Saint Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
. It is located on the south coast, about 16 km south of the
Amílcar Cabral International Airport
Amílcar Cabral International Airport , also known as Sal International Airport, is the main international airport of Cape Verde. The airport is named after the revolutionary leader Amílcar Cabral. It is located west-southwest from Espargos ...
, and 20 km south of the island capital
Espargos
Espargos (Portuguese language, Portuguese for "asparagus") is the capital and main commercial centre of the island and municipality of Sal, Cape Verde, Sal, Cape Verde. The city
Santa Maria was founded in 1830 for the production of salt. Up to 30,000 tons of salt were shipped from Santa Maria each year. A pier was built in the area of Ponta de Vera Cruz and a small rail track was built to carry the salt to the pier. Most of the product was exported to Brazil, which was halted in 1887 when Brazil imposed a high tax on imported salt to protect its own salt production. The town went into a deep decline, only to recover in 1920 when a Portuguese investor resumed salt production. This continued until 1984. In 1935, Santa Maria was elevated from a village to a town.
In 1967, Belgian industrialists and engineers Georges Vynckier and Marguerite Massart opened Cape Verde's first resort hotel named Morabeza. After 1986, tourism became an important industry on the island, and many resorts and hotels were built in the southern and southwestern coastal areas near Santa Maria. In 2017, 48.2% of the country's available beds were on the island of Sal.
Santa Maria has an arid climate. The highest mean temperature is in September with 27°C and its lowest is in January with 22°C. Annual rainfall is very minimal at 76 mm, the wettest is 33 mm in September and the driest are 0 mm from the months of March to June. Its total average of rainy days is only three. Water temperature ranges from 23 in winter months to 26 in summer and fall months. Humidity ranges from 70% in January, 75% during the summer months and in October to 77% in September.
Notable people
*
Miguel Dias
Miguel Brito dos Reis Dias (born April 1, 1968, in Santa Maria, Cape Verde, Santa Maria) is a retired boxing, boxer from The Netherlands, who was born on Cape Verde. He represented the Netherlands at the Boxing at the 1992 Summer Olympics, 1 ...
, boxer, immigrated to the Netherlands and played for the Dutch team
* Rodirlei José Ascensão Duarte (better known as Rody), footballer
* Manuel Antonio Martins, founder of Santa Maria, colonial governor
*
Ruben Sança
Ruben Pascal Sança (born December 13, 1986) is a Cape Verdean long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. He attended and ran for the University of Massachusetts Lowell, after which he began training under Gary Gardner as a member of th ...