Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Cape Verde

Ribeira Grande de Santiago
Municipality

Municipal hall of Ribeira Grande de Santiago
Coordinates: 14°58′N 23°38′W / 14.97°N 23.64°W / 14.97; -23.64Coordinates: 14°58′N 23°38′W / 14.97°N 23.64°W / 14.97; -23.64
Country Cape Verde
Island Santiago
Area
 • Total 137.3 km2 (53.0 sq mi)
Population (2010)[1]
 • Total 8,323
 • Density 61/km2 (160/sq mi)
Postal code 79xx

Ribeira Grande de Santiago is a concelho (municipality) of Cape Verde. It is situated in the southwestern part of the island of Santiago. Its seat is the town Cidade Velha. Its population was 8,323 at the 2010 census[1] and is 18th in population. The area is 137.3 km², the twelfth largest in Cape Verde.

Subdivisions

The municipality consists of two freguesias (civil parishes):

Geography

Its geography are nearly entirely mountainous, the southeast are dominated by the mountains, the northern part are mountainous, the western part features cliffs in the western part. One of the main streams of the area is Ribeira Grande de Santiago. The cliffs in the west were formed in around 73,000 BC as the 170 meter tall tsunami came from Fogo when the eastern part collapsed into the ocean, a part of the west of the island which were hilly and had not too many cliffs collapsed and eroded into the sea, land about 700 meters to 1 km wide and to 3 km was lost and its location was 100 meters from today's sea level, it did not cause major damage to the land around the modern municipality.[2]

History

The municipality was created in 2005, when two parishes of the older Municipality of Praia were separated to become the Municipality of Ribeira Grande de Santiago.

The old city of Ribeira Grande de Santiago (Cidade Velha) is one of the oldest European settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was an important port for the slave trade from West Africa to the Americas. The town has numerous protected significant buildings and ruins. The city and fort are listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Site since 2009.

The reservoir for Cidade Velha, Praia and the Southern Santiago Island Urban Area (the only two metropolitan areas in Cape Verde) started construction in around 2010 and finished on June 29, 2013, its location is 2 km north from Cidade Velha and nearly a kilometer from the hamlet of Salineiro.[3]

The volcanic clouds of the 2014–15 eruption of Fogo was seen in most of the municipality except for the mountains and most of its valleys in the north in late November and up to mid December.

Demography

Population of Ribeira Grande de Santiago (2000—2010)
2000[4] 2010[1]
9664 8323

Sport club

Its football (soccer) club in the municipality is Ribeira Grande and participates in the Santiago Island League South Zone, it is based in the area around Cidade Velha.

Politics

At the federal level, it belongs to the constituency of Santiago South,.

Municipal

Since 2008, the Movement for Democracy is the ruling party.

Municipal assembly

2008
% 		2008
seats 		2012
% 		2012
seats
Movement for Democracy50.8-52.77
PAICV45.6-456

Municipality

2008
% 		2008
seats 		2012
% 		2012
seats
Movement for Democracy49961.69
PAICV47.6034.3-

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "2010 Census results". Instituto Nacional de Estatística Cabo Verde (in Portuguese). 17 March 2014.
  2. ↑ Island Boulders Reveal Ancient Megatsunami, Nature, Retrieved 2015-10-06
  3. ↑ "Barragem de Salineiro é inaugurada hoje" [Salineiro Dam to Open Today]. A Semana (in Portuguese). 29 June 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  4. ↑ Source: projections from the Instituto Nacional de Estatísticas.
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