São Nicolau (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

for ''

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (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 Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

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

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

. 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 Tarrafal may refer to several locations in Cape Verde: * Tarrafal, Cape Verde, a town on the island of Santiago * Tarrafal, Cape Verde (municipality), a municipality on the island of Santiago * Tarrafal de São Nicolau, Cape Verde, a town on the ...

History

The island was discovered in 1461 or 1462 by

Diogo Afonso Diogo Afonso ( fl. 15th century) was a Portuguese explorer. Biography He took part in several explorations in the northwest and west coast of Africa which were made by Prince Henry. In 1444, he commanded a ship which had other explorers includ ...

, 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 The Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde ( la, Dioecesis Sancti Iacobi Capitis Viridis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Cape Verde. It covers the islands of Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava (the Sota ...

between 1786 and 1943. The roadstead of

became an anchorage for

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

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 but is subject to

drought A drought is defined as 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, an ...

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 Monte Bissau is a mountain in the central part of the island of São Nicolau in Cape Verde. It is situated 3 km southwest of Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English ...

and

Pico de Alberto Pico de Alberto is a mountain in the eastern part of São Nicolau island in Cape Verde. Its elevation is 598 m. The mountain's summit is located south of the village Juncalinho. References Alberto Alberto is the Romance languages, Roman ...

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 Nossa Senhora do Rosário is a civil parish and most populated area in the municipality of Lagoa, on the island of São Miguel, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. With a population of 5396 inhabitants in 2011, the parish covers an area ...

São Francisco de Assis São Francisco de Assis, Portuguese for Saint Francis of Assisi, may refer to: * São Francisco de Assis, Rio Grande do Sul, municipality in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * São Francisco de Assis do Piauí, municipality in the State of Pi ...

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 São Nicolau Airport ( pt, Aeródromo de São Nicolau) is the domestic airport of the island of São Nicolau, Cape Verde. It is located 3 km north of the village Preguiça and about 3 km south of the island capital Ribeira Brava. Th ...

, located between Ribeira Brava and Preguiça. There is a port at

, 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 as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

(Praia).Cabo Verde Fast Ferry's website
/ref>

Notable residents

* Teofilo Chantre (b. 1964), musician *

Baltasar Lopes da Silva Baltasar Lopes da Silva ( Caleijão, São Nicolau, 23 April 1907 - Lisbon, Portugal, 28 May 1989) was a writer, poet and linguist from Cape Verde, who wrote in both Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole. With Manuel Lopes and Jorge Barbosa, he w ...

(1907 - 1989), writer * José Lopes da Silva (pseudonym: ''Gabrial Mariano'', (1928–2003), poet and essayist *

Antónia Pusich Antónia Gertrudes Pusich (1 October 1805 – 6 October 1883) was a Portuguese poet, dramaturgist, journalist, pianist and composer. Biography She was born on the Island of São Nicolau, which used to be part of Portuguese Cape Verde. Daughter ...

, Portuguese poet, journalist, pianist and compositor of Croatian origin, daughter of the colonial governor António Pusich *

António Maria de Bettencourt Rodrigues Antonio Maria Bettencourt Rodrigues (São Nicolau, Portuguese Cape Verde, March 5, 1854 – Monte Estoril ( Cascais), 1933) was a doctor, Portuguese diplomat and politician. Family He was the youngest son of José Júlio Rodrigues ( Salvado ...

(1854-1933), doctor, diplomat and politician

References

External links

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