São Domingos, Cape Verde (municipality)

São Domingos (Portuguese meaning Saint Dominic) is a Municipality in Santiago island in Cape Verde. The São Domingos municipality was formed primarily to relieve Praia of the administrative difficulties involved in managing both a large capital city (Praia) in addition to agrarian villages.

The São Domingos municipality includes two roads, one of which was widened to three lanes and paved in 2004. The two major settlements in the concelho are São Domingos and Praia Baixo, São Domingos (pop: 13,000) being by far the largest settlement in the area. Smaller settlements surround the area include Água do Gato, Achada Banana and Rui Vaz, which is situated on the edge of a 1 km high cliff overlooking Ribeirão Galinha. While Rui Vaz and Praia Baixo are the main tourist draws in the area, tourism does not constitute a major factor in the region’s overwhelmingly agrarian economy.

Farmlands cover the eastern and the central parts, where runoff from the center of the island allows a higher water table and loamier soils than the dense clays found on most of the island.

Mountains dominate the western border, where the steep relief and lack of rainwater runoff makes large-scale agriculture impractical. Several dozen subsistence farming villages dot the main road leading towards Assomada, but produce negligible agricultural products for export.

Parishes

The municipality includes two parishes:
*Nossa Senhora da Luz
*São Nicolau Tolentino

ettlements

*Achada Banana
*Água do Gato
*Praia Baixo
*Rui Vaz
*São Domingos

ão Domingos (town)

São Domingos is also the name of the town that constitutes the seat of the São Domingos Municipality.

São Domingos has a few primary schools, two secondary schools, one technical school, churches, beaches, a post office and squares ("praças"). There is a small port at Praia Baixo used for artisan fishing, but most maritime traffic must come through the deeper and more modern ports at Pedra Badejo or Praia

External links

* [http://www.gtm-santiago.cv/saodomingos_2.html Câmara Municipal de São Domingos]
* [http://www.anmcv.org/portugues/ AMNCV (Associação Nacional dos Municípios Cabo-Verdianos - National Association of the Capeverdean Municipalities)]