Boa Vista ( Portuguese for "good view"), also written as Boavista, is a desert-like island that belongs to the

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

Islands. At ,2010 Census Summary
/ref> it is the third largest island of the Cape Verde archipelago. The island of Boa Vista is closer to the

African continent Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

than all the other islands in Cape Verde, being the easternmost island of all. The distance between Boa Vista and Senegal is only 450 km. The capital of Boa Vista,

Sal Rei Sal Rei is a cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015

, is located in the north-western part of the island. Boa Vista is mainly known for its beaches, turtles and traditional music.

Geography

Boa Vista is the third largest island after Santo Antão and Santiago, with an area of 631.1 square kilometres. It is situated south of Sal and north of Maio. The island is generally flat, but it has numerous hills like

Monte Estância Monte Estância is a mountain in the southeastern part of the island Boa Vista in Cape Verde. At 387 m elevation, it is the island's highest point.Protected areas in the island of Boa Vista
- Municipality of Boa Vista, March 2013

Monte Santo António Monte Santo António is a mountain in the southwestern part of the island Boa Vista, Cape Verde, Boa Vista in Cape Verde. At elevation,Rocha Estância Rocha Estância is a mountain in the southwestern part of the island Boa Vista, Cape Verde, Boa Vista in Cape Verde, east of the village of Povoação Velha. Its elevation is 357 meters. It is part of a List of protected areas in Cape Verde, prote ...

Morro de Areia Morro de Areia Nature Reserve ( pt, Reserva Natural do Morro de Areia) is a nature reserve covering the southwestern coast of the island of Boa Vista in Cape Verde.Morro Negro Morro Negro is a hill located near the east coast of the island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde, Boa Vista, Cape Verde. Its elevation is 156 m. The nearest village is Cabeça dos Tarrafes, 5.5 km to the northwest. Turtle Nature Reserve The hill form ...

Monte Caçador Monte may refer to: Places Argentina * Argentine Monte, an ecoregion * Monte Desert * Monte Partido, a ''partido'' in Buenos Aires Province Italy * Monte Bregagno * Monte Cassino * Montecorvino (disambiguation) * Montefalcione Portugal * Monte ...

Pico Forcado A forcado () is a member of a group of men that performs the ''pega de cara'' or ''pega de caras'' ("face catch"), the final event in a typical Portuguese bullfight. The only Spanish-style bullfighting where forcados may also be present are Mexica ...

and Monte Vigia. Boa Vista is famous for its large beaches like

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

, Cabral, Chaves,

Ervatão Ervatão or Porto de Ervatão is a beach on the southeast coast of the island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde, Boa Vista in Cape Verde. At its eastern end is the headland ''Ponta de Ervatão''. Ervatão is part of the Turtle Nature Reserve (Portuguese: '' ...

, Gatas,

Santa Mónica Santa Mónica is a small town of San José Department in southern Uruguay. In 2004 it had a population of 2,561. It is connected to Montevideo by Route 1. Playa Pascual lies just to its southwest. Both Playa Pascual and Santa Mónica, along wit ...

and Varandinha. Its northernmost point is Ponta do Sol; its westernmost point

Ponta Varandinha Ponta Varandinha is a headland and the westernmost point of the island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde. To its north lies the beach Praia da Varandinha. The nearest village is Povoação Velha Povoação Velha is a village in the southwestern part o ...

. Its main river is the

Ribeira do Rabil Ribeira do Rabil is a seasonal stream in the central and western part of the island of Boa Vista in Cape Verde. It is 27 km long, and its basin area is .

, which has the largest basin area of all Cape Verde at .Estatísticas do Ambiente - 2016
Instituto Nacional de Estatística Boa Vista is also notable for its desert

Deserto de Viana The Deserto de Viana is a sand desert in the northwestern part of the island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde. It is situated east of the towns Rabil and Sal Rei, and west of Bofarreira. The desert itself is not a protected area, but it is adjacent to ...

and its dune fields. Boa Vista is surrounded by a number of uninhabited islets, the largest of which is

Ilhéu de Sal Rei Ilhéu de Sal Rei is an uninhabited islet near the coast of Boa Vista Island, Cape Verde. It is located southwest of the island capital Sal Rei. Its area is António de Noli and Diogo Gomes in 1460.Valor simbólico do centro histórico da Praia
Lourenço Conceição Gomes, Universidade Portucalense, 2008, p. 97 Until the end of the 16th century the only human activity on the island was breeding wild cattle. The island's first settlement, now known as

Povoação Velha Povoação Velha is a village in the southwestern part of the island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde.Sal Rei Sal Rei is a cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015

, which had been founded at the end of the 18th century. As did much of the Cape Verdean economy, the exploitation of salt on Boa Vista also relied largely on slavery. A Portuguese-British commission to end slavery was established in Boa Vista in 1842, but slavery was not completely abolished until 1876. Until 1935 the municipality of Boa Vista also covered the island of

Sal Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Ca ...

