an expensive Persian horse and many other products from the island, a miniature Apostolic Palace made out of sugar and real-size effigies of the Sacred College of Cardinals made in —at that time, sugarcane was the primary resource of the island's economy, as sugar from Madeira attracted Genoese and Flemish traders and flooded the major European markets. Donatary-Captain of Funchal During his time as Donatary-Captain of Funchal, Madeira attained a great level of prosperity as an important trade hub. The growing importance and development of the town of Funchal, made it so it was raised to the status of city by royal charter on 17 August 1508. On 12 June 1514, a papal bull instituted the Diocese of Funchal. When King Manuel I appointed corregedor Diogo Taveira to investigate irregularities in the government of the captaincy, Simão Gonçalves da Câmara felt this constituted an attack on his privileges and exemptions and decided to leave the country and settle instead in Castile in 1516. Midway through the voyage, once having landed in the Algarve, he heard that the Portuguese city of Asilah in Morocco was under siege by the Wattasid Sultan; he immediately went there with a reinforcement of seven-hundred men and was instrumental in the end of the siege. When he was in Seville, resuming his interrupted voyage, he received a letter from King Manuel I, recognising the importance of his assistance in the military victory in Asilah, hoping to repay him with further honours if he were to return to Portugal, which he did. In 1528, he abdicated from the captaincy of Funchal in favour of his son and successor, João Gonçalves da Câmara. He retired to Matosinhos, near Porto in Mainland Portugal, where he died in 1530. His will determined that his mortal remains were to be taken to Madeira Island, to be interred near those of his parents and grandparents in the , in Funchal. References 1463 births 1530 deaths 15th-century Portuguese people 16th-century Portuguese people Donatary-Captains of Madeira Gonçalves da Câmara family