Santiago, Cape Verde

**Santiago** (Portuguese for “Saint James”), or ***Santiagu*** in Cape Verdean Creole, is the largest island of the Cape Verde archipelago. It is the most important agricultural centre and home to half the nation’s population. Praia, the capital of the country is in this island.

The Santiago island is part of the Macaronesia, a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean with similar ecosystems.

## History

The island was discovered in around 1460 by António de Noli (or António da Noli), a 15th-century nobleman and navigator from Genoa that worked for Henry the Navigator of Portugal. De Noli founded in 1462 the old capital of the islands, Ribeira Grande, now known as Cidade Velha.

## Population

(last national census), there were 273,919 people living in the island, giving it a population density of  inhabitants/km².

The largest city of the island is Praia, its capital, with a population, in 2010, of 131,602.

## Geography

Santiago is in the southern _Sotavento_ group of islands, at about  to the west of the island of Maio and at about  to the east of the island of Fogo.

The Santiago island has an area of ; it is  long, north to south, and about  wide, east to west.

The island is mountainous, although slightly flatter in the southeast. There are two volcanic mountain ranges:

- **Serra da Malagueta**, in the northern part of the island.
- **Serra do Pico de Antónia**, in the southern part of the island, from the southeast to the northwest. Here is the highest point of the island, Pico de Antónia,  high.

There are two natural parks in the island to protect the plants and animals in the two mountain ranges:
- _Parque Natural de Rui Vaz e Serra de Pico de Antónia_
- _Parque Natural de Serra da Malagueta_

### Climate

Praia, in the southeast coast, has a Tropical and Subtropical Desert climate (Köppen climate classification : **Bwh**).

The average temperature for the year in Praia is . The warmest month, on average, is August with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Praia is  8.3". The month with the most precipitation on average is August with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is March without any precipitation. There are an average of 49.0 days of precipitation, with the most precipitation occurring in September with 7.0 days and the least precipitation occurring in December with 2.0 days.

## Administration

The Santiago island is divided in 9 municipalities (_conselhos_) and 10 parishes (_freguesias_).

|CGN-CV code|_Conselho_|ISO 3166-2 code|Capital|width=70px|Area <small>(km²)</small>|Population <small>(2002)</small>|Density|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|71|Tarrafal|CV-TA|Tarrafal|120.82|18,565|||
|72|Santa Catarina|CV-CA|Assomada|242.57|40,852|||
|73|Santa Cruz|CV-CR|Pedra Badejo|112.21|26,609|||
|74|Praia|CV-PR|Praia|102.55|131,602|||
|75|São Domingos|CV-SD|São Domingos|147.54|13,808|||
|76|São Miguel|CV-SM|Calheta de São Miguel|77.35|15,648|||
|77|São Salvador do Mundo|CV-SS|Picos|26.48|8,677|||
|78|São Lourenço dos Órgãos|CV-LO|João Teves|36.94|7,388|||
|79|Ribeira Grande de Santiago|CV-RS|Cidade Velha|137.25|8,325|||

## Infobox (islands)

- **name**: Santiago
- **image name**: Bela-vista-net-Santiago-map.jpg
- **image caption**: Map of Santiago, Cape Verse
- **image map**: Locator map of Santiago, Cape Verde.png
- **location**: Atlantic Ocean
- **archipelago**: Cape Verde
- **area km2**: 1,003.71
- **length km**: 75
- **width km**: 35
- **highest mount**: Pico da Antónia
- **elevation m**: 1394
- **country**: Cape Verde
- **country admin divisions title**: Municipality, _Concelhos_
- **country admin divisions**: 9 (#Administration, See list)
- **country largest city**: Praia
- **country largest city population**: 131,602
- **population**: 273,919
- **population as of**: 2010
- **density km2**: 272.9