The Machete of Madeira: A British Perspective

Abstract

During the nineteenth century the machete de braga (hereafter referred to as machete), a relative of the Portuguese
cavaquinho, was widely known throughout Europe. Today, however, the machete is mostly known outside its homeland
of Madeira as one of the forerunners of the ukulele. Although the main focus of this article is the British interest in
the machete in this period it is first necessary to establish how the British connection with Madeira and the machete
stretches back to the fifteenth century, through a systematization of the literature on this musical instrument.