Savage Islands

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For the 1983 film, see Savage Islands (film).
Savage Islands (Ilhas Selvagens)
Island (Ilha)
Selvagem Pequena - 1ago04.jpg
Name origin: selvagem, Portuguese for savage
Country  Portugal
Autonomous Region  Madeira
Location Tore-Madeira Ridge, African Tectonic Plate, Atlantic Ocean
Municipalities Funchal
Civil Parishes
Highest point Pico da Atalaia
 - location Selvagem Grande, Funchal, Madeira
 - elevation 163 m (535 ft)
Lowest point Sea level
 - location Atlantic Ocean
 - elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Biomes Temperate, Mediterranean
Geology Alkali basalt, Tephra, Trachyte, Trachybasalt
Orogeny Volcanism
Period Holocene
Location of the Savage Islands in the archipelago of Madeira
Wikimedia Commons: Ilhas Selvagens
Statistics: Instituto Nacional de Estatística[1]

The Savage Islands or Selvagens Islands (Portuguese: Ilhas Selvagens IPA: [ˈiʎɐʃ sɛɫˈvaʒɐ̃jʃ]) are a small Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic, 280 kilometres south of Madeira, and 165 kilometres north of the Canary Islands.[3][4]

The archipelago comprises two major islands and several islets of varying sizes, in two areas: Selvagem Grande and Selvagem Pequena.[3] The archipelago is administered by the Portuguese municipality of Funchal, belongs to the Madeiran civil parish of , and is the southernmost point of Portugal.

It was designated a natural reserve in 1971, recognizing its role as a very important nesting point for several species of birds. Since then, the decreasing bird populations (namely Cory's shearwater) and nearby waters have been more closely protected by the Portuguese government. Given its status, remoteness and few fresh water sources, it is inhabited only by reserve staff, scientists conducting research on its wildlife, a Portuguese family and a small Portuguese Navy detachment.[5] In May 2016, a scientific report on the "Selvagens Islands" expedition by National Geographic (part of the Pristine Seas series) impressed Alan Friedlander, Chief-Scientist of the expedition, not expecting to find a rich wild marine environment in the Atlantic, prompting the extension of the marine reserve.


Location of the archipelago between the Canaries and archipelago of Madeira






In 1904 the islands were sold to Luís Rocha Machado.



Today the Savage Islands have a permanent team of wardens from Madeira Nature Park (on Selvagem Grande there is a permanent research station with two wardens year-round, while Selvagem Pequena is manned usually by two wardens between May and October). These and the Zino family, (a family of British origin, known as "the guardians of the Savages") are the only human inhabitants on the islands.[5] The self-sustaining status of the islands is disputed by Spain.[4] Their habitability determines whether they should be seen as islands or rocks, which has strong consequences for the definition of the southernmost border of the Portuguese EEZ (with Spain), currently under evaluation by the United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.[9]


Aerial photograph of the Northeastern Group, that includes Selvagem Grande





Cory's shearwater roosting in her nest within the crags on the island of Selvagem Pequena
The Lobularia canariensis an endemic species, native to the Macaronesia, an annual plant which grows 10–40 cm (4–16 in) tall, with oblong-oval leaves and white flowers

The scientific and natural interest of this tiny group of islands lies in its marine biodiversity, its unique flora and many avian species that breed annually on its rock cliffs or use them on their stopover on normal migratory patterns. About 3% of the 9000 species of birds are marine species, the remaining are migratory species. The abundance of birds on the islands, at one time, made the islands an attractive hunting area for peoples of the region. At the end of the 19th century the German naturalist Ernst Schmitz noted that 20–22,000 Cory's shearwaters were hunted in September or October in the islands;[10] the hunts continued until 1967. Madeiran expeditions to the islands were responsible for the killing of juvenile birds, for food, while their down was used to stuff pillows and comforters. Presently the islands are home or stopover for: Cory's shearwaters (approximately 14,000), white-faced storm-petrel (12,000), Bulwer's petrel (500), North Atlantic little shearwater (500), Madeiran storm-petrel (1000), yellow-legged gull, the roseate tern and Berthelot's pipit; which are subjects of annual scientific expeditions. Many of theses species are vulnerable to local predators, primarily from populations of brown rat and predatory bird species, like the yellow-legged gull, which will consume both eggs and chicks (the white-faced storm-petrel and Bulwer's petrel are primarily susceptible). These islands also have many endemic fauna species, including local snails and the unique gecko Tarentola boettgeri bischoffi.

