The following is a timeline of the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde, the timeline includes the adjacent island of Santa Luzia and its nearby islets.
Prehistoric and precolonial era
120 to 118 million years ago: Seamount formed during the Aptian era
9 million years ago: The island now known as São Vicente may have been created during the Tortonian era
6.5 million years ago: Mindelo rock formation formed
Around 4.5 million years ago: Praia Grande volcanic flank may have collapsed into the ocean during the Zanclean era
Around 4.5 to 3.1 million years ago: Monte Verde rock formation formed
Around 300,000 years ago: Last volcanic eruption on the island
Up to about 5,000 years ago: The island was larger and compromised an estimate size of 500 km2 of land, the name of the island that included Santa Luzia and two other islets was likely called the "Northwestern Island". Flooding took place and broke up into three main islands and other islands, one became the current island of São Vicente.
Up to about 4,000 years ago: Ilhéu dos Passaros separated from the island, the small peninsula shrank up to its current size.
1974 BC - July 24: A total solar eclipse took place in the south of the island now São Vicente, the remainder was partial
962 BC - February 27: An annular solar eclipse took place in the island of Santa Luzia and the surrounding islets, the remainder was visibly partial
374 - November 20: A total solar eclipse took place in the morning hours on the island
786 - April 3: A total solar eclipse took place on the island
105 BC - February 3: An annular solar eclipse took place mid afternoon and included the islands that are now Barlavento, it was visibly partial in the archipelago (with the probable exception of Ilhéu dos Rombos), the greatest eclipse was more than 10 Roman miles (15 km) ENE of the island of Santa Luzia in the ocean and occurred at 16:44 UTC (15:44 local time), its greatest width was about 220 Roman miles (322 km) wide
374 - November 20: A total solar eclipse took place in the morning hours, the umbral path was about 25 to 30 km wide and included parts of the island
895 - November 26: An annular solar eclipse took place around Ilhéu Raso
1086 - February 24: A total solar eclipse probably took place in the island
1152 - August 2: a total solar eclipse took place on the island
1207 - March 7: An annular solar eclipse took place in the island and parts of Santa Luzia
1260 - October 15: A total solar eclipse took place in the island
1308 - September 24: An annular solar eclipse took place in a part of the island, the remainder was visibly partial
1462 - January 22 - The island was discovered on Saint Vincent's Day
1593 - May 30: A total solar eclipse took place before noon, the maximum eclipse was seen in the Barlavento islands except for most of São Nicolau, Sal and Boa Vista, the remainder saw it as partial, it was the first total eclipse (umbral part) seen by people in Cape Verde
1624 - A Dutch fleet which had 3,300 sailors, commanded by admiral Jacob Willekens passed through Porto Grande Bay before he captured Bahia in Brazil
1734 - The island's first fortification built to protect against British, French and Dutch pirates.
1781 - Pirate raids continued to raid, a plan for a new settlement was made.
1795 - The island's first permanent settlement Mindelo, then as Aldeia de Nossa Senhora da Luz was founded
1819
Population: 120
Nossa Senhora da Luz planned to rename itself to Leopoldinha after empress Maria Leopoldina of Austria, wife of Peter IV of Portugal
1821 - Population: 295
1835 - Englishman John Lewis visited the island for the objective of finding the port's conditions for serving as a scale for English ships for the British India Company.
1838
Porto Grande became a coal deposit was established to supply ships on Atlantic routes
The city adopted the new name Mindelo after the military expedition in the beaches of Mindelo, Portugal during the Wars of Liberation.
Mindelo planned to become capital of Cape Verde replacing Praia, many people wanted the capital to remain in Praia, the capital did not move.
1845 - Construction began on Our Lady of the Light Pro-Cathedral or Mindelo Pro-Cathedral, it was not completed until 1963
1850
Population: around 1,400
Royal Mail Stream brought the first coal deposited to the island which were to be used for ships from and to the South Atlantic and India
1852
Fortim d'El-Rei or Fortim do Mindelo built
Santo Antão Municipality, also as Santo Antão-São Vicente (Northwestern Cape Verde) Municipality split into Santo Antão and São Vicente Municipalities, Santa Luzia, which belonged to São Nicolau Municipality integrated into the municipality of São Vicente
1857
March 10: Slavery abolished on the island, the first in Cape Verde
Mindelo was elevated to a town, the first on the island
1861
A custom house in the port of Mindelo built by governor Januário Correia de Almeida.
