Craveiro Lopes, Praia

Craveiro Lopes
Neighborhood
View of Achadinha de Baixo (in the upper right) from the Plateau with the Sucupira Market, Craveiro Lopes is in the middle left
Country	Cape Verde
Island	Santiago Island
City	Praia
Postal code	7600
Website	www.cmpraia.cv

Craveiro Lopes, also as Bairro Craveiro Lopes, also known as Bairro Novo do Oeste (da Praia) is the westernmost part of the center of the capital city of Praia in the island of Santiago, Cape Verde. It is the fourth historic area.

Its total area is about 25 to 30 hectares, its length ranges from 200 meters in the south to about 670 in the north, its width is 630 meters and less than 450 meters in the west part. The neighborhood is a residential area and most of the times, much of the area were low class and poor. Buildings and Facilities are in the eastern part while the residential area are in the western part. The lowest point is 7 meters, next to the buildings where Campo do Coco once occupied the area, 12 meters next to Avenida Cidade de Lisboa, 17 meters in the northeast, 26 meters in the center and the north, 40 meters near the entrance into Eugénio Lima and at the health center, the highest is 60 meters at some factory.

Bordering neighbourhoods includes Achadinha de Baixo to the north, Várzea-Sucupira to the east, the south, Bela Vista to the west and (Achada) Eugénio Lima to the northwest.

Early in the 16th century, the low-lying areas were forested with kapok trees, they were cut down to make room for farming and agriculture, the forest stretched up to Ribeira Grande and the island interior. Agriculture including cattle, tropical fruits and date palm dominate the marginal area. Some portions of the forest were restored mainly with palm in the 18th century and the remainder restored with kapok trees and intermingled with buildings and landmarks built in the 1970s and the mid 20th century.

Housing started around the 1950s in an area that used to be a farm, plantation and an uncultivated area. When Nuno Craveiro Lopes visited Praia in 1955, the neighbourhood would be named after himself. It is one of the neighborhoods that were later developed after the end of the 1940s.

A sports club in the neighborhood named AD Bairro or ADESBA was founded, first with its football club in 1968, then basketball in 1975. They have its own sports arena east of its only square.

A health center was built around the 1970s or the 1980s.

Around the 2000s and the 2010s, the western end of the neighborhood started to build homes, still today, empty spaces remain in that portion of the subdivision.