Chã das Caldeiras

Chã das Caldeiras
Village of Chã das Caldeiras before the 2014-15 eruption
Coordinates: 14°58′16″N 24°22′01″W / 14.971°N 24.367°W / 14.971; -24.367Coordinates: 14°58′16″N 24°22′01″W / 14.971°N 24.367°W / 14.971; -24.367
Country	Cape Verde
Island	Fogo
Municipality	Santa Catarina do Fogo
Civil parish	Santa Catarina do Fogo
Population (2010)
• Total	697

Chã das Caldeiras (“Plain or Plateau of the Calderas”) is a small community of approximately 1,000 inhabitants within the crater of the volcanic Pico do Fogo on the island of Fogo, one of nine inhabited islands comprising Cape Verde and a volcanic plateau being the largest in Cape Verde, it is at the foot of the rim mountain of Bordeira. The village consists of two parts: Portela is the upper part with the Tourist Information, a school, Catholic Church, Adventist Church and the Cooperative. At an elevation of The lower part is Bangaeira. Though technically in the Conselho de Santa Catarina with the northern part was mapped and thought to be in Conselho do Mosteiros, it simply belongs to Santa Catarina do Fogo with its boundary marked at Fogo, the village is functionally independent from outside governance due its isolated location. The municipal boundary runs in the eastern part roughly east. The main organizing body in the village is the Associação dos Agricultores de Chã (the agricultural cooperative), which holds considerable sway over the local economy. Chã is the only area in Cape Verde that grows significant quantities of grapes and produces export-quality wines.

There is no running water or electricity in Chã, though increasingly people use generators at night to light and power their homes. All non-drinking water is collected rain, stored in large cistern tanks for use in the dry season (November to July). Electricity was be introduced to the hamlets of Bangaeira and Portela in 2016, the eruption abandoned it.

Fogo was the second island in the archipelago to be populated, after Santiago (then São Tiago). Initially, the island's cash crop was cotton, picked by slaves from Angola. A fiery eruption in 1688 caused a majority of the inhabitants to leave for nearby Brava, another of the Cape Verdean islands. From 1785 on, whaling ships from Brockton and New Bedford, Massachusetts (United States) came to replenish their ships and recruit crews. The departure of these Americanos marks the beginning of the Cape Verdean diaspora. Not everyone left Fogo, however. In 1870, the eccentric Count of Montrond (France) stopped on the island en route to Brazil, or so he thought. He stayed, and brought with him the vines that kicked off wine production in the caldera. Many of the inhabitants of Chã, with their light skin, blond hair, and blue eyes, trace their ancestry back to the biologically prolific Count.