The Republic of Cape Verde is an archipelago made up of 10 islands and 5 islets, 480 kilometres off the coast of Senegal (West Africa) in the Atlantic Ocean. The islands span 4033 square kilometres, they are home to approxmiately 449,100 people (2002), and the country's capital and largest city is Praia. Cape Verde is divided into 9 administrative regions: Boavista, Brava, Fogo, Maio, Sal, Santo Antão, São Nicolau, São Tiago, and São Vicente.

Just over 70% of Cape Verdeans are Creole (a mixture of African and European descent), almost 30% are African, and the tiny remainder is generally European, mainly Portuguese. Most Cape Verdeans practice Roman Catholicism infused with indigenous beliefs, though there are some Protestants there as well. Cape Verde's official languages are Portuguese and Crioulo (see creole), a blend of Portuguese and West African languages.

Colonial History

Like São Tomé and Principe, the Cape Verde islands were uninhabited when they were discovered by Portuguese explorer Diogo Gomes in 1456, but it is thought that the Moors had visited Sal in previous centuries to collect salt. Portuguese settlers began to arrive in 1462, founding the city of Ribeira Grande (now Cidade Velha) on the island of São Tiago. People from West Africa were brought over as slaves around the same time, and Cape Verde became a major shipping centre for the slave trade by the 16th century. But unfortunately for Portugal, Ribeira Grande's prosperity attracted many would-be invaders: pirates attacked in 1541, the English attacked the colony twice unsuccessfully in 1585 and again in 1592, the first time under the command of Sir Francis Drake, and finally the French attacked in 1712, forcing the city to be abandoned. Despite English, French, and Dutch activity in the area, Portugal still managed to maintain control over the archipelago.

From the 17th to the 19th centuries, Cape Verde became famous for its woven cotton cloth as cotton grew there easily and its West African slaves were already skilled in narrow-loom weaving. The cloth became a valuable form of currency for the slave trade on the African mainland, but the prosperity of the islands gradually vanished with the abolishment of slavery in 1876. Recurrent drought, famine, colonial government corruption, and maladministration would worsen the situation throughout the rest of the 1800s, though conditions improved with the establishment of a coaling station and a submarine cable station near the turn of the century.

Following World War I, Cape Verde's prosperity declined once again as fewer ships visited the coaling station at Mindelo. In 1913, Portugal finally yielded to British pressure to abandon the policy of indentured labour that replaced slavery, but the colony continued to function in essentially the same manner it always had. Angolans were either seized or attracted to the islands, and then forced into labour in order to pay for their transport. The colonial administration of Cape Verde then encourged emigration to the cocoa plantations of São Tomé and Principe.

In 1951, the status of the islands was changed from colony to overseas province, and although the budding Cape Verdean nationalist movement was a moderate one, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) was founded in 1956. Many Cape Verdeans fought for the independence of Guinea-Bissau, which had been administered as part of the Cape Verde Islands until 1879, but it was not until Portugal's Caetano regime fell in April 1974 that negotiations for independence were possible. Guinea-Bissau achieved independence in September 1974, and Cape Verde followed on July 5, 1975.

Post-Colonial History

The country's first president was Aristides Pereira, and although the PAIGC became the sole legal political party in both Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, a movement to unite the two nations was abruptly ended when Guinea-Bissau's mostly Cape Verdean governent was overthrown in 1980. This prompted the dissolution of the Cape Verde branch of the PAIGC and resulted in the formation of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) in 1981. President Pereira was reelected in the same year, and in 1983, Cape Verde normalized relations with Guinea-Bissau. Pereira was reelected unanimously yet again in 1986, but was eventually defeated by Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, an independent, in 1991. Monteiro was reelected unopposed in 1996.

The Cape Verdean government continued economic reforms, aimed at developing the private sector and attracting foreign investment, into the late 1990s. Prolonged droughts have recently caused huge economic problems, large-scale emigration, and the need to import most of the country's food. In 2001, the PAICV regained its former majority of the national assembly after having lost to the Movement for Democracy Party (MPD) in 1991, and PAICV candidate Pedro Pires was elected president.

GrouchyOldMan mentions that there's a large Cape Verdean community on Cape Cod. Thanks!