Boa Vista, Cape Verde

Boa Vista (Portuguese meaning “good view”) is the easternmost island of Cape Verde. It is located in the Barlavento group of the archipelago. The island is known for marine turtles and traditional music, as well as its ultramarathon and its sand dunes and beaches.

Geography

With an area of 620 km², it is the third largest island, after Santo Antão and Santiago. It is 455 km west of the coast of Africa. Much of the island is flat. The highest point on the island is Monte Estância, elevation 387 meters; other mountains include Santo António (Saint Anthony) and Monte Negro (Black Mountain). Other features include Campo da Serra. Its main town is Sal Rei, its ferry port and home to Boa Vista's airport on the northwest side of the island.

Surrounding islets include Ilhéu de Sal Rei featuring a lighthouse in the west, and Ilhéu do Baluate featuring the easternmost point in Cape Verde. Points include Ponta Antónia to the north.

ettlements

*Baforeira
*Cabeço dos Tarrafes
*Curral Velho
*Estância de Baixo
*Fundo das Figueiras
*Gata
*João Barreiro
*João Galego
*Norte
*Povoação Velha
*Rabil
*Sal Rei
*Santo Tirso

Population

While most of the population live in Sal Rei, there are many small settlements with 10 to 100 people; others are abandoned. It has the smallest population of all of inhabited Cape Verde’s islands, and it is the least-dense populated in the archipelago.

Economy

Its economy was originally based on agriculture, but desertification led to salt collection becoming more important. Its main industries today are date farming and tourism.

Administrative division

The whole island of Boa Vista makes up the Boa Vista Municipality.

Parishes

The municipality includes two parishes:
*Santa Isabel
*São João Baptista

porting teams

*Academica (Sal-Rei) - Sal-Rei
*Académica Operária
*África Show
*Desportivo Estância Baixo
*Juventude do Norte
*Sanjoanense (Boa Vista)

Persons

*Aristides Pereira, Cape Verde's first president
*Germano Almeida, a Capeverdean writer [http://educom.sce.fct.unl.pt/proj/casa-comum/2/biblioteca/autor.php?id=94]

Other

Boa Vista has a college ("colegio"), a middle school, high school, churches, beaches, a hotel, a port, and a square ("praça").

External links

* [http://www.boavistaexperience.com information from BoaVistaExperience.com]
* [http://www.caboverde.com/ilhas/yboav-it.htm information on Boa Vista from CaboVerde.com]
* [http://www.mindelo.info/forum/album_cat.php?cat_id=6 French site with more than 2500 photos]
* [http://www.bela-vista.net/Boa-Vista-Map-e.htm Maps of Boa Vista (scale: 1:50:000)]
* [http://www.bela-vista.net/Boa-Vista-Reviere-e.htm Hiking Guide Boa Vista]
* [http://www.boavistacv.com/EngCapeVerde.htm Informations about Cape Verde and Boa Vista]

*Map and aerial photos:
**Street
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=-22.09&longitude=15.81&zoom=6 Street map from Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/map.aspx?&lats1=-22.09&lons1=15.81&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=15.81,-22.09 Google]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=15.81,-22.09&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] - image not yet available
*Coordinates: coord|15|5|33|N|22|48|39|W|region:CV