Cidade Velha

Cidade Velha

The city of Cidade Velha is located in Cape Verde, on the southern part of Santiago Island. Established in 1462, it is the oldest settlement and former capital of Cape Verde. It was once called Ribeira Grande, but was changed to Cidade Velha at the end of the 18th century. The town is the seat of the municipality of Ribeira Grande de Santiago. The town located off the northwest coast of Africa was Europe's first colonial settlement in the tropics. Parts of the site's meticulously planned original layout are still preserved, including a royal fortress, two churches and a town square dating from the 16th century. Nowadays, Cidade Velha is an Atlantic cruise stop and a center of Creole culture, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009, and one of the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World. The port of Cidade Velha was a stopover for two great navigators. One was Vasco da Gama, who passed through here in 1497 on his way to India. The other was Christopher Columbus in 1498, on his third voyage to the Americas. The expedition of the future explorer Ferdinand Magellan also stopped here in 1522.