History of Santiago, Cape Verde

Prehistoric era

During the Prehistoric era, around 22 to 21 million years ago, the seamount was formed, 4 to 3 million years ago, the island with its crater now known as Pico da Antónia was formed, its length was about 15 km, about 2 to 3 million years ago, another island with its crater at present day Serra da Malagueta was formed, its seamount was formed around 20 to 19 million years ago, its length was about 10 km, about 2 to 1 million years ago, the two islands merged into a larger island. In about 73,000 BC, the eastern portion of the island of Fogo collapsed into the ocean and brought a 170 meter high megatsunami that flooded the western part of the island. During the Ice Age, the island was larger than 1,050 km² and approximately 80 km wide.

Colonial and provincial Santiago Island

The island was discovered by the explorer António da Noli in around 1460 who built a garrison in Cidade Velha which was then known as Ribeira Grande, it was the first settlement in Cape Verde and was a Portuguese colony until 1975. Its first settlers came from Madeira. Its first slaves arrived in 1466. It was the first island that started slavery; slavery spread to other parts of the island and continued for over three centuries. The first colonial church, Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Our Lady of Rosary) started to be built in 1493 and was finished in 1495. Rua Banana was constructed and was the first made main urban street in the tropics in the Portuguese Empire. Slavery started around the start of the 16th century and brought Africans from mainly the Balanta, Papel, Bijagó (rarely Bissagos, or Bidyogo) and the Mendé peoples. They were divided into three groups, the "boços" ("stupid", slaves who spoke African languages), the "ladinos" ("Latins", as in "Latinized", slaves who spoke Portuguese creole) and the "nativos" ("natives", slaves born in the archipelago). The island's population reached 13,000 in 1513, of whom 167 were not slaves. Later, transcontinental slavery made Cidade Velha the second richest city in the Portuguese realm. The city was also an exporter of sugar and cloth. Portugal later faced competition by the English, Dutch, French and Spanish who gradually took over the slave trade The main part of the south of the island was forested, they were cleared for farming and some of them became groves. Cape Verde's first pillory was constructed in 1520. Villages were founded in the middle of the island around the mid-16th century. Decades later in the north São Domingos was established and later Assomada and Pedra Badejo. Construction of the Sé Cathedral started in 1555, was completely stopped for over a century, and completed in 1699. Ribeira Grande became Cape Verde's first city. The Philippine Dynasty came to power in 1585 which would last into 1645 and not until the 1650s when an independent Portuguese administration was restored. The island was captured by Francis Drake, as a result, Fort Real de São Filipe, Cape Verde's first fortress was built on November 17, 1585 and was finished in 1590, São Domingos was also looted. and on November 28 Porto Praya (now Praia) razed, only the town hospital was spared, the fleet left after November, this was part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585). A hand-colored engraving on the raid on Ribeira Grande (common name was Cape Verde City or Cidade de Cabo Verde, now Cidade Velha) by Giovanni Battista Boazio was the first engraving about Cape Verde or any of its islands. In 1615, in the area of the southeasternmost part of the island, Praia de Santa Maria appeared on the previous settlement on the plateau; decades later, it became known as Porto Praya and Porto Praia, and is now known as Praia. Elisabeth van der Woude of Nieuw Niedorp described in her diary on her way to Dutch Guyana (now Surinam) visited the island in 1677 where her father had to be buried illegally because he was a Reformed Protestant, not a Catholic. On May 5, 1712, the French corsairs commanded by Jacques Cassard with his 12 ships landed on Praia Harbor in the south of the island, later Cidade Velha and its fort were attacked and destroyed by his forces in the Cassard expedition in 1712, the corsairs occupied a good part of the island, the bishop Francisco Santo Agostinho retired into the interior, where he reorganized his forces for the defence, leadership and resistance for a counterattack. The corsairs took the bells from the cathedral, its relics and the wooded furniture. Things that were not taken were burned down including the rich library of the bishop, damages totalled 3 million French livres. From the attack, Cidade Velha ceased to be the capital, which was moved to the Praia plateau. Praia was not officially the capital until 1770. Jan Frans Michel from Mechelen in the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) was put ashore on the island on November 15, 1752 on a second voyage to China under the Prussian Asiatic Company. Though Portugal was neutral throughout the Anglo-French War and American Revolutionary War), the Battle of Porto Praya between Great Britain and France, won by France, took place off modern day Praia at Praia Harbor on April 16, 1780. Cotton was first grown on the island of Santiago in around 1794, it was made by the colonial governor José da Silva Maldonado de Eça.

