Porto Novo, Cape Verde

Porto Novo is situated on the southeastern coast of Santo Antão, opposite the island São Vicente.

The city is divided into the following sections:[1]

Porto Novo harbour, and behind, the island of São Vicente

Due to the aridity of the south coast of Santo Antão, settlement began relatively late. The city was initially a fishing village called Porto dos Carvoeiros. From only 30 dispersed buildings in 1901, it started growing in the 1910s.[4]^:21 The port was inaugurated in 1962, and modernized in 2012-14.[5] Before 1962, ships had to anchor in the bay of Alto Peixinho, and goods and passengers had to be brought ashore with small boats.[4]^:24 The seat of the Porto Novo municipality created in 1962,[4]^:29 it gradually became the largest urban settlement of the island. In 2005 the town of Porto Novo became a city.[4]^:40

Porto Novo has a desert climate. Its annual precipitation is 191 millimeters. The average annual temperature is 23.8 °C (74.8 °F).[6]

Since the latest modernization in 2014, the port of Porto Novo has 3 quays, 1 container park, 2 roll-on/roll-off ramps and a boat ramp. The total length of the quays is 268 m, and the maximum depth is 8 m.[5] In 2017 134,141 metric tonnes of cargo and 301,813 passengers were handled (2017).[7] There are 4 daily ferry connections from Porto Novo to Mindelo on São Vicente island.[8]

The national road EN1-SA01 connects Porto Novo with Ribeira Grande, passing through the mountainous interior. The EN1-SA03 leads to Pombas along the east coast. The EN1-SA04 leads west to Ponte Sul. Since the closing of Agostinho Neto Airport, located in Ponta do Sol, there is no functioning airport on the island.

• List of cities in Cape Verde