Barlavento Islands
The Barlavento Islands (Portuguese: Ilhas de Barlavento, literally, the Windward Islands) is the northern group of the Cape Verde archipelago.[1] It presents as two sub-groups:
- in the west: Santo Antão, São Vicente[lower-alpha 1], São Nicolau, Santa Luzia and islets Branco and Raso are volcanic and somewhat rocky yet quite widely capable of supporting semi-arid agriculture.
- in the east: Sal[lower-alpha 2] and Boa Vista[lower-alpha 3] are lightly-hilled, desert islands whose economies were based on salt and rely on fishing and tourism, having more in common with the Sotavento island Maio.
![](../I/m/Cape_Verde_Barlavento_Lage.png)
Barlavento islands (yellow) within Cape Verde
![](../I/m/Ilhas_do_Barlavento.png)
Barlavento Islands
The total land mass is 2,239 km2 (864 sq mi).[1] Spanning from longitude -22.67 to -25.36 (implying west of the Prime Meridian), the group sits in the Trade winds, specifically at the optional southern turn or tack termed by European sailors a key point of the Volta do Mar. The islands are west of Cap-Vert at -17.31 west, in turn the westernmost point of Africa on the outskirts of Dakar (the capital of Senegal).
Notes
- plus islet Ilhéu dos Pássaros
- plus islet Ilhéu Rabo de Junco
- plus islets Ilhéu de Sal-Rei and Ilhéu do Baluarte
References
- Valor simbólico do centro histórico da Praia, Lourenço Conceição Gomes, Universidade Portucalense, 2008, p. 58-59
Further reading
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barlavento (Cape Verde). |
- Barlavento Islands article at Britannica Online, accessed on 1 January 2010
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