São Nicolau ( Portuguese for ''

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

'') is one of the Barlavento (Windward) islands 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 ...

. It is located between the islands of Santa Luzia and Sal. Its population is 12,424 (2015),Cabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015
Instituto Nacional de Estatística with an area of . The main towns are Ribeira Brava and Tarrafal de São Nicolau.

History

The island was discovered in 1461 or 1462 by Diogo Afonso, together with the islands of São Vicente and Santo Antão.Valor simbólico do centro histórico da Praia
Lourenço Conceição Gomes, Universidade Portucalense, 2008 It was first settled in the seventeenth century. The settlement ''Porto de Lapa'' was abandoned in 1653 due to pirate attacks, and the town Ribeira Brava was founded in the interior.Inventário dos recursos turísticos do município de Ribeira Brava de São Nicolau
Direcção Geral do Turismo It was the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde between 1786 and 1943. The roadstead of Tarrafal de São Nicolau became an anchorage for

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

ships in the 19th century. It is now the largest settlement of the island.Inventário dos recursos turísticos do município do Tarrafal de São Nicolau
Direcção Geral do Turismo

Geography

The mountainous island is mostly

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

but is subject to

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

s, especially in the lower lying areas. The highest point on the island is Monte Gordo (1,312 m), in the western half of the island. The eastern part is a chain of lower mountains, including Monte Bissau and Pico de Alberto.

Administrative divisions

The island is divided in two municipalities, which are subdivided into civil parishes: * Ribeira Brava ** Nossa Senhora da Lapa ** Nossa Senhora do Rosário * Tarrafal de São Nicolau **

São Francisco de Assis SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

Before 2005, the island was administrated as one municipality: São Nicolau.

Demography

In the 1830s, São Nicolau had an estimated population of 5,000.

Transportation

The island has a domestic airport, São Nicolau Airport, located between Ribeira Brava and Preguiça. There is a port at Tarrafal de São Nicolau, with ferry connections to the islands of São Vicente (Mindelo) and

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 ...

(Praia).Cabo Verde Fast Ferry's website
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Notable residents

* Cesária Évora (1941-2011), famed musician * Teofilo Chantre (b. 1964), musician * Baltasar Lopes da Silva (1907 - 1989), writer * José Lopes da Silva (pseudonym: ''Gabrial Mariano'', (1928–2003), poet and essayist * Antónia Pusich, Portuguese poet, journalist, pianist and compositor of Croatian origin, daughter of the colonial governor António Pusich * António Maria de Bettencourt Rodrigues (1854-1933), doctor, diplomat and politician

References

External links

caboverde.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sao Nicolau, Cape Verde Islands of Cape Verde