Santa Maria (Portuguese for Saint Mary) is situated in the southern part of the island municipality of Sal, Cape Verde which has recently became a fishing and touristic city. Santa Maria is located about 16 km south of the Amílcar Cabral International Airport, and 20 km south of the island capital Espargos. Until 2007, its geography only parts are composed of small barren grasslands surrounding the town and Ponta de Leme Velho, sand dunes with saline marshes dominated the rest of the area. The duneless part of Sal is more than 2 km northwest. The length of the portion of the island around the city for 4 km is no longer than about 3.5 km.
Video Santa Maria, Cape Verde
About the city
The church of Nossa Senhora das Dores is located in town and serves as the seat of the parish. The main square is named Marcelo Leitão, another is Manuel Martins located further east, named after the founder of the place and the lesser Praçetas Ribeira Grande and Tarrafal de São Nicolau. Rua Amílcar Cabral is its main street, secondary streets include Rua 1 de Junho, Salinas, Patrice Lumumba and João de Deus Maximiano.
It has two points, Ponta do Sinó in the southwest which is also the island's southernmost point with its own lighthouse, Ponta de Vera Cruz with its own lighthouse and the in the southeast side known as Ponta Preta do Sul. Around a kilometer north of the center is the Santa Maria Saltpans, road tracks are in grid plan running 75 degrees towards the east, it is also a protected countryside Further north, made in the late 2000s, is the solar electricity generating station and serves the whole island, since the early 2010s, it is the only source of electricity on the island.
The only foreign consulate in Santa Maria is the French consulate of the island of Sal.
It is the city where the island's newspaper Oceanpress has its offices.
Subdivisions
Some of its subdivisions are:
- Algodeiro
- City center
- Cabocan
- Ponta Preta
- Ponta do Sinó
- Porto Antigo/Ponta de Vera Cruz
- Zona Este
- Zona Norte: Salinas
Maps Santa Maria, Cape Verde
History
Santa Maria was founded in 1835 for the production of sea salt, in its early years, 30,000 tons of salt were shipped from Santa Maria.A pier was built in the area of Ponta de Vera Cruz which a lighthouse was later built. Later, a small rail track was built to carry the salt to the pier. Most of the product was exported to Brazil, which was halted in 1887 when Brazil imposed a high tax on imported salt to protect its own salt production. The town went into a deep decline, only to recover in 1920 when Portuguese and French investors resumed salt production, one of them J.A. Nascimento and the companies the Cape Verdean Salt Company (Compagnie Salines du Cap-Vert) and the Societé Salins Sal (SSS). During that time, a lighthouse was built in 1892 at Ponta do Sinó. In the 1890s, magnesium was the second most produced product on the island which lasted to 1907, afterwards, most of the island's inhabitants left, those who stayed would be herds for the cattle or fishing, they produced to other islands and to the Island of São Tomé.
In 1920, Companhia do Fomento de Cabo Verde which made up a large part of the ownership of the city's port was shortly dissolved. When they visited the village, they found its houses and buildings in ruins, also occurring in parts of nearby Boa Vista at the time. Even the houses especially the two-storey ones once inhabited by earlier salt owners and employees were pleasant but poorly constructed, they were crumbling and deteriorating.
In 1927, its short railway and embarkation pier were renovated. Later, salt started to be exported to the Belgian Congo which remained until the nation became independent as Congo-Kinshasa in 1961 and nationalized its salt production. On 20 April 1935, Santa Maria was elevated from a village to a town. Well-built houses started to be built in the second half of the 20th century, also that time, the population started to boom. In 1967, Belgian Georges Vynckier opened Cape Verde's first resort hotel named Morabeza. Salt production started to fell and further production lasted until 1984. Also its small rail track became abandoned and nothing is left of the former tracks. After independence in 1977, Espargos replaced Santa Maria as the capital of the island. The town once served ferry routes with Boa Vista. Starting in the 1990s, tourism become an important industry on the island, causing it to grow in 2004, and stretch up to about 4 km along the west shore. Many resorts and hotels, including the Riu hotels resorts Riu Garopa and Riu Funana, both of which include restaurants, are situated near Santa Maria. The town's pier has recently been renovated along with its lighthouse, a restaurant named Farolim is located next to the lighthous The Senegalese began to form a small majority. Foreigners began to spend their vacation at the villas during the peak months of tourism.e. In 2013, 40% of the country's available beds were in Santa Maria. The addition of hotels and villas began to slow in the northwesternmost portion in 2014 and planned streets and buildings remained in the northern part. The economic crisis in most of southern Europe lowered overall tourism, most likely causing the slow down in the expansion of the tourism industry for a short time. In 2015, more hotels and villas constructed especially in where the older Ponta do Sinó Lighthouse was located, recently tourism continued to soar in 2016.
On April 7, Santa Maria planned to become a seat of its own municipality, mostly due to the massive population growth, Nossa Senhora dos Dores will not exclude Espargos and Palmeira, no date has been set. This new municipality would include Santa Maria and Murdeira. In recent years, Santa Maria was elevated from a fishing and salt town to a city.
Historical population
Points of interests
The city's main square is named Marcelo Leitão, the square features a small wooden windmill surrounded by gates and native plants Its main streets are Amílcar Cabral, 1 de Maio, 15 de Augusto and Hotelares.
Climate
Santa Maria has a desert like climate. The highest temperature is in August with 28C and its lowest is in January with 22C. Annual rainfall is 286 mm, the wettest is 137 mm in September and the driest are nothing from the months of March to June. Its total average of rainy days is only three. Water temperature ranges from 23 in winter months to 26 in summer and fall months. Humidity ranges from 70% in January, 75% during the summer months and in October to 77% in September.
Panoramics
Panoramics include the southern portion of the island including Monte Leão and the mountains of the east of the island. Boa Vista can rarely be seen.
Nature
Rare flora on the island includes the Cape Verde wild asparagus (Asparagus squarrosus) as well as Arthrocnemum franzii, founded in nearby Ponta do Sinó. Fauna including ones endangered such as Boa Vista and Darwin's wall gecko, two Chioninia species and Tarentola rudis were dominant in the area but has largely disappeared within the southermnost area due to developments, birds are dominant including the Iago sparrow (or Cape Verde sparrow), the native and some other non-native birds. Insects are also founded such as moths and spiders including two Pellenes species, one that was first founded in the area known as Pellenes marionis. Around its shores, marine fauna such as sharks, fishes and sea turtles are found, a species of combtooth blenny known as the Sal combtooth blenny (Parablennius salensis) are founded.
Sports
Its football (soccer) club includes the island's oldest, SC Santa Maria and GD Palmeira, since the early 2010s, all plays in the homonymous municipal stadium (common name: Djidjuca) located northwest of the island. Recently new clubs, at a lesser level based in Santa Maria are ASGUI and Florença, who first played their competition in 2015.
Diving, surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing are popular on its beaches. Santa Maria and Sal Rei are the most dominant locations for surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing in the nation.
Notable people
- Miguel Dias, boxer, immigrated to the Netherlands and played for the Dutch team
- Rodirlei José Ascensão Duarte (better known as Rody), footballer
- Manuel Antonio Martins, founder of Santa Maria, colonial governor
- Rúben Sança, athlete
See also
- List of cities in Cape Verde
References
External links
- Santa Maria Photos from Santa Maria
Source of article : Wikipedia
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