History of Cape Verde

The recordedhistory ofCape Verdebegins with the Portuguese discovery of the island in 1458. Possible early references to Cape Verde date back at least 2,000 years.
The first islands formed, around 40–50 million years ago, were present-daySaland its eastern neighbors. The western islands were formed later, includingSão Nicolau(as early as 11.8 million years ago),São Vicente(nine million years ago), present-daySantiagoandFogo(four million years ago), andBrava(two to three million years ago).Millions of years after the seamounts rose above the Atlantic, the first lizards, insects and plants came to the archipelago, possibly on ocean currents from the African mainland when the ocean'ssalinitywas lower.
The archipelago experienced several large volcanic eruptions, includingPraia Grande4.5 million years ago, São Vicente (and, possibly, present-day Porto Grande) 300,000 years ago,Topo da Coroa200,000 years ago, and east of present-dayFogo73,000 years ago which inundated coastal Santiago Island and possibly Brava and part of the Barlavento Islands.
During thelast Ice Age, the sea level dropped to about 130 metres (430 ft) below its current level. Cape Verde's islands were slightly larger, and there was a large island known as Northwest Island.Santo Antãowas one kilometer northwest of the island;Boa VistaandMaiowere one island, and another island known as Nola (Ilha da Nola, northwest of Santo Antão) was about 80 to 90 metres (260 to 300 ft) meters above sea level. Before the end of the Ice Age, the Eastern Island (Ilha Occidental) split into three islands; one became submerged and is now theJoão Valente Reef, theCanal de São Vicentewidened to provide 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) separation from Santo Antão, Nola Island was submerged and again became a seamount, and eastern Northwest Island broke up into São Vicente, the smallerSanta Luzia, and the two islets ofBrancoandRaso.
Cape Verde may have been referenced inDe choreographiabyPomponius MelaandHistoria naturalisbyPliny the Elder. Mela and Pliny called the islands "Gorgades", referring to the home of the mythicalGorgonskilled byPerseus. In typical ancienteuhemerism, they suggested the islands as the place where the CarthaginianHanno the Navigatorslew two female "Gorillai".
Pliny, citing the Greek writer Xenophon of Lampsacus, placed the Gorgades at two days' travel from "Hesperu Ceras" (the westernmost part of the African continent, today calledCap-Vert). As quoted byGaius Julius Solinus, he also said that the voyage from the Gorgades to theHesperidestook around 40 days.TheIsles of the Blessed, written about byMarinus of Tyreand referenced byPtolemyin hisGeographia, may have been the Cape Verde islands.
In 1456,Alvise Cadamosto,Antoniotto Usodimare(VenetianandGenoesecaptains, respectively, in the service ofPrince Henry the Navigator) and an unnamed Portuguese captain discovered some of the islands. During the next decade,Diogo GomesandAntónio de Noli(also captains in the service of Prince Henry) discovered the remaining islands of the archipelago.When they first landed in Cape Verde, the islands were barren of people but not of vegetation.
Prince Fernando, KingAfonso V of Portugal's brother, was granted the archipelago as a fiefdom.
The Portuguese established Ribeira Grande (present-dayCidade Velha) in 1462 on the island ofSão Tiago. This was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics. The first settlers included Portuguese, Genoese, and Flemish adventurers; reprieved convicts; and Sephardic Jews fleeing persecution. In 1466, with the settlement failing to attract enough settlers, Afonso gave the population trading rights in all of West Africa exceptArguim. He rescinded this a few years later, when the monarchy began selling lucrative trade monopolies instead, but enterprising Cape Verdeans and Luso-Africans would still play a prominent role in the first centuries of European trade in the region, often in defiance of the Portuguese crown.
In Spain, theReconquistawas growing in its mission to conquer Iberia and expel theMuslimsand Jews. In 1492, theSpanish Inquisitionalso emerged in its fullest expression ofanti-Semitism. It spread to neighboringPortugal(as thePortuguese Inquisition), whereKing João IIandManuel Iexiled thousands of JewstoSão Tomé,Príncipe, and Cape Verde in 1496.
