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'Mount Fogo' is the highest peak of Cape Verde, rising to 2,829 metres above sea level. It is an active stratovolcano lying on the island of Fogo. The main cone last erupted in 1675, causing mass emigration from the island, while a subsidiary vent erupted in 1995. The only deadly eruption was in 1847 when earthquakes generated by Mount Fogo claimed several lives.
During the night of April 18, a series of large, explosive bursts occurred that may have followed collapse of parts of the cone into the vents and subsequent explosive clearing of the debris. By morning, the activity had returned to fire fountains and the seismic record was much quieter. The lava flows continued to thicken, and lava ponded along the central channel. As pressure builds within the flow, a rapid advance of the flow into Portela seems likely.
The island of Fogo, west of Santiago, is almost round in shape, and looks as if it is just a volcanic mountain.
The surface area is 476 km² and, although only the fourth biggest island of the Archipelago, it is the highest with the top of the volcano reaching a height of 2,829 m.
The volcano is in fact the main tourist attraction of the island. The volcanic cone rises from a sort of plateau about 8 km in diameter, called CHÃ DAS CALDEIRAS the walls on the western side reach almost 1,000 m and end in a crater 500 meters in diameter and 180 meters deep.
This is truly the most spectacular scenery in the whole of the archipelago. The original volcanic cone must, at one time, have reached a height of 3,500 m. The volcano was active right up to the XVIII century, when the main cone ceased activity and all that remained as testimony to it were the vulcanic vapours and deposits of sulphur.
There have been sporadic eruptions and the last one was in 1951, when the lava poured out of one of the two chimneys on the southern side of the volcano.
The mountain's slopes are used to grow coffee, while its lava is used as building material. Near its peak is a caldera, in which sits the ''Pico do Fogo'' ash cone.