Brava (Portuguese for "wild" or "brave") is an island in Cape Verde, and is part of the Sotavento group, in the central Atlantic Ocean. At 62.5 km2 (24.1 sq mi),[1] it is the smallest inhabited island of the Cape Verde archipelago, but at the same time the greenest. First settled in the early 16th century, its population grew after Mount Fogo on neighbouring Fogo erupted in 1680. For more than a century, its main industry was whaling, but the island economy is now primarily agricultural.
History
Brava was discovered in 1462 by the Portuguese explorer Diogo Afonso.[2]: 73 There is no evidence of human presence on the Cape Verde islands before the arrival of the Portuguese. Around 1620 the population of Brava started with the arrival of settlers from Madeira and the Azores.[3] Settlement of Brava took a rise in 1680 when it received many refugees from the nearby larger island of Fogo after its volcano erupted and covered the island with ash.[2]: 83–84 Frequent pirate attacks forced the population towards the interior of the island, where the town Nova Sintra was founded around 1700.[3]
Around 1720, the fungus Roccella tinctoria was discovered, which was traded as a textile dye.[3] From the end of the 18th century, whaling ships from North America started hunting whales around the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. They used the harbours of Brava (Fajã de Água and Furna) to stock up on supplies and drinking water. They hired men from Brava as sailors, and several of these men from Brava settled around the Massachusetts whaling port of New Bedford.[2]: 439–440 .
