Ponta do Sol is a parish, seat of the homonymous municipality, in Madeira Island. Its patronage is Nossa Senhora da Luz, celebrated every year on the 8th of September.

The Madeira Archipelago, which was already mentioned in 1350 in some documents and represented in 14th century Italian and Catalan maps, was rediscovered by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira.

The toponym “Ponta do Sol” comes from its geographical location and the existence of a rounded shape in a rock, with branched veins and that resembles the sun: “a point where you can see the sun from its rise until it sets”

The first settlers settled in Ponta do Sol in the middle of 1440 and due to its port and fertile land, it progressed so quickly that the parish was created in the third quarter of the 15th century. The nucleus from which the parish began, belonged to Rodrigues Enes, “the Coxo”, however, due to its rapid and vast development, it attracted a considerable number of settlers, from the mainland and even abroad, who obtained many lands there. sesmaria, some of them being the trunk of important linked houses that had their headquarters in this locality and have survived to the present day. 

At the base of the economic prosperity achieved, the fertility of the soils was always used for the so-called rich cultures, being at the time of colonization one of the most active centers of agricultural production, especially of sugar cane, although the cultivation of cereals, from wheat, represented a significant yield. For the progress of this village, and similarly to what happened in the entire southern part of the island, foreign elements, namely, English, Scandinavian, Moorish and African contributed, in addition to the Portuguese.

In the cultural and built heritage of the parish, the Main Church invoking Nossa Senhora da Luz, which was restored in the 18th century and still preserves inside a small chapel from the 15th century, built by the original settler of the parish, in 1446, stands out: also, the chapel of Espírito Santo, from the 16th century, in addition to others of equal patrimonial value; the sunny houses of Esmeraldos and Zinos should also be highlighted. As places of tourist interest, the Sítio do Paul da Serra, the house of John dos Passos and the wharf area should be highlighted.