Brava, Cape Verde
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Native name: Dja Braba Nickname: Ilha das flores (island of the flowers) |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Atlantic Ocean |
| Coordinates | 14°52′N 24°42′W / 14.867°N 24.700°W |
| Area | 67 km2 (26 sq mi) |
| Length | 24 km (14.9 mi) |
| Width | 16 km (9.9 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 976 m (3,202 ft) |
| Highest point | Monte Fontainhas |
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Cape Verde
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| Concelhos (Municipalities) | Brava |
| Largest settlement | Nova Sintra |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 5971 (2010) |
| Pop. density | 89.1 /km2 (230.8 /sq mi) |
Brava (Portuguese for “wild”) is an island in Cape Verde. It is the smallest inhabited island, but at the same time the greenest, of Cape Verde, in the Sotavento group. First settled in the 1540s, its population grew after Mount Fogo on neighbouring Fogo erupted in 1675. For more than a century, its main industry was whaling, but the island economy is now primarily agricultural.
Brava was "discovered" in 1462 by Portuguese sailors. The Portuguese founded a settlement here in 1573 by sailors from the Azores and Madeira (some sources dated 1620). Sir Francis Drake visited the island in 1579.
In 1680, most inhabitants fled from the nearby larger island of Fogo after its volcano erupted and lava began to flow and devastate most of the east of that island, they added a small part to the population of the island. In the 17th and the 18th centuries, pirates raided the bays of the island. Piracy continued until the 19th century, when whaling was common from the ships of Europe and North America.
Emigration began as US whaleships carried people from Brava to the northeastern part of North America, especially along the Eastern Seaboard. Most of the immigrants from Brava settled in Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island, where there were numerous Cape Verde and Portuguese immigrants. In the 19th century, many of the men continued to work in whaling. An American consulate was opened in 1843, in the late 1970s, it became the US Embassy in Cape Verde and was moved to the capital city of Praia where it is today.
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Wikipedia