We present a plate kinematic evolution of the South Atlantic which is based largely on the determination of the equatorial fracture zone trends between the African and South American continental margins. Four main opening phases are dated by oceanic magnetic anomalies, notably MO, A34, and A13, and are correlated with volcanism and tectonic events on land around the South Atlantic Ocean. The Cera and Sierra Leone rises are probably of oceanic origin and were created 80 m.y. ago or later in their present-day positions with respect to South America and Africa.