Ponta do Sol (Cape Verde)

Ponta do Sol
Ponta do Sol
Coordinates	17 ° 12 ′  N , 25 ° 6 ′  W Coordinates: 17 ° 12 ′  N , 25 ° 6 ′  W
Basic data
Country	Cape Verde
Archipelago	Ilhas de Barlavento
District	Sao Vicente
height	49 m
Residents	2143 (2010)
founding	1584

Ponta do Sol (formerly Vila Dona Maria Pia ) on the island of Santo Antão is the northernmost town in Cape Verde . It is located on the coast about 4 km from Ribeira Grande and 20 km north of the island's capital, Porto Novo . The place is the seat of the municipality of Ribeira Grande .

Center of Ponta do Sol

town hall

church

View from the south, airport in the background directly on the sea, in the foreground the "pig hotel"

Administrative structure

Ponta do Sol is divided into the districts

• Casinhas
• Cavouquinho das Tintas
• Chã de Cemiterio
• Chã de Ponta do Sol
• Lombinho
• Lombo da Cruz
• Lombo de Paço
• Os Órgãos
• Ponta do Sol
• Ribeira da Ponta do Sol.

Place name

The former place name Vila Dona María Pia refers to Maria Pia of Savoy , Queen of Portugal from 1862 to 1889. The development into a small town began in the 1880s. Before that it was a small fishing village.

The current name "Ponta do Sol" comes from the nearby Cape Ponta do Sol, the northernmost point of Cape Verde.

Buildings

The Nossa Senhora do Livramento church was built in 1894. The place has a small Jewish cemetery. In order to avoid nuisance caused by pig farming in the town's private property, the community built a “pig hotel” outside the town, in which the residents can rent stables.

economy

The main industries are fishing and, to a lesser extent, tourism.

traffic

Until the construction of the port in Porto Novo, the place was the only commercial port on the island. Agostinho Neto Airport , which is exposed on a cape, was closed in the 1990s for security reasons.

population

year	Residents
1990 (census)	1505
2010 (census)	2143

Sons and daughters

• Jorge Ferreira Chaves , architect
• Raul Pires Ferreira Chaves , architect

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Revitalização dos patrimónios arquitectónicos da cidade da Ponta do Sol , António Carlos Oliveira Lopes, 2012
2. ↑ ^{a b} Cape Verde , www.citypopulation.de

Web links

Commons : Ponta do Sol (Cape Verde)  - collection of images, videos and audio files