Cape Verde Counties (original) (raw)

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Updates:

I've updated the populations to the 2010 census data, according to source [5].

The country has announced that it wants to be called "Cabo Verde" in every language, � la C�te d'Ivoire. I suspect that English speakers will continue to call it Cape Verde for a while. Update 14 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4), dated 2013-12-31, adopts the new name.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-3 is dated 2011-12-15. For Cape Verde, this update largely repeats the changes listed in Newsletter II-2. The one difference is that it eliminates a duplicate. The code for S�o Louren�o dos Org�os used to be the same as the one for Sal.

The five new counties are accounted for in Newsletter II-2 (2010-06-30), an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, and in Update 1 (2010-08-20) to the U.S. standard "Geopolitical Entities and Codes".

Most sources say that the capital of Sal county is Espargos. I had previously reported that it was Santa Maria, based on the CIA map. The capital of Maio county is Vila do Maio, but an alternate (obsolete?) name for that city is Porto Ingl�s, which appears in some sources.

Note: Portuguese for council is conselho; for county (specifically, one of the counties into which Cape Verde is divided), concelho. The two words are easy to confuse.

According to the Instituto Nacional de Estat�stica (INE) and other sources, sometime between 1980 and 1991, Mosteiros, S�o Domingos, S�o Filipe, and S�o Miguel counties were formed, and Fogo county disappeared. Oddly, none of the major reference works mentioned them until 2000, and even then, one of them was still left off the list.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 9, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2004-10-01. It assigned FIPS codes for the above changes, and also for Santa Cruz. It also changed the FIPS codes of the old counties from which the new ones were formed. Porto Novo county existed then, but no FIPS code was assigned to it until the 2010 update.

The original ISO 3166-2 standard (1998) had listed only the fourteen counties listed below under Change history, 1971. (They were designated "municipalities".) ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2, published on 2002-05-21, showed the changes described above. It gave the name of S�o Miguel as "Calheta de S�o Miguel". All the additional counties were in Sotavento group.

Country overview:

Short name CAPE VERDE
ISO code CV
FIPS code CV
Language Portuguese (pt)
Time zone -1
Capital Praia

Cape Verde had been a Portuguese colony for more than five centuries when it was granted its independence on 1975-07-05.

Other names of country:

  1. Danish: Kap Verde, Kapverdiske �er
  2. Dutch: Kaapverdi�, Republiek Kaapverdi� (formal)
  3. English: Republic of Cape Verde (formal)
  4. Finnish: Kap Verde
  5. French: Cap-Vert m
  6. German: Kap Verde, Kapverden (Swiss), Kap Verde Inseln fp, Republik f Kap n Verde
  7. Icelandic: Gr�nh�f�aeyjar
  8. Italian: Capo m Verde
  9. Norwegian: Kapp Verde, Republikken Kapp Verde (formal)
  10. Portuguese: Cabo Verde, Rep�blica f de Cabo m Verde (formal) (n in Portugal)
  11. Russian: Республика Кабо-Верде (formal), Республика Острова Зелёного Мыса (variant)
  12. Spanish: Cabo Verde, Rep�blica f de Cabo m Verde (formal)
  13. Swedish: Kap Verde
  14. Turkish: Yeşil Burun Cumhuriyeti (formal), Verde Burnu (variant)

Origin of name:

After Cap Vert, Senegal (Portuguese Cabo Verde: green cape)

Primary subdivisions:

Cape Verde is divided into twenty-two concelhos (counties), also called munic�pios.

