São Domingos is the youngest and smallest of the Cape Verdean municipalities, having been been until recently a subset of the Praia concelho . The São Domingos municipality was formed primarily to relieve the Camara Muncipal da Praia of the administrative difficulties involved in managing both a large capital city (Praia) in addition to agrarian villages.

The São Domingos concelho includes two roads, one of which was widened to three lanes and paved in 2004. The two major settlements in the concelho are São Domingos and Praia Baixo , São Domingos (pop: 13,000) being by far the largest settlement in the area. Smaller settlements surround the area include Agua do Gato , Banana and the Rui Vaz , which is situated on the edge of a 1 km high cliff overlooking Ribeirao Galinha . While Rui Vaz and Praia Baixo are the main tourist draws in the area, tourism does not constitute a major factor in the region's overwhelmingly agrarian economy.