Cape Verde is an independent nation in Western Africa. With the capital city of Praia, Cape Verde 2020 population is estimated at 555,998 according to countryaah. Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited until the 15th century when the Portuguese discovered them and built a colony there. The location on the road between Africa and America made the colony an important hub for Portuguese trade, mainly with slaves. When slavery ceased during the 19th century, Cape Verde’s importance diminished and its economy shrank. Combined with drought, it led to famine and emigration during most of the 20th century. After the fall of the dictatorship in Portugal, Cape Verde became independent in 1975.
It was an expedition sent by the Portuguese king Henrik Sjöfararen who in 1456 discovered the solitary and then uninhabited archipelago. A few years later, Cape Verde was made a base for the Portuguese trade with West Africa.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Comprehensive guide to and popular abbreviations of Cape Verde, covering history, economy, and social conditions.
The first settlement was located on the island of São Tiago but soon spread to several islands with the profitable slave trade. The islands were approached by slave ships from the 16th century on their way to the other side of the Atlantic. Some of the African slaves remained on the islands and by the end of the century almost nine out of ten residents were slave descendants. For Cape Verde political system, please check cancermatters.
Some of the Portuguese settlers were allocated large land areas. From the 17th century until the 19th century, cotton was grown, and some exports of fabrics occurred. However, the recurring drought led to unsuccessful attempts to grow sugar cane and breed livestock.
From the middle of the 19th century, Cape Verde lost its importance to the slave trade, and the economy deteriorated. The drought caused several famine disasters; In 1773, 1830 and 1920 the famine claimed thousands of lives.
The poverty caused many Cape values to emigrate to other Portuguese colonies in Africa. Until the 1960s, thousands of cut-off values were forcibly recruited as labor for the cocoa plantations at São Tomé. Others rented American whaling vessels from New England, which entered the islands from the 19th century. Many Cape values settled in the United States, especially in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Cape Verde was long administered with the colony of Portuguese Guinea (today’s Guinea-Bissau), but in 1879 was granted the status of its own colony within the Portuguese empire. The islands’ strategic location made them an excellent bunkering port for transatlantic shipping.
In 1956, the African Independence Party of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) was founded. The party, with the cap-valet Amilcar Cabral as leader, would work for the independence of both colonies. While a guerrilla war was fought in Portuguese Guinea, the battle of Cape Verde was limited to occasional assaults. In the latter, conservative circles in Portugal and Cape Verde hoped that the Cape values would like to remain as part of Portugal. The archipelago gained its independence following the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship and formally became a sovereign state on July 5, 1975.
2010
October
Cape Verde participates in the fight against drugs
The UN agency UNODC is launching a cooperation project between Brazil and seven West African countries, including Cape Verde, with the aim of combating the growing drug trade in West Africa.
