Colonia was a land exploitation regime specific to Madeira Island, in which the landlord gave the land to a colono (settler) to clear and cultivate, receiving part of the production[1] (usually half), and being able to evict the settler at any time, but having to compensate him for the value of the improvements he had made.
;[4] also in 1867 a Civil Code was approved that ignored the regime, which led courts to frequently refuse to judge cases involving colonia contracts.
[7][8][9] In the years before the Carnation Revolution, the development of tourism would also have its influence, as the real estate reconversion of previously agricultural land led to a series of large-scale evictions with great social impact.
[10] In 1967, Decree-Law 47 937 of September 15 abolished the figure of the colonia, but keeping valid the contracts prior to that date; the new Portuguese Constitution of 1976 defined that the colonia regime should be extinguished,[11] and the Regional Decrees 13/77/M, 16/79 and 7/80/M abolished the system, converting it into a lease contract, but giving the settlers the right to acquire, if they so wished, full ownership of the land.
[3] Settlers also had an incentive to build as many improvements as possible, to increase the amount the landlord would have to pay them in case of eviction, often leading to works (such as walls or terraces) sometimes of dubious usefulness;[14] For their part, the landlords tried to limit the improvements that the settlers built, sometimes leading to prohibitions on the cultivation of fruit trees and above all to major limitations on the construction of dwellings (which often had to be made of perishable materials and in areas - such as rocks - that would not take up area for crops).