History of the Jews in Madeira History of the Jews in Madeira History of the Jews in Madeira spans the entire length of the history of Madeira itself, from Crypto-Jews to World War II evacuees. Like the Jews of mainland Portugal, Madeira jews are mainly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities who have originated in the Iberian Peninsula. There was once a Synagogue of Funchal, which is now disused. Menasseh Ben Israel was born in Madeira in 1604. Jews from Morocco arrived in 1819 and set themselves up in the cloth and wine trades. The Abudarham family from Gibraltar were involved
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