The Selvagens Islands are also known as Savage or Salvage Islands. Savage islands are a tiny volcanic archipelago in the Atlantic Sea, located between Madeira and the Canary Islands.
It is part of the Macaronesian group of islands. It consists of the Greater Selvagem (2.45 km2), Lesser Selvagem (0.2 km2), Fora (0.08 km2) and several other very small islets.

Since the fourteenth century, these islands have been a constant cause of dispute between Portugal and Spain. It was not until 1938 that the area, which had served as a base for fishing boats, was finally assigned to Portugal.

The Selvagens Islands were privately owned for a while, but in 1971 they were purchased by the Madeira authorities and created a nature reserve. Now to visit it you need to get a special permit.

The lack of fresh water, the remoteness from the mainland and the dangerous reefs surrounding the islands make them uninhabitable. Therefore, the Selvagens Islands remain uninhabited, and their infrequent visitors are mostly ornithologists, who come here to study rare birds, and the military, who monitor lighthouses.