Santa Maria

History

Santa Maria was founded in 1830 for the production of salt. Up to 30,000 tons of salt were shipped from Santa Maria each year. A pier was built in the area of Ponta de Vera Cruz and a small rail track was built to carry the salt to the pier. Most of the product was exported to Brazil, which was halted in 1887 when Brazil imposed a high tax on imported salt to protect its own salt production. The town went into a deep decline, only to recover in 1920 when a Portuguese investor resumed salt production. This continued until 1984. In 1967, Belgian industrialists and engineers Georges Vynckier and Marguerite Massart opened Cape Verde's first resort hotel named Morabeza. After 1986, tourism became an important industry on the island, and many resorts and hotels were built in the southern and southwestern coastal areas near Santa Maria.

Most-observed species

• Cape Verde Sparrow

  Passer iagoensis (Gould, 1838) · Aves
  410
• Kentish Plover

  Charadrius alexandrinus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  227
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  189
• Cattle Egret

  Bubulcus ibis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  164
• Sanderling

  Calidris alba (Pallas, 1764) · Aves
  146
• Osprey

  Pandion haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  143
• Black-winged Stilt

  Himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  136
• Whimbrel

  Numenius phaeopus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  128