Laurisilva of Madeira
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How it came to be
The Laurisilva of Madeira is a forest on the Portuguese island of Madeira in the Atlantic. Laurel forest of this kind covered much of southern Europe 15 to 40 million years ago and has since almost vanished. The inscribed property of about 15,000 ha lies within the 27,000 ha Madeira Natural Park, and it is believed to be 90 per cent primary forest.
The first known settlers were Portuguese who arrived after 1420. Trees were felled for timber, forest was cut to make charcoal for the sugar mills, and land was turned into pasture. The settlers also built stone channels, the levadas, 80 to 150 cm wide, to carry water to the sugarcane fields.
The surviving forest lies mostly on the north side of the island and covers about 16 per cent of it; some of its oldest trees were growing before the island was settled. At least 76 vascular plants found only on Madeira grow here, along with two endemic birds and more than 500 endemic invertebrates. It was inscribed in 1999.
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