Neha Patil (Editor)

Timeline of São Vicente, Cape Verde

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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.

Contents

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
  • Colonial era

  • 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
  • After independence in 1975-1999

  • 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
  • 21st century

  • 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)
  • References

    Timeline of São Vicente, Cape Verde Wikipedia