Pico do Fogo

Pico do Fogo, at 2,829 meters (9,281 feet) above sea level, is Cape Verde's and West Africa's highest peak. On the Fogo island, it is an active stratovolcano. The last time the main cone erupted was in 1680, resulting in wholesale evacuation from the island. In 1995, a secondary vent erupted. The only fatal eruption occurred in 1847, when several individuals were killed by tremors.

Fogo (which means "fire" in Portuguese) is a volcanic island with a hotspot. It erupted three times in the last century: in 1951, 1995, and 2014. It is the youngest and most active volcano in the Cape Verde Islands, a short band of volcanic islands produced as the African Plate migrated east across the hotspot, and is generally younger at the western end. Fogo is made up of a single volcano, making it practically spherical with a diameter of 25 kilometers (16 miles). The enormous summit caldera (about 10 kilometers north–south and 7 kilometers east–west) is located in the island's northeastern corner, rather than in the island's center. On the north, west, and south sides, the caldera is surrounded by steep near-vertical fault scarps, but it is breached to the east, allowing lava to flow to the coast. Between 1500 and 1760, north-northeast-trending eruptive cracks emerged along Pico's western flank, which formed inside the caldera. The last time the summit erupted was in 1769. Fogo's current topology, with the caldera open to the sea on the east side, is the result of the volcano's east flank slipping towards the sea.

The mountain's slopes are used for coffee farming, while its lava is used for construction. A caldera at the summit contains a small settlement known as Ch das Caldeiras. Bordeira is the name given to the crater rim, which rises to a height of 2,700 meters.

Elevation: 2,829 m

Location: Fogo Island