Charles Darwin/Second Voyage
Around the World (2005-2009)
Summary of the
Cabo Verde's step
t
mm
"On the 16th of january,
1832, we anchored at Porto Praya, in St. Jago, the chief
island of the Cape de Verde archipelago".
Charles Darwin
(The Voyage of the Beagle,
1839)
-
"The neighbourhood of Porto Praya, viewed from the
sea, wears a desolate aspect. The volcanic fires of a past
age, and the scorching heat of a tropical sun, have in most
places rendered the soil unfit for vegetation".
Charles Darwin
(The Voyage of the Beagle,
1839)
- 
"The country rises in successive steps of
table-land, interspersed with some truncate conical hills,
and the horizon is bounded by an irregular chain of more
lofty mountains".
Charles Darwin
(The Voyage of the Beagle,
1839)
Praia today:
80000 inhabitants.
***
"The island would generally be considered as very
uninteresting, but to anyone accustomed only to an English
landscape, the novel aspect of an utterly sterile land
possesses a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil. A
single green leaf can scarcely be discovered over wide
tracts of the lava plains; yet flocks of goats, together
with a few cows, contrive to exist. It rains very seldom,
but during a short portion of the year heavy torrents fall,
and immediately afterwards a light vegetation springs out of
every crevice. This soon withers; and upon such naturally
formed hay the animals live".
Charles Darwin
(The Voyage of the Beagle,
1839)
"One day, two of the officers and myself rode to
Ribeira Grande, a village a few miles eastward of Porto
Praya. Until we reached the valley of St. Martin, the
country presented its usual dull brown appearance; but here,
a very small rill of water produces a most refreshing margin
of luxuriant vegetation".
Charles Darwin
(The Voyage of the Beagle,
1839)
Ribeira
Grande, when it was the capital of Cape Verde Islands
Today his name is
Cidade Velha.
"In the course of an hour we arrived at Ribeira
Grande, and were surprised at the sight of a large ruined
fort and cathedral. This little town, before its harbour was
filled up, was the principal place in the island: it now
presents a melancholy, but very picturesque
appearance".
Charles Darwin
(The Voyage of the Beagle,
1839)
...we visited a collection of buildings, of which an
ancient church formed the principal part. It is here the
governors and captain-generals of the islands have been
buried. Some of the tombstones recorded dates of the
sixteenth century".
Charles Darwin
(The Voyage of the Beagle,
1839)
