Largest Islands of Cape Verde

Geography

Santo Antão is 42.75 km (26.56 mi) long (east-west) and 23.97 km (14.89 mi) wide (north-south). The island is of volcanic origin and very mountainous, characterized by two high plateaus and several steep river valleys. The southern part of the island has a desert climate, while the northeast and the higher elevations are semi-arid.

The tallest mountain is Tope de Coroa, reaching an elevation of 1,979 m. Other high mountains on the island are Monte Tomé (1,863 m), Gudo de Cavaleiro (1,810 m), Monte Moroços (1,767 m) and Pico da Cruz (1,584 m).

Santo Antão island has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWh) in Sinagoga and Porto Novo and a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk) in Espongeiro.

History

The island was discovered in 1461 or 1462 by Diogo Afonso, together with the islands of São Vicente and São Nicolau. Settlement of the island started in the first half of the 16th century. The main settlement was Ribeira Grande. Other settlements such as Ponta do Sol, Pombas and Porto Novo developed in the 19th century.

In 1732 the Municipality of Santo Antão was created, with its seat in the town Ribeira Grande. In 1867 this was divided into the municipality of Paul (covering the area of current Paul and Porto Novo) and the municipality of Ribeira Grande. These were merged in 1895 into one municipality. The municipalities of Paul and Ribeira Grande were recreated in 1917.

Economy

The island's agriculture products include sugar cane, yams, cassava, bananas, mangoes, and grain. The main product on the island is a kind of rum known as grogue. Mills continue to distill grogue in the Paul Valley.

Due to its mountainous nature, most of the island's plantations are done in terraces, obviating the use of machinery and requiring immense manual labor. Recently, some experiences using drip irrigation have been taking place in order to mitigate the drought conditions.

The exportation of many of the island's agriculture products to other islands has been prohibited for nearly two decades because of the millipede (Spinotarsus caboverdus) blight, but the quarantine was lifted in 2008.

Tourism is becoming one of the most dominant industries on the island.

Geography

Boa Vista is the third largest island after Santo Antão and Santiago, with an area of 631.1 square kilometres. It is situated south of Sal and north of Maio. The island is generally flat, but it has numerous hills like Monte Estância (the highest point of the island at 387 m), Monte Santo António, Rocha Estância, Morro de Areia, Morro Negro, Monte Caçador, Pico Forcado and Monte Vigia.

Boa Vista is famous for its large beaches like Atalanta, Cabral, Chaves, Ervatão, Gatas, Santa Mónica and Varandinha. Its northernmost point is Ponta do Sol; its westernmost point Ponta Varandinha. Its main river is the Ribeira do Rabil, which has the largest basin area of all Cape Verde at 199 km2 (77 sq mi). Boa Vista is also notable for its desert Deserto de Viana and its dune fields.

History

The uninhabited island Boa Vista was discovered by António de Noli and Diogo Gomes in 1460. Until the end of the 16th century the only human activity on the island was breeding wild cattle. The island's first settlement, now known as Povoação Velha, was established in 1620 for its salt deposits, which were mainly exploited by the English. In 1820, after many pirate attacks, the population moved to Porto Inglês, later renamed Sal Rei, which had been founded at the end of the 18th century. As did much of the Cape Verdean economy, the exploitation of salt on Boa Vista also relied largely on slavery. A Portuguese-British commission to end slavery was established in Boa Vista in 1842, but slavery was not completely abolished until 1876.

Economy

Previously, the inhabitants of Boa Vista survived off salt collection and date farming. Now they still earn money from date farming, but also from tourism. A lot of people work in the tourism sector, as taxi drivers, employees in the various hotel chains or souvenir salesmen in Sal Rei. The income from tourism has risen rapidly since the international airport opened in 2007. There are several hotels and beach resorts on the island.

Geography

The mountainous island is mostly agricultural but is subject to droughts, especially in the lower lying areas. The highest point on the island is Monte Gordo (1,312 m), in the western half of the island. The eastern part is a chain of lower mountains, including Monte Bissau and Pico de Alberto.

History

The island was discovered in 1461 or 1462 by Diogo Afonso, together with the islands of São Vicente and Santo Antão. It was first settled in the seventeenth century. The settlement Porto de Lapa was abandoned in 1653 due to pirate attacks, and the town Ribeira Brava was founded in the interior. It was the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde between 1786 and 1943. The roadstead of Tarrafal de São Nicolau became an anchorage for whaling ships in the 19th century. It is now the largest settlement of the island.

Geography

The island is 29.7 km long and 11.8 km wide. Its area is 219.84 km2 (84.88 sq mi). It is one of the three sandy eastern islands (Sal, Boa Vista and Maio) of the archipelago, with white sandy beaches. The island is fairly flat; its highest point is Monte Grande, at 406 m elevation. The uninhabited islet Ilhéu Rabo de Junco lies near the west coast of Sal. Saline marshes can be found in the Pedra de Lume crater and north of Santa Maria.

Sal Island has on average 350 days of sunshine a year. Winds mainly blow from the northeast. However, some days do also have clouds, but they tend to be scattered and seldom bring rain. The 'rainy season' is from July to mid-October, although rainfall is still low.

History

The island was discovered on 3 December 1460 and named Chã ("flat"). This name was changed into the current "Sal" when the two large salt ponds (Pedra de Lume and Santa Maria) were discovered. The first three centuries after its discovery, the island was only sparsely inhabited; in 1720 there was a small fishing village near present Palmeira. This changed when the salt industry was developed at the end of the 18th century, starting in Pedra de Lume. Santa Maria was founded in the south of the island in 1830 by Manuel António Martins. During this time the salt industry thrived, with 30,000 tons of salt being exported in the early years. Most of the salt was exported to Brazil until its nationalization in 1887, Portuguese and French salt investors resumed salt production until 1984.

Demographics

As of 1832, the population was estimated at 400 people. Until 1960, it was the least populous island of the nine inhabited islands of Cape Verde, with less than 3,000 inhabitants. Since then the population has been growing rapidly, reaching around 40,000 in 2019, which makes it the third most populous island in Cape Verde, after Santiago and São Vicente, and having overtaken Santo Antão and Fogo.

Economy

Sal's main town, Espargos, is home to one of the nation's international airports. Tourism, focused on the area of Santa Maria, has replaced salt and fishing as the main source of income. In 2017, 48.2% of the country's available beds were on the island of Sal. The living standards on the island are among the best in the Cape Verde archipelago. The island's GDP per capita as of 2015 is 495,827 escudos (4,497 euro).