Ribeira Principal

Ribeira Principal

The small valley (or dale) of Principal
Country Cape Verde
Basin features
Main source Serra da Malagueta
Santiago Island, Cape Verde
900 m (3,000 ft)
River mouth between Achada Fazenda and Pedra Badejo
15°12′15″N 23°40′07″W / 15.2043°N 23.6686°W / 15.2043; -23.6686
Basin size 16 km2 (6.2 sq mi)
Physical characteristics
Length 8 km (5.0 mi)

Ribeira Principal is a stream located in the mid-north of the island of Santo Antão in Cape Verde flowing exclusively in the municipality of São Miguel. The stream flows south in the southern interior and is about 8 km in length, the westernmost of the basin area is in the municipality of Tarrafal with two small streams emptying into Principal. The stream has some tributaries. During dry days especially in the Spring and Summer, the stream is predominantly dry. The Caminho de Ribeira Principal runs within much of the stream but not in the steepest areas at the uppermost part.

The etymology is being the main river of the north of the island, actually there are about five main rivers of the north pf the island, the others are Ribeira Grande do Norte de Santiago and Ribeira do Flamengos.

The middle of Ribeira Principal
A distillery for making grogue, Ribeira Principal being one of two notable grogue producing areas of the island and one of a couple in the country

Geography

The stream starts in the Serra da Malagueta mountains inside its natural park and east of the municipality of Santa Catarina and the Praia-Assomada-Tararfal Road (EN1-ST01). The stream's source is around 900 meters elevation, it descends and flows north and then northeast at the area east of where the three municipalities meet. The river enters the village of Ribeira Principal and into one of its two settlements, Chão de Horta, also its river road runs on and within the stream, then it enters the village center Hortelão. The river flows left and then north at the area of Achada Monte and its settlement of Porto Formoso sobre Ribeira Principal, the river crosses Praia-Pedra Badejo-Tarrafal Road (EN1-ST02) and empties into the Atlantic a few hundred meters north.

Geology

Its geology of the dale or a small valley are a part of the Flamengos rock formation. It is composed of basalt, basanite and basanitoids out of volcanic eruptions of nearby Pico da Antónia or Serra Malagueta. Its rocks date to the miocene and pliocene periods.[1] Its rock formation dominate the north of the island.[2]

History

During the Ice Age, the stream was about a kilometer longer and was about 10 km it shortened to 17 km around 2000 BC. During the Ice Age, the river flowed around to the northeast for another kilometer from its current location before emptying into the Atlantic.

Before the island and the stream were explored by António da Noli in 1460, its landscape were forested and had shrubs in the area, the upper parts were barren. The area was first settled by settlers and much of its slaves around the early to mid 16th century.

The stream was included in the municipality of Santa Catarina until 1913 and Tarrafal until 1993.

In early 2014, the recent torrential downpour flooded a stream area causing minor damages and a part of the small road cut off or covered in mud.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the chief industry of the Ribeira Principal area. Its most notable and produced good is grogue, a distilled drink, made from its sugar mills and distilleries of the valley, one of the two most notable on the island and also being one of several. Also its second crop,cotton and corn (maize) are produced.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Republic of Cape Verde, p. 31
  2. ↑ Holm, P. M. (2008). An 40Ar-39Ar study of the Cape Verde hot spot: temporal evolution in a semistationary plate environment. 113. J. Geophys. Res. p. B08201.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ribeira Principal.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.