Yellow fever strucked Mindelo reducing the population by half, migration from other islands restored the population a few years later
1862 - Population: around 800
1870 - Population: around 1,500
1873 - The Provincial Council established an obligation to the people of Mindelo to plant a tree every three square meters of the backyard
1874 - Two submarine or telegraph cables linked with the island, they are now as communication cables or lines, via Madeira, it connected with Brazil in the capital of Pernambuco, Recife.
1875 - Coal shipping company Cory Brothers established
1879
669 ships were refueled each year at Mindelo
Mindelo was elevated to a city, as of today, it is the island's only city
1880
Mindelo Library (Biblioteca do Mindelo) first opened, one of the first two libraries opened in Cape Verde
The first stones for construction of Mindelo Hospital were put
Mindelo's police station opened
1884 - India Rubber Gutta established a telegraph line to Praia along with West and Southern Africa and the United States
1885 - A telegraph line with Cameroon via Bathurst (now Banjul), Gambia established
1886 - Canal receiving water from Madeiral and Madeiralzinho completed, the first settlement outside of Mindelo, Madeiral established
1889 - About 1,927 ships stopped at Porto Grande - the highest ever reached
1890 - Population: 6,666
1891 - Empresa das Águas da Cidade de Mindelo (City of Mindelo Water Company) established
1894
Farol de D. Amélia in the southwest of the island built
A branch of the Portuguese bank for the colonies, the Banco National Ultramarino opened, it would remain until 1975 when it was replaced with the Bank of Cape Verde
1899 - In the Revista de Cabo Veede magazine - it opted a creation of a lyceum on the island
1900
As gasoline fuel used for ships increased, the usage of coal dropped
People demanded to the Minister of Overseas to create a secondary aschool and a foreign language school
1912
Mindelo was the most used Transatlantic telegraph station for some time
Around 4,000 coal workers went on strike over a drop in food products due to lack of rain and insufficient work at the port
1921 - Liceu Nacional de Infante D. Henrique (now Escola de Jorge Barbosa) opened
1922
Eden Park, a picture house, the nation's first cinema opened
April 5: Aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral and their plane Lusitânia stopped at Porto Grande Bay which was part of their flight to the South Atlantic which started in Lisbon and ended in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the time the national capital, they stopped for repairs
Apri; 17: The two aviators left for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and stopping at Praia on the island of Santiago
May 25: CS Mindelense, Cape Verde's first football (soccer) club established
1924 - The people of Mindelo demanded a petition as the governor accepted a prohibition of alcohol including brandy on the island
1929 - August 5: FC Derby football (soccer) club established
1930 - Population: 14,639
1930s - Economic crisis started mainly after the Great Depression and famines struck the island, foreign ships services ceased
1934 - June 7: Riots sparked across Mindelo, protesters expressed against hunger caused by food shortages and shops and warehouses were looted, it was the darkest of Cape Verde's history
1936 - Claridade, a literary review inaugurated in Mindelo
1938
Estádio da Fontinha (now known as Estádio Municipal Adérito Sena completed)
Cape Verde's first football (soccer) competition began, the São Vicente Island League began, it was also a national competition that was unofficial until 1953
1940
Population: 15 848
April 1: Académica do Mindelo football (soccer) club founded
1941 - A drought brought a famine that strucked the island for three years (see Famine in Cape Verde)
1946 - Another drought brought another famine strucked the island for another three years, several people emigrated to the fields of São Tomé Island (see Famine in Cape Verde)
1950 - Population: 19 576
1952 - Last refueling of coal to a ship done, the remainder was done by diesel
1960
Population: 20 705
São Pedro Airport first opened, the country's second airport to be opened, since 2011, it is now known as Cesária Évora Airport
