beginning in 1868, postage stamps for madeira were issued for the postal needs of the island group with its capital funchal. unoverprinted portuguese stamps were used from 1881 to 1892. from 1892 to 1905, while the administrative title of madeira was changed to the district of funchal, definitive stamps were issued with the inscription "funchal". these were valid all over the island. while in 1898 a series of stamps commemorating vasco da gama was issued with the inscription "madeira", unoverprinted stamps of portugal were used in the archipelago again from 1905.