Santo Antão ( Portuguese for " Saint Anthony") is the northwesternmost island of

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 ...

. At , it is the largest of the Barlavento Islands group, and the second largest island of Cape Verde.Cabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015
Instituto Nacional de Estatística The nearest island is São Vicente to the southeast, separated by the sea channel Canal de São Vicente. Its population was 38,200 in mid 2019,Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Cabo Verde (web). making it the fourth most populous island of Cape Verde after

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, São Vicente and Sal. Its largest city is Porto Novo located on the southern coast (population 9,310 in 2010).

Geography

Santo Antão is long (east-west) and wide (north-south). The island is of volcanic origin and very mountainous, characterized by two high plateaus and several steep river valleys. The southern part of the island has a

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

, while the northeast and the higher elevations are

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

Rivers

The main rivers of Santo Antão are: * Ribeira de Alto Mira * Ribeira da Cruz * Ribeira da Garça *

Ribeira Grande Ribeira Grande may refer to the following places: Cape Verde * Ribeira Grande (stream), a stream on the island of Santo Antão * Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde, a town on the island of Santo Antão * Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde (municipality), a municip ...

Ribeira da Janela Ribeira da Janela is a civil parish () in the municipality of Porto Moniz in the Portuguese islands of Madeira. The population in 2011 was 228, in an area of 18.48 km2.Ribeira do Paul * Ribeira das Patas * Ribeira da Torre

Mountains

The tallest mountain is Tope de Coroa, reaching an elevation of 1,979 m. Other high mountains on the island are Monte Tomé (1,863 m), Gudo de Cavaleiro (1,810 m), Monte Moroços (1,767 m) and Pico da Cruz (1,584 m).

Climate

Santo Antão island has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: BWh) in Sinagoga and Porto Novo and a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(

: BSk) in Espongeiro. The island features very balanced temperatures year round higher on the slopes (~ 800 metres ASL) to cool highland subtropical steppe climate ''BskL'' above 1,000 metres ASL. The average annual temperature on the coast is about , decreasing to some on the highest grounds. There can be remarkably cool weather in the interior with warmer wet season starting in July and ending in December–January with colder dry season starting in December–January and ending in June. The major climate risk, similarly to other Cape Verdean islands, yet much less pronounced in the higher altitudes due to better ability in gaining moisture from clouds, is drought.

History

The island was discovered in 1461 or 1462 by Diogo Afonso, together with the islands of São Vicente and São Nicolau.Valor simbólico do centro histórico da Praia
Lourenço Conceição Gomes, Universidade Portucalense, 2008 Settlement of the island started in the first half of the 16th century. The main settlement was

. Other settlements such as Ponta do Sol, Pombas and Porto Novo developed in the 19th century. In 1732 the Municipality of Santo Antão was created, with its seat in the town Ribeira Grande. In 1867 this was divided into the municipality of Paul (covering the area of current Paul and Porto Novo) and the municipality of Ribeira Grande. These were merged in 1895 into one municipality. The municipalities of Paul and Ribeira Grande were recreated in 1917.Inventário dos recursos turísticos do município do Paúl
Direcção Geral do Turismo, p. 16 The municipality of Porto Novo was created in 1962 when the parishes of São João Baptista and

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

were separated from the older Municipality of Paul.

Population

In the 1830s, the estimated population of Santo Antão was 24,000.

Economy

Fishing and agriculture are the main industries on the island.

Agriculture

The island's agriculture products include

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

, yams,

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

es, and

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

. The main product on the island is a kind of

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...

known as '' grogue''. Mills continue to distill grogue in the Paul Valley. Due to its mountainous nature, most of the island's plantations are done in terraces, obviating the use of machinery and requiring immense manual labor. Recently, some experiences using

drip irrigation Drip irrigation or trickle irrigation is a type of micro-irrigation system that has the potential to save water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surfac ...

have been taking place in order to mitigate the drought conditions. The exportation of many of the island's agriculture products to other islands has been prohibited for nearly two decades because of the millipede ( Spinotarsus caboverdus)

blight Blight is a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. Description Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs. A ...

, but the

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

was lifted in 2008.

Tourism

Tourism is becoming one of the most dominant industries on the island. There has been some investment in Rural tourism infrastructures.

Hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

Trekking Backpacking is the outdoor recreation of carrying gear on one's back while hiking for more than a day. It is often an extended journey and may involve camping outdoors. In North America, tenting is common, where simple shelters and mountain hu ...

and Cultural tourism account for most of the touristic offer of this island.

Administrative divisions

The island is divided in three municipalities, which are subdivided into civil parishes: *

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

CV-PA ** Santo António das Pombas * Porto Novo CV-PN ** São João Baptista **

CV-RG ** Nossa Senhora do Rosário ** Nossa Senhora do Livramento ** Santo Crucifixo ** São Pedro Apóstolo

Nature

Santo Antão has 50 endangered species of flora which has the most number in the nation. Several flora found in the island that are also found in some parts of the archipelago includes '' Aeonium gorgoneum'', '' Artemisia gorgonum'', '' Campanula jacobaea'', the ''Conyza'' species of '' feae'', '' pannosa'' and '' varia'', '' Echium stenosiphon'', '' Kickxia webbiana'', '' Lavandula rotundifolia'', '' Limonium braunii'', '' Micromeria forbesii'', '' Sonchus daltonii'', Capeverdean navelwort ('' Umbilicus schmidtii'') and '' Verbascum capitis-viridis''. Flora found only in the island include '' Tornabenea insularis'' and '' ribeirensis''. Santo Antão has different species of birds including the Cape Verde (Iago) sparrow, reptiles including the Cape Verde wall gecko and insects including the spider '' Tetragnatha torrensis'', the moth '' Scopula paneliusi'' and the water bear '' Echiniscus clavispinosus''. The island does not have a lot of animal life comparing to other islands. Along its shores, most of the marine life are within Canal de São Vicente.

Culture

Other than Portuguese (official language), the majority of the population speaks

Cape Verdean Creole Cape Verdean Creole is a Portuguese-based creole languages, Portuguese-based creole language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde. It is the native creole language of virtually all Cape Verdeans and is used as a second language by the Cape Verd ...

Notable people

* Jorge Ferreira Chaves (1920–1982), Portuguese architect * Leão Lopes (b. 1948), writer, professor and entertainment director * Gabriel Mariano, essayist, novelist and poet * Luís Romano de Madeira Melo, composer * Manuel de Novas, songwriter * Roberto Duarte Silva (1837–1889), chemist * Antoninho Travadinha,

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist * Dina Salústio, teacher, poet, writer and journalist

External links

University of Massachusetts
- information and images from Santo Antão

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santo Antao, Cape Verde Islands of Cape Verde