Last modified: 2026-02-28 by antónio martins
Keywords: boa vista | bubista | fairview | turtle | sea turtle | dunes | chain (green) | chain: 3 links | stars: 10 | município de boa vista | sal rei | per cross | salt cellar | fish (blue) | fish: 2 | galeoides decadactylus |
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![[flag]](../images/c/cv-51.gif)
image by António Martins, 21 Dec 2025
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Boa Vista is one of 22 municipalities in the
Cabo Verde. Town of Sal-Rei is the seat of the municipality.
Valentin Poposki, 04 Aug 2022
Concerning the municipality iself, it should be noted that its territory
covers fully and exclusively the namesake Fairview Island
— Ilha da Boa Vista / Dja’r’Bubista. (Before 1935 it
included also Salt Island.)
António Martins, 21 Dec 2025
The flag is modified logo on a white background:
Photo of the flag.
Valentin Poposki, 04 Aug 2022
The original of that photo might be
found archived somewhere in the defunct official website’s
photo
gallery. I found
another
photo of this same flag in use, in an official event in 2014, where
it’s being used for the unveiling of a plaque.
And another
photo of this flag in use, in 2022.
António Martins, 21 Dec 2025
It is a plain white ~2:3 flag with the usual circular municipal emblem centered on it, surrounded at the bottom half by a teal scroll, edged and inscribed in olive (likely standing for golden) "município da Boa Vista", in allcaps, the scroll bracketing from below a unique device consisting seemingly of a teal gearwheel with two palm fronds adjoined on either side, and the scroll flanked outwards along the curve of the emblem by two chains of three links each, green edged olive, and along the upper half of the emblem two sets of 5 yellow stars, also edged olive, on either side just like in most other Cabo Verde municipal emblems, but leaving the apex position void.
This particular arrangement of the elements exterior to the circular emblem (stars, chain, and scroll/toponym) seems to be the one used for municipal seals in the (so far unknown with exactitude) Cabo Verde subnational symbols law — here seemingly mistakenly used on the flag. Almost all other Cabo Verde municipalities have the chain on top, flanked by 5 stars on both sides and the scroll at the bottom, with no additional elements.
António Martins, 21 Dec 2025
![[flag]](../images/c/cv-51).gif)
image by António Martins, 21 Dec 2025 |
(source)
The circular emblem itself shows a photographic image of a sea turtle,
clipped and set on a light blue background with, on the foreground,
crudely drawn yellow dunes, with shadow gradients, taking the lower half
of the circle.
António Martins, 21 Dec 2025
A large image
of the emblem on the flag is at the current Facebook presence of the municipal
government. It can be seen also on the defunct official website, as of
2014
and 2020.
Other defunct websites show variants of the same emblem, such as the
unofficial
website BoaVistaOfficial.COM or the twinning agreement
webpage
at the official municipal website of Aljezur, Portugal.
António Martins, 21 Dec 2025
![[flag]](../images/c/cv-51_h.gif)
image by Sérgio Horta and António Martins, 22 Dec 2025 |
(source)
Town of Sal-Rei was the seat of the Municipality of Boa Vista, within the
(Portuguese) Cabo Verde. Its symbols were published in the Government Gazette
on 01.07.1955: Quartered in white and red. Cords and tassels of silver and red.
Gold pole and spear.
Valentin Poposki, 04 Aug 2022
The colonial-era municipal flag is a typical Portuguese municipal flag, consisting of a 2:3 white over red quartered background with the coat of arms centered on it. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case serifed letters "Vila de Sal-Rei". The banner should have silvery and red tassels and cord, and golden staff with a spear finial. Flag and arms approved by the Overseas Ministry in Ministerial Decree (Portaria) n.º 15440 and published in the official journal Diário do Governo : I Série 144 of 1955.07.01.
The fish is indicated in the Portuguese official blazon as "barbo", a paraphyletic term that covers both the barbels (a river fish not found in Cabo Verde) and the threadfins — of which the lesser African threadfin (Galeoides decadactylus) is very likely the the intended species as it is found in Cabo Verde as the northwestmost reach of its natural occurrence range.
António Martins, 22 Dec 2025
At HeraldicaCivica.PT
we can see Sérgio Horta’s account of these arms and flag, drawn in
the same style as contemporary CHAAP artwork;
other sources, such as [lgh66] and
postage stamps,
may differ in details.
António Martins, 22 Dec 2025
![[flag]](../images/p/pt-'wb4.gif)
image by António Martins, 29 Feb 2010
Non-monocolored portuguese subnational flags are
allowed to have armless variations.
Jorge Candeias, 18 Jul 1999
While the current law, adopted in 1991,
doesn’t apply to municipal flags in the colonies, independent in 1975, it
however draws most of its content from the 1930 ministerial dispatch, incl.
the regulation of armless variations allowed for non-monocolor municipal flags.
This 1930 ruling affected all future Portuguese municipal flags, including the
colonial ones.
António Martins, Feb 2026
![[CoA]](../images/c/cv-51_h).gif)
image by Sérgio Horta and António Martins, 22 Dec 2025 |
(source)
Quartered shield.
Valentin Poposki, 04 Aug 2022
The arms have on a quartered shield the I and II Gules a salt cellar Argent garnisged Or and in the II and II Argent a fish hauriant bendwise Azure.
Escudo esquartelado. No primeiro e quarto, de vermelho, um saleiro de prata ornamentado de ouro. No segundo e terceiro, de prata, um barbo de azul em banda. Coroa mural de quatro torres de prata. Listel branco, com os dizeres "VILA DE SAL-REI". Bandeira - Esquartelada de branco e vermelho. Cordões e borlas de prata e vermelho. Haste e lança de ouro.António Martins, 22 Dec 2025
By my reading, salt shakers were introduced about 115 years ago. Before that,
salt was present on the table in cellars, open or, as depicted here,
lidded vessels, from which diners took salt with a spoon.
John Ayer, 25 Dec 2025
These three colonial-era municipal coats of arms
(Maio, Boa Vista,
and Sal) were issued in 1955 but depict historical
items, not modern free flow salt shakers. (I wrongly presumed that a salt cellar
is something akin to a root cellar or a wine cellar.)
António Martins, 27 Dec 2025
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.
