Praia is a concelho (municipality) of Cape Verde. It is situated in the southern part of the island of Santiago. Its seat is the city Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. Its area is , and its population was 131,719 at the 2010 census.2010 Census Summary The municipality consists of one freguesia (civil parish), Nossa Senhora da Graça. The city hall is located in the Platô part of the city.
History Praia is one of the oldest municipalities in Cape Verde. It was created in the 18th century, when the then town of Praia de Santa Maria received town status and became the new capital of the Portuguese dominion of Cape Verde. Throughout history, its municipal territory has been successively reduced due to demographic increases.
By the end of the 19th century, the Municipality of Praia occupied the southern half of the island; the northern half was the Municipality of Santa Catarina. In 1971, the two northernmost parishes of the Municipality were split off to become the Municipality of Santa Cruz,Conselho de Santa Cruz. Inventário dos recursos turísticos, p. 12 and the parish of São Salvador do Mundo became part of the municipality of Santa Catarina.Picos: a terra e a gente, Emanuel de Jesus Monteiro Vaz Fernandes, ISE, 2005, p. 27-29 In 1994, two more northern parishes of the Municipality were split off to become the Municipality of São Domingos.Lei nº 96/IV/93, p. 74 In 2005, two western parishes of the Municipality were split off to become the Municipality of Ribeira Grande de Santiago.Lei nº 63/VI/2005, p. 25
Subdivisions The municipality is divided into the following localities for statistical reasons:
Achada Eugénio Lima Achada Grande Frente Achada Grande Tras Achada Limpo Achada Mato/Covão Mendes Achada Palha de Se Achada Santo António Achada São Filipe Achadinha Achadinha Pires Agostinho Alves Água Funda Bairro Craveiro Lopes Bela Vista Bom Coi Sul Caiada Calabaceira Cambudjane Chã de Areia Cidadela Cova Minhoto Coqueiro Castelão Fazenda Fig de Água Gonçalo Afonso João Bom Lem Cachorro Lem Dias Lem Ferreira Matão Monte Gonçalo Afonso Monte Ilhéu Monte Pensamento Monte Vaca Monte Vermelho Monteagarro Paiol Palmarejo Palmarejo Grande Palmarejo Santiago Pedregal Pensamento Pizarra/Sarrado Platô Ponta de Água Ponta do Sol Portete de Cima Praia Negra Prainha Quebra Canela Ribeira São Filipe Ribeirinha Safende São Francisco São Francisco de Baixo São Jorginho São Martinho Pequeno São Pedro Latada São Tomé Simão Ribeiro Terra Branca Tira Chapéu Tira Chapéu Industrial Trindade Vale Palmarejo Várzea Veneza Vera Cruz Vila Nova Zona do Aeroporto Zona Enavi
Demography
Politics At the federal level, Praia belongs to the constituency of Santiago South. Since 2008, the Movement for Democracy (MpD) 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
PartyMunicipal CouncilMunicipal AssemblyVotes%SeatsVotes%SeatsMpD62.74962.1814PAICV32.43032.437UCID1.7702.240PP0.6100.680PTS0.2600.300
Presidents José Ulisses Correia e Silva (MpD, 2006-2008 and 2013-2016) Oscar Santos (MpD, since August 2016-2020) Francisco Carvalho (PAICV, since April 2020)
References
External links https://web.archive.org/web/20070928203332/http://www.cmpraia.cv/ ANMCV (Associação Nacional dos Municípios Cabo-Verdianos - National Association of the Capeverdean Municipalities)