In 1419, a Portuguese settler reportedly released a mother rabbit and her litter on Porto Santo; centuries later, Darwin found rabbits about half the weight of mainland ones

A storm carried a Portuguese fleet off course in 1418 to an uninhabited island in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The commanders of this expedition, João Gonçalves Zarco, Tristão Vaz Teixeira and Bartolomeu Perestrelo, named this island Porto Santo because they appreciated the safe landing on the island, according to the Portuguese National Archive’s virtual exhibit of Discovering Madeira and Porto Santo Islands.

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