As a consequence of limited introduction, more than 100 species of indigenous plants have been cataloged (most creeping plants and bushes). These plants are similar in many respects to indigenous species on the islands of Madeira and the Canaries, which are better suited to dry arid environments. Germination of these species occurs immediately and briefly after annual showers, and include: Erva-gelada, Lotus salvagensis and Lotus paicae (species of the Fabaceae family), Chrysanthemum sarmentoi, Scilla maderensis, Argyranthemum thalassophilum and the Lobularia canariensis. Selvagem Pequena and the Fora Islet are the richest floral repositories, since they were never populated by non-indigenous animals or plants. For a period, some indigenous plants (primarily Roccella tinctoria and other lichens of the family Nemari) were harvested from the islands to support the dye industry of Europe, primarily to England and Flanders in the 15th and 16th centuries, but these adventures were discontinued later.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau once found what he believed was "the cleanest waters in the world" around this minor archipelago; there is an abundance of marine activity, many endemic to the environment, including the barred hogfish, puffer fish (Tetraodontidae), sea spider and many species of sea urchin. At depth of about 30 m the waters around the islands/islets are teeming with algae and many species of migratory species of common fish, from the islands of Cape Verde, Madeira and the Canaries routinely


Dispute over the EEZ[edit]

Portugal places its southernmost Exclusive Economic Zone claim south of the Savage Islands. Spain objects on the basis that the Savage Islands do not have a separate continental shelf,[11] maintaining that the border should consist on an equidistant line drawn halfway between Madeira and the Canaries. According to article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf." [12] The status of the Savage Islands as islands or rocks is thus at the core of the dispute. Despite the islands having numerous visitors, mostly for scientific purposes, and the fact that several settlements were tried throughout the centuries[dubious ][citation needed], today the Savage Islands are a special natural reserve whose only year-round inhabitants are the wardens of Madeira's Natural Park. Over the years, apart from the EEZ debate, a number of issues pertaining to the Savage Islands led to disputes between the two countries, namely the construction of a lighthouse, the administration of airspace (done from the closer Canary Islands), the right to perform military air exercises, and, most importantly, illegal fishing and poaching in the archipelago and its vicinity.[13]

Event timeline[edit]

19th century[edit]


20th century[edit]


21st century[edit]

  • 2013 - July 5, Spain sends letter officially complaining to the UN that the Savage islands are just rocks,[17] which disputes Portuguese sovereignty of over 700 years of the islands.[18]
  • 2014 - The head of the Spanish Government, Mariano Rajoy, announced that Repsol, an Oil and Gas company will conduct surveys to find oil and gas in the surrounding waters of the nearby Canary islands, would begin "very likely" between July and September.
  • 2014 - September 22, Spanish protestors on behalf of the Alternativa Nacionalista Canaria party, stage a protest on the smaller island of Selvagem Pequena, to urge the Portuguese government to intercede with the European Parliament so as not to jeopardize the fragile and unique biodiversity of the Macaronesian islands, before the Spanish government, completely surrender to the interests of Repsol. After 2 days the protestors were transported to Funchal by the Portuguese Navy.[20][21][22]
  • 2014 - December 9, Francisco Lufinha kitesurfed from the Savage islands to Funchal in 12 hours and covered 303 km (163 nautical miles).[23]
  • 2014 - December 17, Spain sends Dr Luis Somoza Losada to the UN, to give a 448-point report asking for the expansion of Spanish territory at the expense of Portugal, after returning to Spain from New York he states "It's the biggest enlargement of Spanish sovereignty since Christopher Columbus". Luis Somoza Losada was a coordinator of a team made up of civilians and military that was commissioned to underpin the ambitious maritime expansion of Spain around the Savage Islands. Conducting 6 surveys of the area on 3 ships the Hespérides, Miguel Oliver and Sarmiento de Gamboa. He discovered that there was gas in the area and possibly oil.[24][25]


  • 1976 – A yacht named Demeter sank near the islands.

See also[edit]


  4. ^ a b c d e f Luís Carvalho; Nuno Leitão (2005)
  5. ^ a b "Família Zino, a guardiã das Selvagens (in Portuguese)". DNoticias. July 16, 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2015. 
  9. ^
  18. ^ Spain disputes Portugal islands, Brendan de Beer, September 2013 
  20. ^ Independentistas das Canárias detidos nas ilhas Selvagens (in Portuguese), Público, 24 September 2014 
  21. ^ Independentistas das Canárias ocupam Selvagem Pequena (in Portuguese), Diário de Notícias, 23 September 2014 
  22. ^ Spaniards ‘occupy’ Portuguese islands to protest oil drilling, Pangea Today, 5 October 2014 
  23. ^ Francisco Lufinha sails from Selvagens to Funchal in 12 hours,, 9 December 2014 
  24. ^ España amplía sus dominios marítimos (in Spanish), El Pais, 30 December 2014 
  25. ^ Spain reignites island tussle, The Portugal News, 31 December 2014 

External links[edit]
