of the brazilwood enterprise was taken over by the Portuguese crown, but Loronha and his descendents retained private ownership of Fernando de Noronha island itself as a hereditary captaincy, at least down to the 1560s.
In 1534, Fernando de Noronha island was invaded by the English, and from 1556 until 1612, it was held by the French. In 1628, it was occupied by the Dutch, who were displaced two years later by a Spanish-Portuguese military expedition led by Rui Calaza Borges. The Dutch built a fort on the site of the present ruins of the Forte de Remedios. The Dutch occupied the island once again in 1635, making it a hospital for their troops who occupied northeastern Brazil (the Brazilian coast between Rio São Francisco and Maranhão). The island became known as Pavonia, in honor of Michiel de Pauw, one of the directors of the Dutch West Indies Company. It would remain under Dutch control for nearly twenty years, when it was reconquered by Portugal. In 1654, the last fort of the Dutch surrendered to the Portuguese, marking the end of the Dutch era in north-east Brazil.
Finding it uninhabited and completely abandoned in 1736, the French East Indies Company took the island and renamed it Isle Dauphine.
Only from 1737 on, after the expulsion of the French, was Fernando de Noronha definitively occupied by Portugal. This time it was decided to fortify the island. For this purpose, ten forts were built in all strategic points where a possibility of disembarkation existed; nine in the main island and one in the Ilha de São José situated in front of the Saint Anthony harbor. The forts were connected by a network of stone roads. This defense system was planned by the Portuguese military engineer Diogo da Silveira Veloso. Around 1770, the first permanent settlement, Vila dos Remédios, was founded. The village was divided in two units (pátios); in the superior one were the administrative buildings, in the lower one the church and the associated religious buildings.
When Brazil became independent in 1822, very little changed for Fernando de Noronha. In 1832, the island was visited by an expedition which included Charles Darwin. His experiences on Fernando de Noronha were recorded in his journal, later published as The Voyage of the Beagle.[23]
In the late 18th century, the first prisoners were sent to Fernando de Noronha. A prison was built. In 1897 the government of the state of Pernambuco took possession of the prison.[24] Between 1938 and 1945, Fernando de Noronha was a political prison. The former governor of Pernambuco, Miguel Arraes, was incarcerated there. In 1957 the prison was closed and the archipelago was visited by President Juscelino Kubitschek.[25]
At the beginning of the 20th century, the British arrived to provide technical cooperation in telegraphy (The South American Company). Later the French came with the French Cable[26] and the Italians with Italcable.[27]
In 1942, during World War II, the archipelago was made a Federal Territory that also included Rocas Atoll and Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and political and ordinary prisoners were sent to the local prison. An airport was constructed in September 1942 by the United States Army Air Force Air Transport Command Natal-Dakar air route, which provided a transoceanic link between Brazil and French West Africa for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel. It was transferred to the jurisdiction of the United States Navy on 5 September 1944.[28]
In 1988, approximately 70% of the archipelago was declared a maritime national park, with the goal of preserving the land and sea environment. On October 5, 1988, the Federal Territory was dissolved and added to the state of Pernambuco (except Rocas Atoll, which was added to the state of Rio Grande do Norte).
Nowadays, Fernando de Noronha's economy depends on tourism, restricted by the limitations of its delicate ecosystem. In addition to the historical interest noted above, the archipelago has been the subject of the attention of various scientists dedicated to the study of its flora, fauna, geology, etc. The jurisdiction is considered to be a separate "entity" for the DX Century Club, and so is visited rather often by amateur radio operators.
In 2001, UNESCO declared Fernando de Noronha, with Rocas Atoll, a World Heritage Site. The reasons for this were a) the island's importance as a feeding ground for several species, including tuna, billfish, cetaceans, sharks, and marine turtles, b) a high population of resident dolphins and c) protection for endangered species, such as the hawksbill turtle and various birds.[29]
Fernando de Noronha Airport is served by daily flights from Recife and Natal on the Brazilian coast.
Most of the original vegetation was cut down in the 19th century, when the island was used as a prison, to keep the prisoners from hiding and making rafts.
Also, invasive species have been introduced:
| HDI (2000) | Population (2010) | GDP (2007)x1000 R$ | % PE | GDP pc R$ | Hostels/pousadas beds (2006) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.862 | 3,012 | 20,901 | 0.034% | 7,462 | 1,492 |
The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha in 2005 had a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of R$ 22,802,000 and a per capita income of R$ 10,001. The Human Development Index (HDI) district's state was estimated at 0.862 (PNUD/2000). In the archipelago there is only one branch, agency, it is #576 of Banco Real.
The beaches of Fernando de Noronha are promoted for tourism: Fernando de Noronha is a place for recreational diving. With warm waters around it, diving to depths of 30 to 40 meters can be done without using a wetsuit. The visibility underwater can reach up to 50 meters due to South equatorial current that pushes water from Africa to the island across more than 2,000 km. Moreover, the archipelago has points of free diving.
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