The Portuguese soon brought slaves from theWest Africancoast. Positioned on trade routes between Africa, Europe, and theNew World, the archipelago prospered from thetransatlantic slave tradeduring the 16th century. Sao Tiago andFogohosted slave plantations growing sugar and cotton for shipment to Portugal, and producingpanos(cotton cloth) for export to West Africa.Massive amounts of salt were produced onMaio,Boa Vista, andSal, sold tocodfishermen.Horses were reared on Santiago and shipped to the African coast as well.
Settlements began to appear on other islands.São Filipewas founded in 1500;Ponta do SolandRibeira Grandewere founded in the mid-16th century (when its first settlers also arrived in Madeira andRibeira Bravaon São Nicolau).Povoação Velhaon Boa Vista,Furna,Nova Sintraon Brava, andPalmeiraon Sal were later founded.
Cabo Verdean society at this period was deeply segregated and hierarchical. At the top were the peninsula-born Portuguese whites, mostly government officials, soldiers, and the upper clergy. The next group were thebrancos da terra, the local whites, with the earliest settlers and their descendants, themorgados, chief among them. Freepardos(mulattos) andpretos(blacks) came next, and theescravos(slaves) were at the bottom.
The islands' prosperity encouraged sacking by pirates, particularly during the period of theIberian Union1580–1640, whenSpain's enemies, the British, French, and Dutch, raided Portuguese colonies. SirFrancis Drakesacked Ribeira Grande in 1582,captured the islandin 1585 and raided Cidade Velha, Praia andSão Domingos.
During the 17th century,Algeriancorsairsestablished a base on the Cape Verde islands. They raidedMadeirain 1617, stealing the church bells and taking 1,200 people captive.
Given the scarcity of capital for the region's development, the Portuguese Finance and Overseas Councils authorized the 1664 foundation of theGuinea Coast Company. The company aimed at the slave trade, ending individual tenancy and encouraging slave companies. TheCompany of Cacheu and Rivers and Commerce of Guinea, which operated between 1676 and 1682, was succeeded by theCompany of Cacheu and Cape Verdein 1690.
Pico do Fogoerupted in 1680, which resulted in the movement of the population to Brava and other regions (including Brazil). For a few years, the volcano was a natural lighthouse for sailors. The latter decades of the 17th century also saw the first emigration flows from the islands toNorth America.Whales abounded in the waters around Cape Verde, and whaling ships fromMassachusettsandRhode Islandrecruited local crewmen who knew the currents and weather from the islands ofBravaandFogo.These outflows would continue for centuries.
As a result of the 1712 FrenchCassard expeditionin which Ribeira Grande was destroyed, the capital was partially moved toPraia.With the Portuguese increasingly sidelined in Atlantic trade, Cape Verde became a poor backwater.By 1740, the island was a supply point for Americanslave shipsandwhalers. This began a stream of male immigration to the American colonies. Praia, with its natural harbor, became the permanent capital in 1770 as the plantation economy diminished in importance relative to trade and naval supply.
In 1747, the islands were hit with the first ofseveral droughts and famineswhich have plagued them ever since at average five-year intervals. The situation was made worse bydeforestationandovergrazing, which destroyed the ground vegetation that provided moisture. Three major droughts during the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in well over 100,000 people starving to death. The Portuguese government sent little relief during the droughts.
In 1758 theGrão Pará and Maranhão Companywas granted a 20-year monopoly on all trade in Cape Verde and the West African coast.Its agents ruthlessly exploited the islands' inhabitants, commandeering panos, liquor, food, and other supplies regardless of droughts and famines. Many were recruited for service in Guinea.Construction of theFortaleza de São José da Amurain Bissau cost more than 2,600 lives, most of them Cabo Verdean laborers.Textiles were smuggled and sold on the black market. Between 1766 and 1776, 95,000 "barafulas" (Cape Verdean textiles) were imported to the Guinean coast.
