History – Know here some more about this paradise.
Get set to know one of the most breathless Brazilian landscapes, a tropical archipelago 360 km (200 miles) from Natal, that mixes up colors, winds and sounds, rich in beauty, rich in history.
The occupation of Fernando de Noronha is almost as old as t he continent’s. Due to its location, the archipelago was one of the first lands to be sighted in the New World, as registered on a nautical chart in 1500 by Spanish cartographer Juan de la Cosa and, in 1502, by Portuguese Alberto Cantino, who called it Quaresma.
Its discovery in 1503 is attributed to navigator Amerigo Vespucci, a member of the second expedition that explored the Brazilian coast under the command of Portugal’s Gonçalo Coelho and financed by Portuguese nobleman Fernão de Loronha, a new Christian and leaseholder of brazil wood extraction.
“Paradise is here,” said Vespucci when he landed on that desert island on August 10, 1503, soon after the main ship of the six that made up the expedition wrecked. The letter (lettera) he wrote is the first paper to mention the island, which he christened St. Lawrence. On it, he tells of “infinite waters and infinite trees; very tame birds that approached to eat from your hands; a very good parturition that was good to the entire crew.” As a result of the discovery, the island was given in 1504 to Fernão de Loronha, who had bankrolled the expedition. So it was the first Hereditary Captainship of Brazil, albeit never occupied by its proprietary.
Forsaken for over two centuries and situated on the route of the great navigations, it was approached by a number of peoples and temporarily occupied by the Dutchmen (who called it Pavonia) in the 17th century and, in the 18th, by the French (who settled for Ile Delphine.)
Since the islands were vulnerable to invasions, the Portuguese decided to definitively occupy it through the Pernambuco Captainship starting in 1737, and a defensive system with ten fortifications was built - “The largest fortified system of eighteen century Brazil” – including the Fortress of Our Lady of Remedies. Most of these forts are still up nowadays, the others having left only remnants of what they once were.
At that time, the Archipelago was becoming a Prison for people condemned to long sentences. It was those prisoners who provided the labor who put up the buildings and road system that interconnect villages and forts. The heartless regime had even solitary confinement and stone beds on which the inmate could hardly turn over. Besides, in order to prevent escape attempts and deny hideouts to escapees, since that time the original vegetation began to be cut off, leading to a climate change on the archipelago. This is why only in some places of the island is possible to see some of the original vegetal cover, as Ponta da Sapata, on the slope of the Pico Hill, and the miradors of Sancho, Dolphin Bay and Lion Beach.
Scientific Interest
Famous scientists have visited the archipelago at different times, such as naturalist Charles Darwin, the father of the Theory of the Evolution of Species, in 1832. All of them were lured by the place’s great biodiversity and collected data about the environment, describing it in memorable works. Also during the 19th century, artists such as France’s Debret and Laissaly portrayed on their screens the human settling on the island.
20th Century
In 1938, the Archipelago was transferred to the federal government for the installation of a Political Prison. In 1942, during the Second World War, the Federal Military Territory, as well as the Mixed War Detachment were established there. An alliance with the U.S. Navy allowed it the set up on t he island a Support Base with about 300 men. During that time, an overpopulation of more than 3,000 men required to the construction of pre-molded houses to shelter them. From 1942 to 1988, the island was administered by the military: the Army up to 1981, the Air Force up to 1986 and the General Staff of the Armed Forces up to 1987. Still a federal territory, it was transferred to MINTER (National Integration Ministry), when it had its sole civilian governor. During that time, between 1957 and 1965, there was a second U.S. presence with the construction of a Guided Missile Observation Post.
In 1988, the new Constitution determined t hat the islands were reintegrated to the State of Pernambuco, and so, nowadays, it is a State District. Also in 1988, the National Marine Park (PARNAMAR) was established, with 26 sq. km., where the PARNAMAR/FN and the state Environmental Protection area are located. On December 13, 2001, UNESCO considered the archipelago a SITE OF THE WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE, and the respective diploma was granted on December 27, 2002. 2003 marked the 500th year since Fernando de Noronha had been registered in man’s history for the first time: five centuries since the first approach and its description by one of history’s leading navigators, Américo Vespucci.
Read more about the Island History.
Research source at Government Website http://www.noronha.pe.gov.br
