Ilha dos Tigres
| Ilha dos Tigres | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Waters | Atlantic | |
| Geographical location | 16 ° 35 ′ S , 11 ° 42 ′ E | |
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| length | 22.4 km | |
| width | 5.9 km | |
| surface | 86 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 46 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
| main place | no | |
The Ilha dos Tigres ( Tiger Island , partly also called Baia dos Tigres ) belongs politically to the Republic of Angola . It has been the largest island south of the equator on the west coast of Africa since 1962 .
geography
The island is about ten kilometers west of the coastline in the province of Namibe on the Baia dos Tigres . Geologically, it lies on the continental shelf of the African Plate and, as a giant sandbank , extends the 163 km long Iona National Park east on the mainland . Most of it rises only two to seven meters above sea level. Originally it was a peninsula with an area of 98 square kilometers and a length of 35.9 kilometers, which was connected to the mainland by a narrow headland in the south. In 1962, from one day to the other, the ocean current broke through the headland in a storm and separated the island from the mainland. Due to the steadily rising sea level and erosion , the island is now only 22.4 km long and its area has decreased to 86 km².
The highest point on the island is located southwest of the district of Capela da baia dos tigres . ⊙ There it reaches a height of 46 m and can be seen from the mainland in clear weather.
In the north-east of the island, the 12-meter-high lighthouse at Ponta da Marca , built in the 1920s, on a prominent elevation of 10 m ⊙ signals the land mass for coastal and maritime shipping.
history
The island was discovered in 1486 by the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão . The name Tiger Island appeared as Tijgers Eylandt on nautical maps of Dutch people as early as the 17th century . The island owes its name to the elongated sand dunes and their shadows, because from a distance it looks like the spreading fur of the tiger. There are several other legends that try to explain the origin of the name.
In the late 1850s, the Austrian botanist and Africa explorer Friedrich Welwitsch visited the island, who described endemic plant species there. During the Portuguese colonial era , a small commercial fishing base was established there in the 1860s . The development of the location was sluggish: Although the fish-rich, warm waters were appreciated, which were protected from the cold Benguela current , the lack of drinking water , fresh fruit and vegetables was a constant obstacle. Everything had to be laboriously imported by land or sea over several generations. In return, fish oil and fish meal were exported , which nevertheless helped the settlement to some prosperity. In the east of the island, north of the fishing settlement of São Martinho dos Tigres on the Baia dos Tigres , the Catholic church Capela da baia dos tigres was built by the Portuguese from shells and other materials from the sea.
In 1922, a seawater desalination plant was built that produced 22,500 liters of fresh water per day for the residents of São Martinho dos Tigres. The island only experienced a surge in innovation after the Second World War , after a pumping station had been built at Foz do Cunene in the 1950s . With this, sufficient water could be drawn from the Kunene River , which flows 70 km south into the Atlantic , via a pipeline . In quick succession a water tower, factories, new landing stages and an infirmary were built. In 1957 an airfield with a one kilometer long concrete runway and a police station were added. In the newly built residential areas, orchards were planted, roads were built and a cinema and a primary school were opened. The primary school had two classrooms for two grades each. Older students had to go to boarding school in Tômbua, 92 km to the north, on weekdays , the high school students to Moçâmedes . Supply flights came weekly and a doctor visited the infirmary. Up to 1,500 island residents, around 300 of whom were of Portuguese descent, lacked nothing. To protect against the frequent sandstorms, all new buildings were elaborately elevated with two meter high concrete piles.
A total of four settlements emerged there during the colonial period, which in 1973 comprised a total of 400 houses and 1,068 residents:
- Baia dos Tigres , the main town in the east and fishing port (in ruins)
- Ponta da Marca , in the north (lost, under dunes, lighthouse preserved)
- Ponta do Gastigo , in the northeast (in ruins)
- Ponta dos Morrinhos , in the southwest, former convict colony (defunct, now flooded)
The remote southwest fishing base Ponta dos Morrihos was operated as the state prison colony Prisional de São Nicolau . In the meantime, however, the island has lost so much of its land mass that the place is now one kilometer southwest of the coastline and is only accessible to underwater archeology .