A rebellion led by Manuel António Martins, who later became governor, took place in Praia. António Pusich was overthrown in favour of João da Mata Chapuzet. Under the next governor the colonial capital underwent a large modernization; one of the new buildings was Quartel Jaime Mota, started on May 8, 1822 and finished in 1826. The island and Porto Praya were visited by scientist and naturalist Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle; he later visited Ilhéu de Santa Maria before he headed to the islands off the northeast coast of Brazil. A plan to move the colonial seat to Picos was made by Manuel António Martins on February 14, 1834; the residence moved, but only temporarily, in 1855, lastly with Mindelo on São Vicente flourishing with its coal refueling, a plan to move the capital from Praia was done not long after, as Praia was elevated to a city, the capital stayed. Martins was removed from power in 1835 after the Fonteana rebellion (not related to the later colonial governor but a nearby village in Assomada). Two notable American visits were made to the island by USS Yorktown along with William Harwar Parker, first in 1849 where several officers rotated off the ship and Parker became Acting Master and lastly in 1850 where it returned and later left for Funchal and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , it was originally intended to visit Santiago, instead, it visited Mayo (now Maio) Island on September and struck a reef on September 6, the first American ship sunk in the waters of Cape Verde. The famine struck the island in 1855 and last for several more decades up to the time of independence. Liceu Nacional first opened in 1861 under the colonial governor Januário Correia de Almeida. In around 1867, slave trade finally ended and later slavery became abolished in the island and across Cape Verde. Numerous lighthouses were built around the island in the late 19th century, the notable ones was Farol de D. Maria Pia, on Ponta Temerosa (now as Farol de Pta. Temerosa) was completed in 1881 and Farol da Ponta Preta northwest of Tarrafal later in 1889. The area of Ribeirão Manuel in 1910 suffered a revolt. The island had two municipalities up to 1917, Santa Catarina covered the northern part and Praia covered the southern part, Praia's boundary remained unchanged until 1988, Tarrafal was the island's third municipality created. Football (soccer) was first played in around the 1910s, popularity steadily risen and Sporting Clube da Praia would be the island's first club created on December 2, 1929, Clube Desportivo Travadores was the second club founded in 1930, Campo do Coco was later completed. Praia was the first city in the island and nation to receive electricity in 1927. The effects of the Great Depression struck even Cape Verde and the famine was serious, it continued into the 1950s and little aid was offered, the island was partly suffering emigration at the time people emigrated to São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal and Western Europe mainly France, the famine strucked between 1941 and 1942 and the last one between 1946 and 1949, one of the hardest was Ribeira da Barca. The competitions that they played were unofficial until 1953 when the province's second island league, the Santiago Island League was established in 1953 and featured only five or six clubs, the provincial Cape Verdean Football Championships was established that year and only contained the final match, after independence, it became the national Football Championships. The Rabelados communities were formed in the mountainous interior of the island in areas isolated from society as liturgical reforms of the Catholic Church introduced in the 1940s, the church sent various priests to Cape Verde to replace local priests and introduce alterations in the celebrations of Mass and other religious customs, particularly religious education, some groups amongst the population rebelled against these alterations and continued to practice their earlier traditions in secrecy, they were ridiculed, denounced and persecuted, today fewer Rabelados communities exists today as the community has opened itself to the outside world. One of the actions of the Battle of the Atlantic took place at Tarrafal Bay (Baía de Tarrafal) in 1941, Portugal and her empire never took part in World War II, it took place in the waters on September 27 and 28 and engaged with the British Navy and Germany.

The island population were disadvantaged by the Portuguese colonial system and supported Amílcar Cabral and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, the first reviews related to its independence was Certeza and was a milestone in its national literature, the first edition was published in March 1944, the second later in June. and the last in January 1945, afterwards it became banned by the censor. a year later, a petition took place in Assomada and other parts of the island. Later in 1962, several of the first attacks ordered by the guerrillas of the PAIGC, this started the struggle against the oppression of Portugal, months later the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence broke out in Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau), due to logistical reasons, Cape Verde didn't take part, in the same time in August, demonstrations took place over the imposing of another Minister of Overseas Possessions. As was for all of Cape Verde, the final years of Portuguese rule were tyrannical and oppressive, some of the music genres of funaná and batuque were banned to be performed in cities especially the capital, the genre was not fully revived until the early 1990s. A few years before independence, a student revolt took place within Assomada and Praia in 1970. The greatest writer and poet from the island who had independence tendencies was Jorge Barbosa, who published work in the Claridade review. The Municipality of Santa Cruz was created from the east of Santa Catarina. The Carnation Revolution took place in Portugal and Cape Verde became an autonomous province and later headed to an independent country the following year.

Modern Santiago Island

Cape Verde declared independence on July 5, 1975 and Praia became the national capital. For several times, the island of Santiago hosted conferences on Creole culture.

The island which was deforested and featured a desert landscape went under reforestation program. Once covered only the highland areas in the late 1970s, slowly the middle and the eastern areas were forested in the 1980s and the 1990s and trees were planted in more of the east, the northernmost around Tarrafal, and the southernmost around RIbeira Grande in the 1990s and the 2000s, in 2010, the area around Rincão became partly forested.

The island especially underwent a large population boom which begun in the 1930s and grew additionally from the 1960s and continues into the present day. An airport was later built. The population was growing, the municipal administration cut off most of the rural northern part and São Domingos was created in 1988 thus changing the boundaries for the first time, it relieved Praia of the administrative difficulties involved in managing both a large capital city in addition to agrarian villages, the westerns village were exempted until 2005. In 1991, São Miguel split from Tarrafal and covers the southeastern portion.

Cape Verde's first botanical garden, the Jardim Botânico Nacional Grandvaux Barbosa, it currently forms a part of the University of Cape Verde. The Praia da Gambôa music festival was founded in 1992, Cape Verde's second after Baía das Gatas. More facilities and institutions were formed in the 1990s including the RTC in 1995, Praia's Museu Etnográfico in 1997 and the nation's library in 1999, the first superior educational institutions were established, the Jean Piaget University in 2001 and the University of Cape Verde in 2005. The Serra da Malagueta Natural Park was founded on February 24, 2003 and was the first national part created on the island, Pico da Antónia National Park was created not long after. Between 1976 and 2001, more sports clubs were formed and the Santiago Island Leagues of football (soccer) and basketball split up into the North and South zones in 2003, the south covered only the Municipality of Praia, it would contain two municipalities in 2005 as the Municipality of Ribeira Grande was formed, in 2010, clubs from the municipality of São Domingos joined the South Zone. Two more municipalities were formed in 2005, Ribeira Grande de Santiago which once covered the west of Praia and São Salvador do Mundo.

In 2006, Estádio da Várzea was renovated and enlarged. The Prime Minister visited the Rabelados inhabited areas of the island on February 6, 2007 especially the most dominant population in Espinho Branco. The House of Marine and Sea Turtles was founded in 2008 in Praia Baixo in the northeast of São Domingos for the protection of the island's turtles. Cidade Velha and its fortress were declared UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only heritage sites in Cape Verde.

The first of four dams that supply water to particularly agriculture and the city of Praia started construction in 2005, Poilão was the first project west of Pedra Badejo, the nation's first dam or reservoir, the next were three new dams, construction started in 2011 and were finished in 2013, some of the reservors are dry during dry conditions, the Salineiro dam north of Ribeira Grande was completed on June 30, Faveta near Assomada on July 19 and Saquinho west of Assomada on October 30.

In 2015 on Ilhéu de Santa Maria off the shores of Praia, the Cape Verdean government and Legend Development Company made a legal contract and proposes to construct hotel resort and casino, the cost is around 30 billion Cape Verdean escudos (250 million euros). Hurricane Fred struck the island, its rains filled Barragem de Faveta (Faveta Reservoir) to maximum capacity and prompted residents from adjacent areas to evacuate.

Demographics

The island's population unlike the north which most part was steadily growing and the west, it grew large, it was around 35,000 to 40,000 in 1900, the population steadily grew between 1940 and 1960, it grew to 107,624 in 1970 and reached 229,900 in 2000 at the turn of the century and continued to be 272,312 in 2010 and has reached over 300,000 in 2015, the island is home to around half of the country's population. Praia, in the 1900s once concentrated only within the plateau and sea, the urban area including its greenspace area later extended to Gambôa, Craveiro Lopes and the west, the north and in 2010 up to the eastern shore and recently the islet. Also the second largest place which since 2001 is a city quadrupled its population and nearly quintupled its built up area and the urban portion first reached the Circular Road near Ribeira da Trindade in around 2014. Of the cities in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic, Praia's metropolitan population superseded the Azores' Ponta Delgada's metro population somewhere around the 1990s, Praia has probably now become more populous than the city of Funchal in the Madeira Islands. Also Tarrafal grew and some of its housing developments spread to the eastern portion in 2001 and Pedra Badejo grew, its built up area has one portion having a bypass crossing that area.