County HASC ISO FIPS CGN Population Area(km.�) Area(mi.�) Capital Group
Boa Vista CV.BV BV CV01 51 9,162 620 239 Sal-Rei B
Brava CV.BR BR CV02 91 5,995 64 25 Nova Sintra S
Maio CV.MA MA CV04 61 6,952 269 104 Vila do Maio S
Mosteiros CV.MO MO CV13 81 9,524 82 32 Mosteiros S
Paul CV.PA PA CV05 12 6,997 54 21 Vila das Pombas B
Porto Novo CV.PN PN CV21 13 18,028 558 215 Porto Novo B
Praia CV.PC PR CV14 74 131,602 94 37 Cidade Velha S
Ribeira Brava CV.RB RB CV22 31 7,580 343 132 Ribeira Brava B
Ribeira Grande CV.RG RG CV07 11 18,890 167 64 Ponta do Sol B
Ribeira Grande de Santiago CV.RS RS CV23 74 8,325 164 63 Praia S
Sal CV.SL SL CV08 41 25,765 216 83 Espargos B
Santa Catarina CV.CT CA CV15 72 43,297 213 82 Assomada S
Santa Catarina do Fogo CV.CF CF CV24 82 5,299 Cova Figueira S
Santa Cruz CV.CZ CR CV16 73 26,609 110 43 Pedra-Badejo S
S�o Domingos CV.SD SD CV17 75 13,808 138 53 S�o Domingos S
S�o Filipe CV.FP SF CV18 82 22,228 394 152 S�o Filipe S
S�o Louren�o dos �rg�os CV.LO SO CV25 73 7,388 39 15 Jo�o Teves S
S�o Miguel CV.SM SM CV19 76 15,648 91 35 Calheta S
S�o Salvador do Mundo CV.SS SS CV26 72 8,677 30 12 Assomada S
S�o Vicente CV.SV SV CV11 21 76,107 227 88 Mindelo B
Tarrafal CV.TF TA CV20 71 18,565 112 43 Tarrafal S
Tarrafal de S�o Nicolau CV.TS TS CV27 31 5,237 Tarrafal de S�o Nicolau B
22 counties 491,683 3,985 1,539
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: County codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "CV-" tothe code (ex: CV-SL represents Sal). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. CGN: National Geographic Code. Cape Verde uses four-digit postal codes. The first two digitsare the same as the county's CGN. Source: [3]. Population: 2010-06-16 census. Source: [5]. Group: Barlavento (B) or Sotavento (S). See Further subdivisions.

Further subdivisions:

See the Parishes of Cape Verde page.

Barlavento and Sotavento are not administrative divisions, although each has its own Chamber of Commerce. Verdeans sometimes call them regi�es (regions), sometimes distritos (districts), but most often just grupos (island groups). ISO 3166-2 called them districts, but it changed the designation to geographical regions. I've decided to use "groups", which has the least official resonance. Mindelo is the chief town of Barlavento, and Praia of Sotavento. The codes B and S are part of the ISO 3166-2 standard, and the derivedGENC standard.

Territorial extent:

  1. Smaller islands are usually contained in the nearest county on a larger island.
  2. Boa Vista Island corresponds to Boa Vista county.
  3. Brava Island corresponds to Brava county (along with Rei and Rombo Islands).
  4. Fogo Island corresponds to Mosteiros, Santa Catarina do Fogo, and S�o Filipe counties.
  5. Maio Island corresponds to Maio county.
  6. Sal Island corresponds to Sal.
  7. Santo Ant�o Island corresponds to Paul, Porto Novo, and Ribeira Grande counties.
  8. S�o Nicolau Island corresponds to Ribeira Brava and Tarrafal de S�o Nicolau counties.
  9. S�o Tiago (or Santiago) Island corresponds to Praia, Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz, S�o Domingos, S�o Louren�o dos �rg�os, S�o Miguel, S�o Salvador do Mundo, and Tarrafal counties.
  10. S�o Vicente Island corresponds to S�o Vicente (along with uninhabited Santa Luzia Island).

