Administrative divisions of Portugal (on Terceira Island), the historical and cultural capital, is the home of the Azorean judiciary and seat of the Diocese of the Azores. Madeira is an archipelago that includes two principal islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, plus two uninhabited natural group of islands, the Desertas and Savage Islands (). The archipelago is located closer to Africa than Europe, is highly commercial and urbanized; its regional capital (Funchal) is developmentally comparable to urban centers in the Canary or Balearic Islands. The division of the Portuguese territory is established in title eight (Título VIII) of the Portuguese constitution: granting local authority to
Postage stamps and postal history of Madeira Postage stamps and postal history of Madeira On 1 January 1868, Portugal issued postage stamps for the islands of Madeira, consisting of the current stamps of Portugal overprinted "MADEIRA". Subsequent stamps were also overprinted, through 1881. The first stamps inscribed for Madeira were part of the Vasco da Gama Issue of 1898. Subsequently Madeira used stamps of Portugal, with two exceptions; the first was the Pombal Issue of postal tax stamps in 1925, and a variant on the Ceres design, issued 1 May 1928. The 21 values of Ceres stamps were obligatory on all mail for eight days – 1