Savage Islands

The Savage Islands, known in Portuguese as Ilhas Selvagens, are a small Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic, lying 280 kilometers south of Madeira and 165 kilometers north of the Canary Islands as part of Macaronesia. They formed from submarine volcanic activity generated by the Canary hotspot, in two separate episodes about 29.5 million and 3.4 million years ago, an unusual pattern of widely spaced eruptions for an oceanic volcanic island group, leaving basaltic rock, ash and other volcanic material cut through by calcareous faults. The archipelago's total land area is only 2.73 square kilometers, split between the larger Selvagem Grande and smaller Selvagem Pequena plus surrounding islets and reefs, with the highest point, Pico da Atalaia, reaching 163 meters. Since 1971 the islands have been protected as a nature reserve for breeding seabirds, and only reserve staff and scientists live there year-round.