São Martinho (Funchal)

São Martinho (Portuguese: Saint Martin) is a civil parish and suburb settled in 1579, along the western limits of the municipality of Funchal, in the archipelago of Madeira. The population in 2001 was 20,636, covering an area of approximately 8.06 km² (a density 2,595 inhabitants per km² of territory).

History

During the island's early settlement, the area that includes the present parish was part of the much large Sé, and later São Pedro, when it was finally deannexed in 1597. The lands immediately around the commercial centre of Funchal were quickly acquired and put into service for cultivation of subsistence crops. As with the other settlements in the Portuguese Empire, these settlements eventually formed from communities of living in the shadow of small chapels that dotted the landscape. The same was true for São Martinho: a small artesanal business and chapel constituted the first buildings in this region, owned by Afonso Anes, who was responsible for guiding the influencing development, becoming a parish on 3 March 1579. Much later a new church was a formal church constructed, by the 19th century.

The establishment of an Administrative Code in 1878, defined the creation of a level of government below the municipality, giving rise to the civil parish system that coincided with the older ecclesiastical parishes. On 23 June 1916, by decree law 621, the parish of São Martinho was created.

Geography

The parish covers the western portion of the central part of Funchal, located three to four kilometres west of Funchal and nearly approximately three kilometres east of Câmara de Lobos. It is connected with a secondary road linking Funchal and Estreito de Câmara de Lobos and north to Curral das Freiras along with the northern suburbs of Funchal. The Atlantic Ocean is to the south including the main highway. The mountain slope lies to the north and a small mountaintop about 1 km southeast elevating 262 metres. The eastern part has the overview of the panorama of most of Funchal and the environs and the mountains to the eastern part and Câmara de Lobos and the environs including Cabo Girão to the west.

Economy

Farmlands and agriculture dominated most of the parish until suburban housing sprawl developed in the mid-20th century. Much of the land is now occupied by residential or commercial buildings and highly urbanized, while some pockets of unoccupied land are sporadically located around the church and the small mountaintops to the west and northwest.