Desertas Islands

Desertas
Island (Ilha)
Visiting sailboats at the bay of the Nature Reserve; the islands are uninhabited, except for rangers that monitor activity on the islands
Official name: Ilhas Desertas
Name origin: desertas, Portuguese plural of deserted
Country	Portugal
Autonomous Region	Madeira
Location	Tore-Madeira Ridge, African Tectonic Plate, Atlantic Ocean
Archipelago	Madeira
Islands/Islets	Chão Islet
Highest point	Boqueiro Norte
- location	Deserta Grande, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz da Madeira
- elevation	442 m (1,450 ft)
- coordinates	32°32′46″N 16°31′31″W / 32.54611°N 16.52528°W / 32.54611; -16.52528
Lowest point	Sea level
- location	Atlantic Ocean
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	22.34 km (14 mi), Northwest-Southeast
Width	1.34 km (1 mi), North-South
Area	14.21 km2 (5 sq mi)
Biomes	Temperate, Mediterranean
Geology	Alkali basalt, Tephra, Trachyte, Trachybasalt
Orogeny	Volcanism
Period	Holocene, Pliocene
Location of the islands of the Desertas in the archipelago of the Madeira
Wikimedia Commons: Desertas
Statistics from INE (2001); geographic detail from Instituto Geográfico Português (2010)

The Desertas Islands (Portuguese: Ilhas Desertas, IPA: [ˈiʎɐʒ ðɨˈzɛɾtɐʃ], "Desert Islands") are a small Portuguese archipelago, located about 25 km to the southeast of Ponta de São Lourenço, the eastern tip of the island of Madeira, the whole chain located roughly between Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Geography

Ilhas Desertas, an aerial view of the small group of islands

The warden’s house on the island of Deserta Grande

It is a chain of three long and narrow islands that stretch over a distance of 23 km north-south. Administratively, the islands are part of the municipality of Santa Cruz, Madeira, and therein of the civil parish of the same name. The islands are a designated nature reserve and a licence is needed to land there. Though close to the main island of Madeira, where the islands can often be seen on the horizon, the geology of the Ilhas Desertas is starkly different. The high, long, and rocky islands of the group are barren of soil, and the only wildlife consists of about sixteen species of birds, including eight species of seabirds, and a scarce population of feral goats, rabbits, and rodents, brought from Portugal by the mariners who first touched the rocky shores. Native species of tarantula, as well as reptiles, also exist in the fragile and arid ecosystem.

The only inhabitable island, with its own water source, is Deserta Grande. This water is however murky and scarce, and all historical attempts to colonise the island failed due to the impracticability of communal agriculture.

A tiny colony of Mediterranean Monk Seals inhabit the beaches, and since 1990 the islands have been a nature reserve for their protection. Although in 1998 the colony numbered only eight, by today, the population numbers roughly twenty. The only human presence are the permanent wardens, geologists, occasional boaters, and the few research stations on the islands.

The islands of the Desertas are, listed from north to south, with approximate area figures:

Island	Area (km²)	Height (m)
Chão Islet	1	98
Deserta Grande	10	442
Bugio	3	348
TOTAL	14.21	442

See also

• List of islands of Portugal

External links

• topographic map 1:250,000