The UN LOCODE page for Cape Verde lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names:

  1. Barlavento: Portuguese for windward. Prevailing winds are from the northeast, and these islands are to the north.
  2. Boa Vista: Portuguese for good view.
  3. Brava: Portuguese for wild.
  4. Fogo: Portuguese for fire. Island has an active volcano.
  5. Maio: Portuguese for May. Island was discovered in May 1460 by Ant�nio de Noli and Diogo Gomes.
  6. Paul: Portuguese for marsh.
  7. Praia: Portuguese for beach.
  8. Ribeira Grande: Portuguese for big creek.
  9. Sal: Portuguese for salt. There were salt mines there.
  10. S�o Vicente: Island discovered on Saint Vincent's feast day, 1462-01-22.
  11. Sotavento: Portuguese for leeward.

Change history:

  1. Note: History is incomplete until 1971.
  2. 1769: Capital of Cape Verde Islands moved from Cidade Velha (formerly known as Ribeira Grande) to Praia.
  3. ~1894: Paul county merged with Ribeira Grande, which thereby became the only county on Santo Ant�o island.
  4. 1935: Sal county split from Boa Vista.
County Population
Boa Vista 2,902
Brava 7,904
Fogo 16,705
Maio 1,872
Paul 12,648
Praia 30,290
Ribeira Grande 15,157
Sal 1,784
Santa Catarina 15,454
S�o Nicolau 10,311
S�o Vicente 19,138
Tarrafal 13,163
Total 147,328
Population: 1950-12-15census (source [4]).
  1. ~1971: Porto Novo county split from Paul.
  2. 1971: Santa Cruz county split from Praia. At this time, the divisions of Cape Verde were as shown in this table:
County HASC ISO FIPS Population Area(km.�) Area(mi.�) Capital
Boa Vista CV.BV BV CV01 3,110 620 239 Sal Rei
Brava CV.BR BR CV02 6,610 67 26 Nova Sintra
Fogo CV.FO FO CV03 34,580 476 184 S�o Filipe
Maio CV.MA MA CV04 4,560 269 104 Porto Ingl�s
Paul CV.PA PA CV05 9,080 54 21 Pombas
Porto Novo CV.PN PN 13,650 558 215 Porto Novo
Praia CV.PR PR CV06 94,250 396 153 Praia
Ribeira Grande CV.RG RG CV07 22,300 167 64 Ponta Sol
Sal CV.SL SL CV08 8,150 216 83 Santa Maria
Santa Catarina CV.CA CA CV09 48,000 243 94 Assomada
Santa Cruz CV.CR CR 27,730 149 58 Pedra Badejo
S�o Nicolau CV.SN SN CV10 12,630 388 150 Ribeira Brava
S�o Vicente CV.SV SV CV11 62,710 227 88 Mindelo
Tarrafal CV.TA TA CV12 29,330 203 78 Tarrafal
14 counties 376,690 4,033 1,557
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: County codes from ISO 3166-2: 1998. For full identificationin a global context, prefix "CV-" to the code (ex: CV-SL represents Sal). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 1990 estimates.
  1. ~1988: S�o Domingos county formed by taking Nossa Senhora da Luz and S�o Nicolau Tolentino parishes from Praia.
  2. 1991: Mosteiros county formed by taking Nossa Senhora da Ajuda parish from Fogo county. The remainder of Fogo county renamed S�o Filipe county.
  3. ~1991: S�o Miguel county (area 91 km.�, ISO code CV-CS from 2002 to 2010) formed by taking S�o Miguel Arcanjo parish from Tarrafal county.
  4. 2005-08-03: Five new counties were formed in 2005. Ribeira Grande de Santiago county formed on 2005-07-23 by taking Sant�ssimo Nome de Jesus and S�o Jo�o Baptista parishes from Praia (former HASC codeCV.PI, ISO code PR, FIPS code CV14). Santa Catarina do Fogo county formed on 2005-07-25 by taking Santa Catarina parish from S�o Filipe (CV.SF, SF,CV18). S�o Louren�o dos �rg�os county formed on 2005-07-21 by taking S�o Louren�o dos �rg�os parish from Santa Cruz (CV.SZ, CR, CV16). S�o Salvador do Mundo county formed on 2005-07-19 by taking S�o Salvador do Mundo parish from Santa Catarina (CV.SC,CA, CV15). Tarrafal de S�o Nicolau county formed on 2005-08-03 by taking S�o Francisco parish from S�o Nicolau (CV.SN, SN, CV10). The remainder of S�o Nicolau county was renamed Ribeira Brava. ISO code for S�o Miguel changed from CS toSM, since ISO had formerly called this county Calheta de S�o Miguel.

