After consultation of the minutes of the administrative commission of the City Council of Funchal, between 1935 and 1946, we can conclude that these were years of intense activity. Few administrations received subsequently such a unanimous approval and recognition in the history of Madeira.

The urban renewal that the city underwent at the time, under the presidency of Fernão Manuel de Ornelas Gonçalves, cast Funchal into a new era of modernity and progress. These actions, not always in the interest of the majority of the population, occurred gradually, releasing the municipality from the past and projecting it into the future, according to the political vision and the initiative of those responsible for it.

This course of achievements was observed by the humorous newspaper of Funchal, Re-Nhau-Nhau, which was initially suspicious of the politician’s pretensions, not giving them much credit and using its witty criticism to make fun at many of their proposals. With time, the caricatures issued in this humorous paper became quite an amusing way of supporting the council’s initiatives. In spite of the ferocious criticism on some matters, it perceived, nevertheless, the scope of the work under way.

This newspaper is, thus, the humorous testimony of an era of modernization of the city of Funchal.

Manuscript Sources

(1935-1947). Actas da Comissão Administrativa da Câmara Municipal do Funchal.

Periodical Publications

(13 de Outubro 1910). A República Portuguesa, Funchal.

(Janeiro de 1935- Janeiro de 1947). O Jornal, Funchal.

(1935-1947) Re-Nhau-Nhau, Funchal.

Printed Sources

Antunes, J.F. (1994). Salazar e Caetano – Cartas secretas 1932 – 1968. Lisboa: Difusão Cultural.

Nepomuceno, R. (1994). As Crises de subsistência na História da Madeira. Lisboa: Editorial Caminho.

Pereira, E.C.N. (1989). Ilhas de Zarco, vol. I e II, Funchal: Câmara Municipal do Funchal.