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Maio
provides a landscape of vast empty beaches.
Although it was created by a volcano little evidence
of it's volcanic past remains today. It is a very flat
island unlike the other more mountainous islands of
Cape Verde. It has a vast array of
beautiful white sandy beaches.
Maio
belongs to the leeward group and is located south of
the isíand of Boavista and about 25km east of
Santiago.
It
has a surface area of 268km2, the longest point, in
a north south direction being 24km and the widest point,
in an east west direction is 16km. |
The island
is on the whole fairly flat, the highest point, in the middle,
is Monte Penoso, with an altitude of 436m.
The climate
is very dry and the land is essentially calcium based rock.
There is little irrigated land. Even though the climate is
not particularly favourable, the island does, in fact, have
the biggest forest park in Cape Verde. The northern region
has been well eroded by the rough seas and the strong north
east winds.
Getting There/ Getting Around
By air: Internal flights are available
By sea: The island is not usually served
by a regular public ferry service.
On land: Car/bike hire is available. Taxi
services can be locally arranged.
History
The island was discovered on the 1 May 1460 by the Portuguese
navigators Diego Gomes and Antonio de Noli, and it was from
the name of this month that the island "Maio" got
its name.
The economic activity of the island at the time was limited
basically to the breeding of goats. Later, at the beginning
of the 17th century, the production of salt brought more people
to the island.
As many English ships stopped here to get supplies, the port
became known as Porto Inglês, which means English Port.
In the 19th century, the export of salt to Brazil greatly
boosted the economy. During the 20th century, emigration began
and steadily increased.
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