August 19: Falcões do Norte football (soccer) club founded
December: Claridade review ceased publications
1960s - Henrique Teixeira de Sousa was president of São Vicente Island during the 1960s
1962 - Porto Grande expanded
1963 - Our Lady of the Light Pro-Cathedral or Mindelo Cathedral completed
1968 - Living conditions improved as some aid were brought by Cape Verdean emigrants from the United States and Europe
1970 - Population: 31 578 (the largest 10-year population addition in percentage numbers: 52.514%)
1974:
Rádio Barlavento started radio broadcasting, it was Cape Verde's first radio station
April: the Carnation Revolution took place in Portugal, the Estado Novo regime collapsed, Cape Verde became an autonomous province
Mid-year: the final Cape Verdean colonial championships took place
1975
July 5: Cape Verde declared independence from Portugal and became and independent nation
Newspaper Terra Nova founded, the first newspaper mainly served for the island
1979 - AtelierMar founded - a non-government organization dedicated to formation of a cultural capacity and local development
1980 - Population: 41 594
1981 - May 5: Batuque FC football (soccer) club founded
1982
April 17: Electricidade e Água do Mindelo became part of the national electric company Electra
June 19: Centro de Formação Náutica (CFN - Nautical Formation Centre) in Ribeira Julião established
1984 - Festival de Baía das Gatas, Cape Verde's first major music festival held its first edition, also the village was probably founded
mid-1980s - As the British coal industry went into decline in the 1980s, this source of income dried up, and Britain had to abandon its Cape Verdean interests — which ended up being the final strike to the highly dependent local economy.
1987 - September 9: Corinthians São Vicente football (soccer) club established
1988 - Newspaper Jornal O Cidadão founded
1990 - Population: 51 277
1991 - April 15: Newspaper Artiletra founded
1992
Estàdio da Fontinha became Estádio Municipal Adérito Sena
Mindelo became twinned with Porto, Portugal
1994 - Mindelo became twinned with Coimbra in central Portugal
1995 - Mindelo Theatrical Festival held its first editiion
1996
Mindelact theatrical organization established
October 21: CFN became ISECMAR
1997 - Second expansion as part of the Porto Grande Modernization Project, the length would be 1,750 m
1998 - Mindelo became twinned with Vila do Conde, Portugal
1999 - Mindelo became twinned with Mafra, Portugal also twinned with Mindelo since 1999
2000
Population: 67 163 - the largest 10-year population addition (15,886 added)
Mindelo became associate member of UCCLA
2001 - São Vicente Cup and Super Cup established
2003
Mindelo became the cultural capital of the Portuguese Speaking Countries
June 9: Instituto de Estudos Superiores Isidoro da Graça or IESIG established in Mindelo
2004 - Isaura Gomes becomes mayor and served her first term up to 2005
2006
Cape Verdean Atmospherical Observatory: Humberto Duarte Fonseca, named after Humberto Duarte Fonseca opened, it was a bilateral initiative by Germany and the United Kingdom and is located in the area of Ribeira do Calhau.
Around May: The then-Queen of Spain Sofia visited Mindelo
May and June: NATO maneuvers occurred on the island, 7,800 troops took part in Operation Jaguar
November 21: University of Cape Verde established, the Mindelo campus was formed
2007 - Fall: The regional Second Division in football was added for the first time.
2008
Isaura Gomes becomes mayor again and served her second term up to 2011
October 9: ISECMAR became the School of Maritime Sciences, part of the University of Cape Verde
2009 - Fortim do Mindelo's touristic project began
2010 - Population: 79 374
Around 2011 - Completion of Mindelo's windmills southwest of Mindelo
2012 or 2013 - the road connecting Calhau and Baía das Gatas through the east shore of the island was completed
2013
Third expansion of Porto Grande in the north
November 12: Porto Grande Bay became the fifth most beautiful bay in the world.
2014 - UCV's Mindelo campus enlarged in the eastern portion, also likely that the University of Mindelo established (also as University of São Vicente)
Timeline of São Vicente, Cape Verde Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA