Tarrafal is a concelho (municipality) of Cape Verde. It is situated in the northern part of the island of Santiago. Its seat is the town Tarrafal. Its population was 18,565 at the 2010 census, and its area is 120.8 km2.

Subdivisions

The municipality consists of one freguesia (civil parish), Santo Amaro Abade. The freguesia is subdivided into the following settlements (population data from the 2010 census):

History

The municipality was created in 1917, when two northern parishes of the older Municipality of Santa Catarina were split off to become the Municipality of Tarrafal. In 1997, the southeastern part of the municipality was split off to become the Municipality of São Miguel. Under Salazar the Tarrafal Concentration Camp was built on the plain south of town (Chão Bom) to contain opponents of the political regime.

Demography

Politics

At the federal level, it belongs to the constituency of Santiago North. Since 2004, the Movement for Democracy (MpD) is the ruling party of the municipality. The results of the latest elections, in 2016:

Notable people

International relations

Tarrafal is twinned with the following municipalities in Portugal: