The municipality of Ribeira Brava was created quite recently in 1914. its official formation took place on the 2^nd August of that year. It is composed of the parishes of Ribeira Brava, Serra de Água, Campanário and Tabua. It has a population of 12, 800 inhabitants. It is defended by the Fortress of São Bento which is found at the entrance to the town on the street that leads to the quay. It was elevated to the category of town by the decree of 26^th May, 1928.
In the fifties the extinct Agricultural Board created an experimental agricultural area being perhaps the only one of its kind in Madeira.
Native of this parish was the grammarian and humanist Father Manuel Álvares ( one of the most notable Latin scholars of his time – his Latin grammar was taught for more than two centuries in almost all Europe); also native was Viscount Francisco Correia Herédia, from whom the present wife of D. Duarte, Duke of Bragança is descended.
It was the the viscount who succeeded in raising Ribeira Brava to the status of seat of the municipality and who carried out an urban conversion of the town. These two illustrious figures are honoured jointly on the Day of the Municipality (6^th May).