During today's afternoon, Prince Renato II of Pontinha told us some secrets about his Principality. He wrote in social media the following:
''Columbus' last European outpost was the Fort of São José
Prince D.Renato Barros will have nothing to do with this mythological Irishman named Saint Brendan of Clonfert.
According to the Prince and sovereign of the Principality of Pontinha, these are the facts: it was at the Fort of São José, also referred to as the Pontinha Fort or Pontinha Battery, located 70 meters from the island of Madeira, where Christopher Columbus left for the Americas, and it was here that he prepared the trip.
It is not by chance that when the Americans first celebrated their independence, it was with wine from the islet with the fort that Columbus had left. As a quarantine was mandatory for everyone who visited the larger island of Madeira, Columbus also resided in the Fort of São José due to the safety which it offered to its guests.
It is not by chance that on the date Christopher Columbus left for the New World, the Islet of Pontinha was named Diego, the name of Columbus' son, and in fact until 1776 this islet was documented on official maps as the Islet of Diego.''
