Cidade Velha, on the island of Santiago in Cabo Verde, began as Ribeira Grande, the first European colonial town in the tropics, after the Portuguese settled the uninhabited islands in the mid-1400s. In 1466 the town received a royal charter allowing its settlers to own and trade enslaved Africans, and over the next century it grew rich on gold and the slave trade, becoming a hub of the transatlantic slave trade in which most of the islands' inhabitants took part in some way. Its wealth drew frequent raids by pirates and rival powers, including Sir Francis Drake in 1585, and in 1590 work began on the Fortaleza Real de São Filipe, the strongest fort of its day.
Positioned between Europe, Africa and the Americas, Ribeira Grande was an essential port of call for explorers including Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage, and James Cook, and it became a testing ground for crops traveling between the continents. The intense mixing of cultures here produced the first creole language and culture of any colony, which survive today. The town declined after a French attack in 1712, and as the elite moved to the new capital of Praia, it became known as Cidade Velha, the "old city". It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