. In 1975, Cape Verde declared its independence. Clubhotel RIU Karamboa Boa Vista

Municipality

Administratively, the island of Boa Vista is covered by one municipality, '' Concelho da Boa Vista''. This municipality consists of two ''

freguesias ''Freguesia'' (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Port ...

'' (civil parishes): Santa Isabel and São João Baptista. The municipal seat is the city

Sal Rei Sal Rei is a cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015

. The island's two parishes are subdivided into 9 population zones for statistical purposes:

Politics

Since 2016, the local party BASTA is the ruling party of the municipality. The results of the latest elections, in 2016:Official results local elections 2016
, ''Boletim Oficial I Série, Número 53'', 23 September 2016

Population

In the 1830s, the population of Boa Vista was estimated at 4,000. In 2015 Boa Vista's population was 14,451. Most of the population live in Sal Rei, but there are also several smaller settlements with 10 to 100 people. With 23.3 inhabitants per km², it is the least-dense populated island in the archipelago. The population of Boa Vista consist of a mixture of different nationalities. The Creoles, of mixed mainland African and European descent are the biggest group of inhabitants, with no less than 70%, as a lot of Portuguese enter into a relation with the slaves of the African continent, during the colonization of Portugal, and settled in Boa Vista afterwards.

Economy

Before, the inhabitants of Boa Vista survived off salt collection and date farming. Nowadays they still earn money from date farming but also from tourism. A lot of people do work in this touristic sector as a taxi driver, an employee in one of the hotel chains or as a salesman of souvenirs in Sal Rei. The income from tourism has risen rapidly since the coming of the international airport in 2007. There are several hotels and beach resorts on the island.

Transport

The airport of Boa Vista is

Aristides Pereira International Airport Aristides Pereira International Airport (Portuguese ''Aeroporto Internacional Aristides Pereira'') is an airport in Cape Verde located on the island of Boa Vista, about 5 km southeast of the island capital Sal Rei. It is the third-busies ...

, about 5 km southeast of Sal Rei. There are ferry services from the port of Sal Rei. The island has 64 km of national roads, the single first class national road connects

Sal Rei Sal Rei is a cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015

and

Rabil Rabil is a townCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015

.Classification of National Roads
(Santo Antão, São Vicente, São Nicolau, Sal, Boa Vista), Instituto de Estradas

Nature

Boa Vista is not as abundant in flora and fauna as the other larger or more humid islands such as Santiago and Santo Antão; only 3% of its area is forested. However, 37% of its area is a protected area, which is the highest proportion of all inhabited Cape Verde islands. There are 14 protected areas on Boa Vista, including beaches that are important nesting areas for loggerhead sea turtles and birds. There are several endemic species, e.g.

Boa Vista wall gecko The Boa Vista wall gecko (''Tarentola boavistensis'') is a species of geckos in the family Phyllodactylidae. The species is endemic to Cape Verde, where it occurs on the island of Boa Vista. The specific name ''boavistensis'' refers to the type ...

(''Tarentola boavistensis''), ''

Conus boavistensis ''Conus boavistensis'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family (biology), family Conidae, the Conus, cone snails and their allies. Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are predatory and venomous. ...

'', ''

Conus salreiensis ''Conus crotchii'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family (biology), family Conidae, the Conus, cone snails and their allies. Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are predatory and venomous. The ...

'') and ''

Plesiocystiscus bubistae ''Plesiocystiscus bubistae'' is a species of very small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family (biology), family Cystiscidae. Description The shell size varies between 1.5 mm and 2.3 mm. Distribution Thi ...

''.

Gallery

File:bubista.jpg, Boa Vista landscape. File:Praia de Cabral.JPG, Praia de Cabral, Boa Vista, Cape Verde File:Cape_verde_boa_vista_sal_rei_2048x1536px.jpg, The capital,

Sal Rei Sal Rei is a cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015

File:Curral Velho, Cape Verde.jpg, Ruins of the abandoned village '' Curral Velho''. File:Sal Rei Beach.jpg,

Sal Rei Sal Rei is a cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015

beach

Sports

There are several football clubs on Boa Vista, organised in the

Boa Vista Regional Football Association Boa Vista Regional Football Association (Portuguese: ''Associação Regional de Futebol da Boa Vista'', abbreviation: ''ARFBV'',) is a football (soccer) association covering the island of Boa Vista . It is headquartered in the island capital of S ...

Notable residents

Aristides Pereira Aristides Maria Pereira (; 17 November 1923 – 22 September 2011) was a Cape Verdean politician. He was the first President of Cape Verde, serving from 1975 to 1991. Biography Pereira was born in Fundo das Figueiras, on the island of Boa Vi ...

, Cape Verde's first president * Germano Almeida, a Cape Verdean writerEducom.sce.fct.unl.pt

References

External links

Tourist site, Boavista Official

Câmara Municipal da Boa Vista
{{Authority control Municipalities of Cape Verde Islands of Cape Verde