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Boa Vista ( Portuguese for "good view"), sometimes incorrectly spelled Boavista, is a desert-like island that belongs to the
/ref> it is the third largest island of the Cape Verde archipelago. The island of Boa Vista is closer to the
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
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 ...
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. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
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, , 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
Instituto Nacional de Estatística Boa Vista is also notable for its desert
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
, ''Boletim Oficial I Série, Número 53'', 23 September 2016
(Santo Antão, São Vicente, São Nicolau, Sal, Boa Vista), Instituto de Estradas
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,
File:Curral Velho, Cape Verde.jpg, Ruins of the abandoned village '' Curral Velho''.
File:Sal Rei Beach.jpg, beach
Educom.sce.fct.unl.pt
Tourist site, Boavista Official
Câmara Municipal da Boa Vista
{{Authority control Municipalities of Cape Verde Islands of Cape Verde
- Municipality of Boa Vista, March 2013
Monte Santo António
Monte Santo António is a mountain in the southwestern part of the island Boa Vista in Cape Verde. At elevation,Rocha Estância
Rocha Estância is a mountain in the southwestern part of the island Boa Vista in Cape Verde, east of the village of Povoação Velha. Its elevation is 357 meters. It is part of a protected area (category ''Natural Monument'') covering 253 ha.
, Morro de Areia, Morro Negro, 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 and Monte Vigia.
Boa Vista is famous for its large beaches like Atalanta
Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology.
There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...
, Cabral, Chaves, Ervatão
Ervatão or Porto de Ervatão is a beach on the southeast coast of the island of Boa Vista in 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 ce ...
, 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 with ...
and Varandinha. Its northernmost point is Ponta do Sol
Ponta do Sol (; ) is a municipality in the southwestern coast of the island of Madeira, in the archipelago of Madeira. The population in 2011 was 8,862, in an area of .
History
The settlement of Ponta do Sol began shortly after the discovery of t ...
; 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 of ...
. 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 long, and its basin area is .
, which has the largest basin area of all Cape Verde at .Estatísticas do Ambiente - 2016Instituto 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
Antonio de Noli (born 1415 or possibly 1419) was a 15th-century Genoese nobleman and navigator, and the first governor of the earliest European overseas colony in Subsaharan Africa. He discovered some of the Cape Verde islands on behalf of Henry ...
and Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes () was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer.
Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim. They are an invaluable (if sometimes ...
in 1460.Valor simbólico do centro histórico da PraiaLourenço 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. In 1975, Cape Verde declared its independence.
Municipality
Administratively, the island of Boa Vista is covered by one municipality, ''Concelho
Concelho () is the Portuguese-language term for municipality, referring to the territorial subdivision in local government. In comparison, the word ''município'' () refers to the organs of State. This differentiation is still in use in Portugal ...
da Boa Vista''. This municipality consists of two ''freguesias
(), 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 Portuguese overs ...
'' (civil parishes): Santa Isabel and São João Baptista. The municipal seat is the city . 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 entered 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 anddate
Date or dates may refer to:
* Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
* Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba''
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activi ...
farming. Nowadays they still earn money from date farming but also from tourism. A lot of people work in the touristic sector as taxi drivers, employees in the various hotel chains or as souvenir salesmen in Sal Rei. The income from tourism has risen rapidly since the international airport opened in 2007. There are several hotels and beach resorts on the island.
Transport
The airport of Boa Vista isAristides 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 southeast of the island capital Sal Rei. It is the third-busiest airpor ...
, 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 and Rabil.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 forloggerhead sea turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of sea turtle, oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around ...
s 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 salreiensis'', and ''Plesiocystiscus bubistae
''Plesiocystiscus bubistae'' is a species of very small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Cystiscidae.
Description
The shell size varies between 1.5 mm and 2.3 mm.
Distribution
This species occurs i ...
''.
Gallery
Sports
There are several football clubs on Boa Vista, organised in the Boa Vista Regional Football Association.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 Vist ...
, Cape Verde's first president
*Germano Almeida
Germano Almeida (; born 31 July 1945) is a Cape Verdean author and lawyer.
Biography
Born on the Cape Verdean island Boa Vista, Almeida studied law at the University of Lisbon and currently practices in Mindelo. His novels have been translat ...
, a Cape Verdean writerReferences
External links
Tourist site, Boavista Official
Câmara Municipal da Boa Vista
{{Authority control Municipalities of Cape Verde Islands of Cape Verde