2025Madeira - Europa Archaeological Discoveries - Miniature Sheet

The sugar industry or “White Gold” (Funchal)
With the collaboration of the team at the A Cidade do Açúcar Museum, a set of artifacts was selected, highlighting the ceramic sugar loaf shape, which is part of the archaeological collection unearthed during the excavation of the house of sugar merchant Janine Esmenaut, João Esmeraldo for the Portuguese, one of the oldest from the 16th century. This cultural asset, recovered by Modern Archaeology in Portugal, illustrates the important and profitable sugar production industry on the island, which began in 1425 with the planting of sugar cane, a central activity in the economy of the Atlantic islands, shortly after the colonization of the island, which was discovered in 1419.