Location of Ilhado Fogo

The island's main city is São Filipe, near which is an airport. First settled in the 1480s, it is largely an agricultural island. The islands also houses schools, a gymnasium, banks, a post office, some hotels and squares.

Fogo has fertile land in the southwest with a slope of about 10 to 15 degrees. The north and the east are steep. The island rises abruptly from the ocean, which can be as deep as 5,300 m at a distance of 5 km from the shoreline. The exception is to the west, where the island is connected to another sea mount; further west in Brava.

The slopes in the northeastern part are green and grassy all-year round. The rest of the mountain is dry and barren. One of the southernmost islands in Cape Verde, Fogo receives the most precipitation. The creeks and streams are dry all-year round.

São Filipe's buildings use classic Portuguese colonial architecture. Mosteiros in the northeast is the island's second most important town.

A violent eruption took place in 1680. The mountain of the island was visible over hundreds of kilometres and lasted for a few years. It was during this eruption that the island earned its name