Norte, Cape Verde
|
Native name: Bubista Nickname: Ilha das dunas (island of the dunes) |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
 |
|
| Geography | |
| Location | Atlantic Ocean |
| Coordinates | 16°6′11.93″N 22°48′12.59″W / 16.1033139°N 22.8034972°W |
| Archipelago | Cape Verde |
| Total islands | 10 |
| Area | 620 km2 (240 sq mi) |
| Length | 31 km (19.3 mi) |
| Width | 29 km (18 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 387 m (1,270 ft) |
| Highest point | Monte Estância |
| Administration | |
| Concelhos (Municipalities) | Boa Vista |
| Largest settlement | Sal Rei |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 8554 (2010) |
| Pop. density | 13.8 /km2 (35.7 /sq mi) |
| Additional information | |
| Official website | http://www.boavistaofficial.com |
Boa Vista (Portuguese meaning “good view”), also written as Boavista, is a desert-like island that belongs to the Cape Verde Islands. The archipelago contains 10 different islands, in total, of which Boa Vista is the third largest.
The island of Boa Vista is located the closest to the African continent, as it’s the easternmost island of all. The distance between Boa Vista and Senegal is only 450 km.
Boa Vista, which has its capital, Sal Rei, located on the north-western part of the island, is mainly known for the numerous presence of turtles, traditional music and ultramarathon. People also associate Boa Vista with its endless beautiful beaches and sand hills. Boa Vista has an established value in the touristic sector because of the airport in Rabil and the numerous accommodation options that the island offers for its tourists.
Boa Vista is divided into the 13 sections, for statistical purposes:
Boa Vista is the third largest island after Santo Antao and Santiago, with an area of 620 square kilometres. It is situated south of Sal and north of the Island of Maio. The island is overall flat, but also has numerous mountains like Santo António (Saint Anthony), Rocha Estância, Monte Negro (Black Mountain), Monte Caçador, Pico Forcado and Monte Vigia and Monte Estância as the highest point of the island (1,270 feet).
Besides mountains, Boa Vista is also famous for its large, wonderful beaches like Atalanta, Cabral, Chave, Ervatão, Gatas, Santa Mónica and Varandinha.
The island of Boa Vista is one out of the five Cape Verde Islands, which has surrounding islets like Ilhéu de Sal Rei (west), Ilhéu de Curral Velho (south), Ilhéu do Baluarte (east).
Diogo Gomes, a Portuguese explorer, discovered the Cape Verde Islands in 1456 when they were still uninhabited. The name Boa Vista, which means “beautiful view", was given by this man as it was the first thing that came in his mind when seeing this archipelago. 6 Years after the discovery of the archipelago, in 1462, the Portuguese started building the first town, Riberira, on the island of Santiago. In 1587, the Cape Verde Islands became an official Portugese colony and ever since then, they used the archipelago as a lay-over for slave traffic between the African continent and America.
Since 1620, slaves have been employed in salt mines, where they processed the salt in mountainous areas, in order to make sure that pirates couldn’t attack in such areas. The salt trade made a fast-economic growth possible for the island, making Cape Verde seem a center of the trade.
Ever since, it only goes upwards with the archipelago. In 1975, Cape Verde has declared its independence, even though the fact that there had never been any war on the archipelago itself. In 2001 Cape Verde also positioned itself on the political map as they had their first prime minister from that year on. Since that political growth, the archipelago has started working on the level of tourism on the different island by building international airports, ports, roads, hotels...
...
Wikipedia