Other names of subdivisions:

  1. Paul: Paoul (French); Pa�l (common misspelling)
  2. S�o Miguel: Calheta de S�o Miguel (variant)

Population history:

County 1940 1950-12-15 1960-12-15 1970-12-15 1980-06-02 1990-06-23 2000-06-16 2010-06-16
Boa Vista 2,779 2,985 3,263 3,569 3,372 3,452 4,193 9,162
Brava 8,528 7,937 8,625 7,756 6,985 6,975 6,820 5,995
Maio 2,237 1,924 2,680 3,466 4,098 4,969 6,742 6,952
Mosteiros 8,331 9,479 9,524
Paul 5,845 5,370 6,024 8,000 7,983 8,121 8,325 6,997
Porto Novo 10,366 7,565 10,683 13,750 13,236 14,873 17,239 18,028
Praia 18,208 17,179 24,872 39,911 57,748 71,276 106,052 139,927
Ribeira Grande 19,766 15,444 17,246 22,873 22,102 20,851 21,560 18,890
Sal 1,121 1,838 2,608 5,505 5,826 7,715 14,792 25,765
Santa Catarina 26,848 19,428 30,207 41,462 41,012 41,584 49,970 51,974
Santa Cruz 13,486 9,568 14,368 21,158 22,995 25,892 32,822 33,997
S�o Domingos 11,526 13,296 13,808
S�o Filipe 23,022 17,582 25,615 29,412 30,978 25,571 27,930 27,527
S�o Miguel 13,787 16,153 15,648
S�o Nicolau 14,846 10,366 13,866 16,308 13,572 13,665 13,536 12,817
S�o Vicente 15,848 19,576 20,705 31,578 41,594 51,277 67,844 76,107
Tarrafal 18,840 13,222 19,140 26,251 24,202 11,626 18,059 18,565
Totals 181,740 149,984 199,902 270,999 295,703 341,491 434,812 491,683
Note: Figures for S�o Filipe before 1990 actually represent Fogo county. Figures for 2010 represent the county structure as of 2000.

Sources:

  1. [1] Retrieved from Instituto Nacional de Estat�stica site on 2008-12-19 (requires free registration).
  2. [2] 1990 census data are from the Atlas de Cabo Verde site, retrieved about 2003.
  3. [3] The CGN-CV (C�digo Geogr�fico Nacional de Cabo Verde: National Geographic Code of Cape Verde) is defined by the Instituto Nacional de Estat�stica of Cape Verde. There is a document containing an overall description of the code system, titled "Apresenta��o Geral" (http://www.ine.cv/Nomenclatura/CGN-CV/APRESENGeral%20CGN-CV.pdf), and another with the actual codes down to parish level, titled "Estrutura" (http://www.ine.cv/Nomenclatura/CGN-CV/ESTRUTURA%20CGN-CV.pdf). Both were retrieved about 2003. There is a seven-digit CGN code for each of 4,526 places in Cape Verde. The first five digits of a code represent the zone in which the place is located. The first three digits represent a parish (freguesia); the first two, a county (concelho); and the first digit alone, one of the nine inhabited islands.
  4. [4] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).
  5. [5] Resumo dos Principais Resultados ... (Excel download). IV� Recenseamento Geral da Popula��o e de Habita��o, Instituto Nacional de Estat�stica, 2010 (retrieved 2014-02-11).