In 2022, Macaronesia had an estimated combined population of 3,222,054 people; 2,172,944 (67%) in the Canary Islands, 561,901 (17%) in Cape Verde, 250,769 (8%) in Madeira, and 236,440 (7%) in the Azores.[11][12][13]
Etymology
The name Macaronesia was originally used by Ancient Greekgeographers to refer to any islands west of the Strait of Gibraltar. It is derived from the Greek words meaning 'islands of the fortunate' (μακάρων νῆσοι, makárōn nēsoi). The term fell out of use until it was revived in 1917 with its current meaning.[14]
The name is occasionally misspelled "Macronesia" in false analogy with Micronesia, an unrelated group of archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean whose English name is also derived from Greek.
Layers of volcanic tephra from the 1957 eruption of Capelinhos on Faial in the Azores. Macaronesian islands are created by volcanic activity.
The islands of Macaronesia are volcanic in origin, and are thought to be the product of several geologic hotspots.[3] Due to the geographic location, varied relief and altitudinal ranges, the Macaronesian mountains represent a wide range of climates. These climates include oceanic, Mediterranean, and humid subtropical climates in the Azores; the tropical savanna climates in Madeira; the desert and semi-desert climates in the Canary Islands;[15] and a tropical climate in Cape Verde.
In some locations, there are variations in climate due to the rain shadow effect. The laurisilva forests of Macaronesia are a type of mountain cloud forest with relict plant species of a vegetation type that originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin, when the climate of that region was more humid. These plant species, many of which are endemic, have evolved to adapt to the islands' variable climatic conditions.
The Macaronesian islands have a biogeography that is unique in the world. They are home to several distinct plant and animal communities. Notably, the jumping spider genus Macaroeris is named after Macaronesia. Because none of the Macaronesian islands were ever part of any continent, all of the native plants and animals reached the islands via long-distance dispersal. Laurel-leaved forests, called laurisilva, once covered most of the Azores, Madeira, and parts of the Canaries at an altitude of between 400 and 1,200 metres (1,300 and 3,900 ft), the eastern Canaries and Cape Verde being too dry.
These forests resemble the ancient forests that covered the Mediterranean Basin and northwestern Africa before the cooling and drying of the ice ages. Trees of the genera Apollonias, Clethra, Dracaena, Ocotea, Persea, and Picconia, which are found in the Macaronesian laurel forests, are also known, from fossil evidence, to have flourished around the Mediterranean before the ice ages.
Conservation issues
Remaining patches of Macaronesia's threatened primeval laurisilva forest, except in Cape Verde, were protected by EU law in 2001.
Much of the original native vegetation has been displaced because of human activity, including felling forests for timber and firewood, clearing vegetation for grazing and agriculture, and introducing foreign plants and animals into the islands. The laurisilva habitat has been reduced to small disconnected pockets. As a result, many of the endemic biota of the islands are now seriously endangered or extinct.
Introduced predators – in particular domestic cats, many in feral populations – currently pose one of the most serious threats to the endemic fauna. Even though cats prey mostly on other foreign-introduced mammals, such as rodents and rabbits, the abundance of such prey sustains such a large feline population that it has initiated a so-called hyperpredation process, which further increases that population's negative impact on the number of endemic reptiles and birds.[16][unreliable source]
Since 2001, the European Union's conservation efforts, mandated by its Natura 2000 regulations, have resulted in the protection of large stretches of land and sea in the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands, totalling 5,000 km2 (1,900 sq mi).[17]
^The islands of Flores and Corvo are in the North American plate, the island of Santa Maria is in the African plate, the rest of the islands are in the diffuse boundary between the Eurasian and the African plates.
^Nunes, João Carlos (2014). "The Azores Archipelago: Islands of Geodiversity". In Erfurt-Cooper, Patricia (ed.). Volcanic Tourist Destinations(PDF). Springer. p. 57. ISBN978-3-642-16190-2. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
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