The archipelago of Madeira is an Autonomous Region of Portugal made up of seven islands and several islets: Madeira, Porto Santo and two groups of uninhabited islands: Desertas and Selvagens.
It’s located between 30º 01’ and 33º 31’ latitude north and 16º 30’ and 17º 30’ longitude west of Greenwich. It lies 980 km from the Portuguese mainland (90 minutes by plane), 600 km west of Morocco, 877 km from the Azores and 450 km from the Canary Islands at approximately the same latitude as Casablanca.
Only two of the seven islands are inhabited – Madeira (around 255.000 inhabitants) which houses the capital city of Funchal (around 105.000 inhabitants) and Porto Santo (around 5.000 inhabitants) with its amazing 9 km sandy beach (According to the official statistics of 2016).
The points of entry are the Airports of Madeira and Porto Santo.
Via maritime route, Funchal boasts an impressive harbour that welcomes many cruise ships and yachts throughout the year.
The archipelago shelters numerous protected areas and nature reserves and belongs to a vast biogeographical area called Macaronesia, which also includes the Azores, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde and a strip of the Moroccan Atlantic coastline.
Paula Camacho (Official Tourist Guide)
MADEIRA OFFICIAL TOURIST GUIDES 