Santa Cruz is a '' concelho'' (municipality) of

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

. It is situated in the eastern part of the island of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

. Its seat is the city Pedra Badejo. Its population was 26,617 at the 2010 census, and its area is 112.2 km².2010 Census Summary
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Economy

Its economy is based in agriculture, in which rural population produces agricultural commodities for export to larger markets in Praia, Assomada and Fogo. Small market centers exist in São Lourenço dos Órgãos and Pedra Badejo, which act primary as commodity exchanges where subsistence farmers exchange goods as available with merchants who transport and sell goods in larger markets. The primary agricultural productions include

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (includ ...

(usually in the form of

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

stalks),

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", disting ...

papaya The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and ...

s and

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

s. Prior to 1981 the area also produced a substantial percentage of the island's

, but the arrival of large-scale international food aid, while vastly improving the region’s food security, made producing foodstuffs unprofitable.

Maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

and

legumes A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock for ...

are still the region's primary agricultural product, though 97% is consumed by the families that produce it. The mixture of

nitrogen fixing Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but also in industry. Atmo ...

and nitrogen consuming crops reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, allowing small farmers to remain solvent despite little cash income. The dry-season economy is directed primarily by agricultural cooperatives, which assign stonemasonry, carpentry and other construction tasks through contracts awarded by the local governments. The president of the cooperative acts as a de facto village headman in areas where there are no government representative. The soil in the region is very fertile (being especially rich in

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

and

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

), though water is scarce in all parts of the municipality.

Subdivisions

The municipality consists of one '' freguesia'' (civil parish), Santiago Maior. The ''freguesia'' is subdivided into the following settlements: * Achada Belbel (pop: 767) * Achada Fazenda (pop: 2,592) * Achada Igreja (pop: 142) * Achada Lage (pop: 686) * Achada Ponta (pop: 403) * Boaventura (pop: 424) * Boca Larga (pop: 186) * Cancelo (pop: 2,042) * Chã da Silva (pop: 1,152) * Librão (pop: 297) * Matinho (pop: 737) * Monte Negro (pop: 562) * Pedra Badejo (pop: 9,859, city)Cabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook 2015
Instituto Nacional de Estatística, p. 32-33 * Porto Madeira (pop: 400) * Rebelo (pop: 153) * Renque Purga (pop: 904) * Ribeira Seca (pop: 720) * Ribeirão Almaço (pop: 158) * Ribeirão Boi (pop: 388) * Rocha Lama (pop: 724) * Saltos Abaixo (pop: 535) * Santa Cruz (pop: 2,019) * São Cristovão (pop: 442) * Serelho (pop: 293)

History

The municipality was created in 1971, when two parishes of the older Municipality of Praia were separated to become the Municipality of Santa Cruz. In 2005, a southern parish of the municipality was split off to become the Municipality of São Lourenço dos Órgãos.

Demography

Politics

At the federal level, it belongs to the constituency of Santiago North. Since 2004, the

African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde The African Party of Independence of Cape Verde ( pt, Partido Africano da Independência de Cabo Verde, PAICV) is a democratic socialist political party in Cape Verde. It was formerly a Marxist–Leninist communist party and the sole legal pa ...

(PAICV) is the ruling party of the municipality. The results of the latest elections, in 2016:Official results local elections 2016
''Boletim Oficial I Série, Número 53'', 23 September 2016

Notable people

* Elida Almeida, singer * Nilson António, footballer * Djaniny, footballer * Lito, footballer and manager * Tino Santos, footballer

Sister city

The municipality of Santa Cruz is twinned with: *

Alandroal Alandroal () is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Évora located on the eastern frontier with Spain along the right margin of the Guadiana River in the Central Alentejo region. It is located above sea level, northeast of Évora and sou ...

* Aveiro *

Candiolo Candiolo is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin. It is seat of the Istituto per la Ricerca e Cura del Cancro (IRCC, "Institute for Research and Cure of C ...

Storia e Gemellaggi
Candiolo * Lagoa *

Sines Sines () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The municipality, divided into two parishes, has around 14,214 inhabitants (2021) in an area of . Sines holds an important oil refinery and several petrochemical industries. It is also a popular ...

References

External links

Câmara Municipal de Santa CruzANMCV (Associação Nacional dos Municípios Cabo-Verdianos - National Association of the Capeverdean Municipalities)
{{Authority control Municipalities of Cape Verde Geography of Santiago, Cape Verde 1971 establishments in Cape Verde