Pico do Fogo again erupted in 1769. This was the last time it erupted from the top, although it also erupted in 1785 and 1799. Another famine, affecting Brava and Fogo, began in 1774; 20,000 people starved. Fogo's population dropped from 5,700 to 4,200 around 1777. The company's mismanagement made the situation worse, as they sold desperately needed food and raised the prices of what little was available. In 1778 the monopoly ended, and the Portuguese created the province of Cabo Verde e Guine.
Although Portugal was neutral in theAnglo-French WarandAmerican Revolutionary War,BritishandFrenchsquadrons fought theBattle of Porto Prayaoff Praia on 16 April 1781.
Mindelo(originally Nossa Senhora da Luz) was founded in 1795,Pedra de Lumeon Sal in 1799, andSanta Mariain early 1830 on the same island. Praia (the colonial capital) was modernized in 1822, expanding northward.
In the aftermarth of theLiberal Revolution of 1820, slave traderManuel António Martinsused the unrest to form a junta with other leading civilians, driving the governor out and ruling the islands until 1823.Martins was officially appointed prefect of the province in 1833. Soon after he took office, he disbanded thebranco-dominated militias. When, in 1835, some conservative officers in the local garrison mutinied, the disaffectedbrancosaccused Martins of abetting the plot and arrested him. A new governor, Joaquim Pereira Marinho, arrived in September to restore order. He attempted to start local fishing companies, where previously Cape Verdean had been banned from owning boats for fear of slaves escaping, but his successor cancelled the project.
The British established a station inMindeloto refuel ships with coal, water, and other supplies beginning in 1839, and the city flourished.Two attempts to move the colonial capital from Praia were made: a plan to move to Picos in 1831 when another famine struck Cape Verde, and Mindelo was proposed in 1838. Many people did not want to move the colonial capital, and it remained in Praia. Two submarine telegraph cables were linked in 1874 toPernambuco, Brazil and toCameroonviaBathurstinthe Gambiain 1885.
The system ofmorgadoswas abolished in 1863, and slavery in 1864, but much of the population remained dependent on their former masters, renting or sharecropping land.The decline of the slave trade dealt a blow to Cape Verde's economy.The shipping traffic at Mindelo, however, served as an important engine of economic activity. Ships plying the South Atlantic to and from Africa and Asia stopped at Mindelo for coal, salt, meat, water, and wine imported fromMadeiraand theAzores. In 1890 a total of 156 ships unloaded 657,633,588 metric tons of coal there, and the port was visited by 2,264 ships carrying 344,907 persons.
Throughout much of the 20th century, the colonial government organized forced emigration to supply "contract" labor for Portugal's tropical colonies. Between 1900 and 1970, particularly during periods of famine when people were desperate, some 80,000 Cabo Verdeans were shipped to the plantations ofSao Tome e Principe, and more than 7,000 toAngolaandMozambique.
Mindelo became the most-used transatlantic telegraph station in 1912. A total of 669 ships were refueled each year at the port, reaching 1,927 ships a decade later. When gasoline began to be used as fuel, however, Mindelo could not rival the improved port facilities ofLas Palmason Grand Canary or nearbyDakarinSenegal. TheSuez Canalhad also rerouted much of the maritime traffic out of the south Atlantic.The use of coal declined, leading to a coal strike in 1912 due to insufficient work. When the Great Depression began in 1930, ship activity ended.
Two of Cabo Verde's worst-ever famines occurred in 1941-43 and 1947–48, killing an estimated 45,000 people. The massive disaster was not reported in the Portuguese press, and no food aid was sent, due to World War II. Half the population of Fogo perished. Portuguese authorities forbade reporting on the deaths or even the use of the word "famine."
