São Domingos is a Municipality in Santiago island in Cape Verde. The São Domingos municipality was formed primarily to relieve Praia of the administrative difficulties involved in managing both a large capital city (Praia) in addition to agrarian villages.
The São Domingos municipality includes two roads, one of which was widened to three lanes and paved in 2004. The two major settlements in the concelho are São Domingos and Praia Baixo, São Domingos (pop: 13,000) being by far the largest settlement in the area. Smaller settlements surround the area include Água do Gato, Achada Banana and Rui Vaz, which is situated on the edge of a 1 km high cliff overlooking Ribeirão Galinha. While Rui Vaz and Praia Baixo are the main tourist draws in the area, tourism does not constitute a major factor in the region’s overwhelmingly agrarian economy.
Farmlands cover the eastern and the central parts, where runoff from the center of the island allows a higher water table and loamier soils than the dense clays found on most of the island.
Mountains dominate the western border, where the steep relief and lack of rainwater runoff makes large-scale agriculture impractical. Several dozen subsistence farming villages dot the main road leading towards Assomada, but produce negligible agricultural products for export.
[edit] Parishes
The municipality includes two parishes:
[edit] Settlements
[edit] History
It was created in 1988, when two parishes of the older Municipality of Praia were separated to become the Municipality of São Domingos.
[edit] Demography
| Population of São Domingos, Cape Verde (municipality) (1940—2010) |
| 1940 |
1950 |
1960 |
1970 |
1980 |
1990[1] |
2000[2] |
2010[3] |
| — |
— |
— |
— |
— |
11526 |
13320 |
14421 |
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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New municipalities
(2005) |
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Coordinates: 15°01′N 23°34′W / 15.017°N 23.567°W / 15.017; -23.567
