What is "madeira"

Madeira \Ma*dei"ra\, n. [Pg., the Island Madeira, properly, wood, fr. L. materia stuff, wood. The island was so called because well wooded. See Matter.] A rich wine made on the Island of Madeira.

A cup of Madeira, and a cold capon's leg.
--Shak.

Madeira nut (Bot.), the European walnut; the nut of the Juglans regia.

white wine, 1540s, from island of Madeira in the Atlantic, from Portuguese madeira "wood," because the island formerly was thickly wooded, from Latin materia "wood, matter" (see matter).

Madeira ( or ; or ) is a Portuguese archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal. Its total population was estimated in 2011 at 267,785. The capital of Madeira is Funchal on the main island's south coast.

It is just under north of Tenerife, Canary Islands. Since 1976, the archipelago has been one of the two Autonomous regions of Portugal (the other being the Azores, located to the northwest). It includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, administered together with the separate archipelago of the Savage Islands. It is an outermost region of the European Union.

Madeira was claimed by Portuguese sailors in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1419 and settled after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Portuguese Age of Discovery, which extended from 1415 to 1542.

Its southerly marine position renders the warmest year-round subtropical climate in Portugal, with winters being extremely mild and summers long but with relatively modest heat.

Today, it is a popular year-round resort, being visited every year by about one million tourists. The region is noted for its Madeira wine, gastronomy, historical and cultural value, its flora and fauna, landscapes ( Laurel forest) which are classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and embroidery artisans. Its annual New Year celebrations feature the largest fireworks show in the world, as officially recognised by Guinness World Records in 2006. The main harbour in Funchal is the leading Portuguese port in cruise liner dockings, being an important stopover for commercial and trans-Atlantic passenger cruises between Europe, the Caribbean and North Africa. Madeira is the second richest region of Portugal by GDP per capita, being only surpassed by Lisbon.

Madeira (the Portuguese word for wood) is the name of a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, an autonomous region of Portugal and a popular holiday destination. It is also the name of the largest of the islands.

It may also refer to:

• the Madeira River, one of the tributaries of the Amazon River in South America
• Madeira, Ohio, a city in the United States
• Madeira Beach, Florida, another American city

• Madeira wine, a fortified wine made on the island of Madeira
• Madeira cake, an old English cake

• Phil Madeira, an American songwriter, producer, musician and singer from Nashville, Tennessee
• Jamila Madeira (born 1975), a Portuguese socialist politician and Member of the European Parliament
• George Madeira (1836–1922), a mining engineer and mineralogist who founded the first astronomical observatory in California

• the Madeira School, a private girls' school in Virginia, United States
• Madeira (shipwreck), a schooner-barge which sank on the north shore of Lake Superior in November 1905
• Miss Madeira, a 2011 novel by Austin Gary
• Universidade da Madeira, a public university in Madeira
• Project Madeira, a business process management solution by Microsoft