Cabo Verde : Santo Antão

Santo Antão is the westernmost island of Cape Verde. At 785 km², it is the largest of the Barlavento Islands group, and the second largest island of Cape Verde.
Its population was 38,200 in mid 2019, making it the fourth most populous island of Cape Verde after Santiago, São Vicente and Sal. Its largest city is Porto Novo located on the southern coast.

Geography
Santo Antão is 42.75 km long (east-west) and 23.97 km wide (north-south).  The island is of volcanic origin and very mountainous, characterized by two high plateaus and several steep river valleys. The southern part of the island has a desert climate, while the northeast and the higher elevations are semi-arid.

Mountains
The tallest mountain is Tope de Coroa, reaching an elevation of 1,979 m.  Other high mountains on the island are Monte Tomé (1,863 m), Gudo de Cavaleiro (1,810 m), Monte Moroços (1,767 m) and Pico da Cruz (1,584 m).

Climate
Santo Antão island has a hot desert climate in Sinagoga and Porto Novo and a cold semi-arid climate in Espongeiro. The island features very balanced temperatures year round higher on the slopes (~ 800 metres ASL) to cool highland subtropical steppe climate BskL above 1,000 metres ASL. The average annual temperature on the coast is about 23 °C, decreasing to some 11 to 15 °C on the highest grounds. There can be remarkably cool weather in the interior with warmer wet season starting in July and ending in December–January with colder dry season starting in December–January and ending in June. The major climate risk, similarly to other Cape Verdean islands, yet much less pronounced in the higher altitudes due to better ability in gaining moisture from clouds, is drought.

History
The island was discovered in 1461 or 1462 by Diogo Afonso, together with the islands of São Vicente and São Nicolau.  Settlement of the island started in the first half of the 16th century. The main settlement was Ribeira Grande. Other settlements such as Ponta do Sol, Pombas and Porto Novo developed in the 19th century.

Economy
Fishing and agriculture are the main industries on the island.

Agriculture
The island's agriculture products include sugar cane, yams, cassava, bananas, mangoes, and grain. The main product on the island is a kind of rum known as grogue. Mills continue to distill grogue in the Paùl Valley.

Due to its mountainous nature, most of the island's plantations are done in terraces, obviating the use of machinery and requiring immense manual labor. Recently, some experiences using drip irrigation have been taking place in order to mitigate the drought conditions.

Tourism
Tourism is becoming one of the most dominant industries on the island. There has been some investment in Rural tourism infrastructures. Hiking, trekking and cultural tourism account for most of the touristic offer of this island.

Nature
Santo Antão has 50 endangered species of flora which has the most number in the nation.

Santo Antão has different species of birds including the Cape Verde (Iago) sparrow, reptiles including the Cape Verde wall gecko and insects including the spider Tetragnatha torrensis, the moth Scopula paneliusi and the water bear Echiniscus clavispinosus. The island does not have a lot of animal life comparing to other islands. Along its shores, most of the marine life are within Canal de São Vicente.

Culture
Other than Portuguese (official language), the majority of the population speaks Cape Verdean Creole.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_A...]