Sal Rei, Cape Verde
| Sal Rei | |
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Aerial view of Sal Rei
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| Coordinates: 16°10′37″N 22°55′05″W / 16.177°N 22.918°WCoordinates: 16°10′37″N 22°55′05″W / 16.177°N 22.918°W | |
| Country | Cape Verde |
| Island | Boa Vista |
| Municipality | Boa Vista |
| Civil parish | Santa Isabel |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 5,778 |
| Postal code | 5110 |
Sal Rei is a town on the northwestern coast of the island of Boa Vista in eastern Cape Verde. Sal Rei is the island's main urban settlement, and the seat of the Boa Vista Municipality. Its 2010 population was 5,778. Sal Rei has been island capital since the mid 1800s. The name of the settlement means "Salt King" in Portuguese. This name stems from when the island's main industry was salt production, saltpans lies north of the town, urban development now built into some of the saltpans.
Sal Rei has a port on the bay and has ferry routes to the islands of Santiago (Praia), Sal (Santa Maria) and Maio (Vila do Maio). The port was very tiny, it was expanded in 1993 and was expanded again in 2015. West of the port, the small islet of Ilhéu de Sal Rei, which is mainly sandy and grassy, lies in the harbor.
Tourism is a major industry of Sal Rei in the area of Praia de Cabral, new hotels popped up in the south and southeast of town and more of it along with villas further north along the ocean even inside its saltpans.
Subdivisions include the Historic center, the western portion (Oeste e Porto da Ilha), Ilhéu de Sal Rei, Barracas (also as Barracas ou Setor Norte) which is predominantly low-class, Praia de Cabral, the industrial northeast (Área Industrial), the eastern portion and the poorest portion of the city further east (sometimes as Bairro Novo do Este).
The town was founded in the saltpans of Boa Vista. In 1815 and 1817, the town was sacked by pirates, Forte Duque de Bragança was built on the nearby island to defend the town from further pirate attacks. In the early and mid 20th century the town was affected by emigration together with the whole island and Cape Verde which was led by droughts and famines.
The population has been growing large since the 1990s and gigantically since 2010 and recently surpassed the 6,000 mark, in percentage, the fastest growing town in Cape Verde. Windmills constructed roughly 3 to 4 kilometers north in 2008, also the town's perimeter road was completed. In the 2010s, the island's port started its enlargement and was completed in 2015. At the subdivision of Barracas dominated by low cost housing, the government constructed fair housing known as "A House for All" ("Casa para Todos") in November 2013 which would relocate 600 people and provide all the people with basic service with water, sewage and electricity.Hurricane Fred struck the island in August 31, 2015, the island's cell service was cut off as the hurricane toppled a transmission tower in the north.
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