Finding Alcatrazes and early Luso-African settlement on Santiago Island, Cape Verde

After the Portuguese discovered the Cape Verde Islands in AD 1456 they divided its main island, Santiago, into two governing captaincies. The founding settlement in the south-west, Cidade Velha, soon became the Islands’ capital and a thriving trade centre; in contrast, that in the east, Alcatrazes, only lasted as an official seat from 1484–1516 and is held to have ‘failed’ (see Richter 2015).

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Further studies on trade winds during the glacial cycles

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A - Mathematical and Physical Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspa.1975.0175 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 346 (1645) ◽

pp. 245-260 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Size Distribution ◽

Cape Verde ◽

Climatic Data ◽

The South ◽

Glacial Cycles ◽

Cape Verde Islands ◽

Trade Winds ◽

The North ◽

Quartz Grains

Core V19-301 (south of Cape Verde Islands) has been analysed in detail for (i) size distribution of quartz grains, (ii) mineralogy, (iii) colour and organic carbon (iv) G. menardii foraminifera, and (v) total foraminifera and carbonate. These results are compared with those previously obtained on core V23-100 (north of Cape Verde Islands). It is believed that the carbonate variations can be used to establish simultaneity between the cores, and thus the following climatic data emerge: ( a ) During glacial stages the trade winds were more vigorous than normal for the region north of the Cape Verdes; but the wintertime Harmattan was weaker than normal for the region south of the Cape Verdes. ( b ) The land to the north of Dakar remained desert, and was especially arid during glacials, whereas to the south of Dakar conditions oscillated between desert during interglacials, and savannah during glacials, ( c ) These wind and rainfall oscillations were more rapid and less excursive at around 0.7 Ma than they were in later glacial cycles.

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What Darwin did not see: Pleistocene fossil assemblages on a high-energy coast at Ponta das Bicudas, Santiago, Cape Verde Islands

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s001675681200074x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 150 (1) ◽

pp. 183-189 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

B. GUDVEIG BAARLI ◽

ANA G. SANTOS ◽

EDUARDO J. MAYORAL ◽

JORGE LEDESMA-VÁZQUEZ ◽

MARKES E. JOHNSON ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rocky Shore ◽

High Energy ◽

Cape Verde ◽

Tidal Zone ◽

Cape Verde Islands ◽

Low Diversity ◽

Fossil Assemblages ◽

Santiago Island

AbstractTwo distinct Pleistocene assemblages from SE Santiago Island are comparable to modern analogues elsewhere in the Cape Verde Islands. A low-diversity Siderastrea radians assemblage lived atop basalt knobs surrounded by sand on a slope below a cliff. A Millepora alcicornis–Megabalanus azoricus assemblage occupied the cliff. The latter was a typical rocky-shore assemblage from a high-energy setting below the tidal zone. Bioerosion structures in basalt produced by Circolites kotoncensis and Gastrochaenolites isp. also occur there. Despite extensive studies on local limestone deposits in 1832 and 1836, lack of exposure prevented Darwin from seeing these fossils.

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Precipitation Patterns in Cape Verde Islands: Santiago Island Case Study

Atmospheric and Climate Sciences ◽

10.4236/acs.2014.45075 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 04 (05) ◽

pp. 854-865 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gerson Ernesto Varela-Lopes ◽

Luiz Carlos Baldicero Molion

Keyword(s):

Cape Verde ◽

Cape Verde Islands ◽

Precipitation Patterns ◽

Santiago Island

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Hazard potential of volcanic flank collapses raised by new megatsunami evidence

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.1500456 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 1 (9) ◽

pp. e1500456 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Ricardo S. Ramalho ◽

Gisela Winckler ◽

José Madeira ◽

George R. Helffrich ◽

Ana Hipólito ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Cape Verde ◽

Volume Flux ◽

Cape Verde Islands ◽

The Real ◽

Hazard Potential ◽

Volcanic Islands ◽

Run Up ◽

Santiago Island ◽

The Impact

Large-scale gravitational flank collapses of steep volcanic islands are hypothetically capable of triggering megatsunamis with highly catastrophic effects. Yet, evidence for the generation and impact of collapse-triggered megatsunamis and their high run-ups remains scarce or is highly controversial. Therefore, doubts remain on whether island flank failures truly generate enough volume flux to trigger giant tsunamis, leading to diverging opinions concerning the real hazard potential of such collapses. We show that one of the most prominent oceanic volcanoes on Earth—Fogo, in the Cape Verde Islands—catastrophically collapsed and triggered a megatsunami with devastating effects ~73,000 years ago. Our deductions are based on the recent discovery and cosmogenic3He dating of tsunamigenic deposits found on nearby Santiago Island, which attest to the impact of this giant tsunami and document wave run-up heights exceeding 270 m. The evidence reported here implies that Fogo’s flank failure involved at least one fast and voluminous event that led to a giant tsunami, in contrast to what has been suggested before. Our observations therefore further demonstrate that flank collapses may indeed catastrophically happen and are capable of triggering tsunamis of enormous height and energy, adding to their hazard potential.

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Didogobius janetarum sp. nov., a new cryptobenthic goby species from the Cape Verde Islands (Teleostei: Gobiidae)

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4438.2.12 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4438 (2) ◽

pp. 381 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

ULRICH K. SCHLIEWEN ◽

PETER WIRTZ ◽

MARCELO KOVAČIĆ

Keyword(s):

Cape Verde ◽

Cape Verde Islands ◽

Dorsal Fin ◽

Meristic Counts ◽

Goby Species ◽

Santiago Island ◽

Posterior Quarter

Didogobius janetarum sp. nov. is described from five specimens collected from small caves and rock crevices between 12 and 20 m depth off two locations of Santiago Island, Cape Verde Islands. The species differs from all currently described congeners by the combination of the following characters: (1) 27 vertebrae, (2) second dorsal fin I + 10, (3) posterior quarter of predorsal region in front of first dorsal fin origin scaled, with several rows of cycloid scales, (4) body squamation cycloid anteriorly and ctenoid posteriorly, (5) scales in the lateral series 30–32, (6) anterior oculoscapular canal present, (7) preopercular head canal absent, (8) suborbital row 7 each a single papilla, (9) suborbital rows 2 and 4 close to orbit, and by (10) branchiostegal membranes uniformely black below preopercle, forming a V-shaped mark. Definitions for all used meristic counts are presented to serve as a reference for gobioid meristic studies. The genus is rediagnosed to accommodate recently described Didogobius species.

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