Cape Verde Islands Guide - Maio

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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.

Further Information - Getting There

Region Information - Boavista | Fogo | Maio | Sal | Santa Antao | Santiago | Sao Nicolau | Sao Vicente