At that time the peninsula was accessible by land in the south via a narrow headland, which was only interrupted by a narrow sluice . The rising sea level, wind and wave erosion washed away the land connection in a storm with waves up to ten meters high on March 14, 1962. When the land route was interrupted, the island's water supply was cut off through the pipeline. Life on the island became increasingly difficult due to the barren vegetation, the increasing traffic problems and the renewed lack of drinking water. When the situation became politically uncertain during the Carnation Revolution , the last settlers fled the island on April 25, 1974, as did the residents of Foz do Cunene. The following year the civil war broke out in Angola .
The island has been uninhabited since then. Hundreds of buildings have become a ghost town and are gradually sinking into the sand dunes, as is the former main road, which was also used as a runway for planes. It developed into a center of illegal fishing until the state took over again in 1996 to protect the marine resources. Since then, the island has been regularly visited by a ship belonging to the state fisheries inspectorate.
In the late 2000s the construction of a modern new fishing station in the Baia dos Tigres was planned. This should generate jobs for the region and include a mussel farm that produces one million tons annually. However, neither has yet been implemented. Later plans by the governor of Namibe to build an Angolan leisure paradise on the island based on the Las Vegas model with a casino and luxurious resorts for tourists, or to build a prison again, also remained unrealized.
During a planned inventory, the helicopter with the inspection delegation, consisting of the interior minister, his deputy and the director of the penal system, crashed near the coast in 2002, killing them all.
In the period that followed, the leader of a fishing trawler plundered the church bell that was still in existence at that time by tearing it out of the church tower with a tow rope and selling it to a scrap collector . The carved pews were also removed, shipped and sold a short time later.
today
Only adventurers and naturalists still visit the island today. The port, streets and the stately buildings in the Portuguese colonial style have already disappeared or gone under or are in the process of decay. According to the latest census, at least 11,000 breeding birds, including 25 endangered species, as well as various species of sea turtles live in the area, which nature is gradually reclaiming for itself . Instead of the headland, there is now an almost ten kilometer wide strait with some shallows between the island and the mainland. Although this is strategically and economically completely insignificant, it is still popular with sport fishermen. Big game hunters also set out from there to the mainland.
Web links
- Images of ruins on Tiger Island, Angola
- Panoramic view of Baia dos Tigres, runway, church, ruins 2010 , (Youtube video 2'00 ″)
- Water tower in Baia dos Tigres (1960)
- Procession in Baia dos Tigres (1960)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mention of the lighthouse "Ponta da Marca"
- ↑ a b c d e press report from 2008
- ↑ K. Ratelband; C. Pacheco: Os holandeses no Brasil e na Costa Africana: Angola, Congo e S. Tomé (1600-1650). 2003, ISBN 972-699-699-6 (port.)
- ↑ a b Baia dos Tigres. at AngolaRising.de
- ↑ Geographical Names geographic.org , accessed September 8, 2019
- ↑ São Martinho, província do Namibe, sul de Angola desobrigado.com , December 8, 2018, accessed on September 8, 2019
- ↑ a b c d e f g h press report, viewing 2014 at livethejourney.co.za
- ↑ Baía dos Tigres, uma aldeia 'fantasma' no sul de Angola 24.sapo.pt , April 23, 2018, accessed on September 7, 2019
- ↑ a b c Ilha dos Tigres at silversea ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Location of the former settlements on a historical map
- ↑ Convict Colony
- ↑ former water supply at Coolwaterssara.com
- ↑ Baía dos Tigres, uma aldeia 'fantasma' no sul de Angola 24.sapo.pt , April 23, 2018, accessed on September 7, 2019
- ↑ Baia do Tigres at jenmansafaris
- ↑ Ilha dos Tigres near rhinocarhire
