Cape Verde - Historic center of Praia

The historic center of Praia corresponds to a primitive population center of 15 ha of surface, located at the naturally fortified plateau of Santa Maria da Vitoria, overlooking the port of the same name, where the city was formed. Considered since its beginnings as a strategic military site, this site allowed the control of maritime and commercial activities in the region. The site, testimony of the Cape Verdean colonial past, is composed of many infrastructure of administrative, military and religious well preserved and confined in this small space. Initially integrated into the Alcatraz Harbor Authority, Praia de Santa Maria, as it was called at that time, developed with the decline of this captaincy in the second decade of the fifteenth century to become the headquarters of the North Captaincy . Later, the city has also benefited from the decline of the town of Ribeira Grande (Cidade Velha), becoming the main population center of the province of Cabo Verde, this because of its privileged geographical location, its large port, its salubrity and his best defense against attacks by pirates and privateers.