Espargos, in the centre of the island ofSalwas founded in the late 1940s as the last Portuguese airport town. From 1950 to 1970, the number of flights increased. Espargos became an important stop forAlitalia's Portuguese-Brazilian flights andSouth African Airways' (SAA) 1967 flights between London and Johannesburg. The airline had to use the airport because to the international boycott of South Africa due to itsapartheidpolicy.
In 1952, the Portuguese government planned to transfer over 10,000 settlers to the island of São Tomé in São Tomé and Príncipe (another Portuguese colony) to work on plantations. Africans came primarily from the islands of São Nicolau, Santiago, Santo Antão, Fogo, and Brava. When the two colonies became independent, many people left for Europe and the United States, and few returned to Cape Verde.Several faminesoccurred at this time due to poor harvests, the Second World War, and a poor response from the Portuguese colonial administration. Until and during thePortuguese Colonial War, those planning and fighting in thearmed conflictinPortuguese Guineaoften linked the liberation ofGuinea-Bissauto liberation in Cape Verde; in 1956,AmílcarandLuís Cabralfounded theAfrican Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.
Although Cape Verde was neglected by Portugal, Portuguese treatment of Cape Verdeans was differed from their treatment of other colonized peoples;the people of Cape Verde fared slightly better than Africans in otherPortuguese coloniesbecause of their lighter skin. A small minority received an education, and Cape Verde was the first African-Portuguese colony to have an institution of higher education. By the time of independence, one-quarter of the population could read (compared to five percent in Portuguese Guinea, present-dayGuinea-Bissau).
Literate Cape Verdeans became aware of the pressures for independence which were building on the mainland. The islands continued experiencing droughts, famines, epidemics and volcanic eruptions amid Portuguese government indifference. Thousands of people died of starvation during the first half of the 20th century. Although the nationalist movement appeared less fervent in Cape Verde than in Portugal's other African holdings, theAfrican Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde(Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, or PAIGC) was founded in 1956 byAmílcar Cabraland otherpan-Africanists. Many Cape Verdeans fought for independence in Guinea-Bissau.
In 1926, Portugal had become a rightist dictatorship which regarded the colonies as an economic frontier to be developed in the interest of Portugal and the Portuguese. Famines, unemployment, poverty, and the failure of the Portuguese government to address those issues caused resentment, but Portuguese dictatorAntónio de Oliveira Salazardid not want to give up his colonies as easily as other European colonial powers had given up theirs.
After World War II, Portugal was intent on holding onto its former colonies (known since 1951 as overseas territories). When most former African colonies gained independence between 1957 and 1964, the Portuguese still held on. After thePijiguiti Massacre, however, the people of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau fought one of the longest African liberation wars.
Like other colonies, autonomy was granted in 1972 and Portuguese Cape Verde held its onlyparliamentary elections in 1973in which only Portuguese citizens could vote. Only 25,521 people registered to vote out of a total population of 272,071, and a total of 20,942 people voted. The Portuguese constitution banned political parties at the time, and most of the candidates were put forward by the rulingPeople's National Actionmovement; some civic associations, however, were allowed to nominate candidates.
After the 25 April 1974Carnation Revolution, Cape Verde became more autonomous but continued to have an overseas governor until that post became a high commissioner. Widespread unrest forced the government to negotiate with the PAIGC, and agreements for an independent Cape Verde were on the table.Pedro Pires(at the time still in Algeria) signed an agreement at the end of August that year to give Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde both paths to independence, with the islands planned to hold a referendum on such in the near future.However, such referendum never ended up being scheduled, with the PAIGC renouncing the agreement by the next February as they established their government on the islands, asking for immediate independence without a referendum instead.On 5 July in Praia, Portuguese Prime MinisterVasco Gonçalvestransferred power to National Assembly PresidentAbilio Duarte. The colonial history of Cape Verde ended when Cape Verde become independent, a negotiated transfer, and one of the fewPortuguese African coloniesto achieve independence without guerilla fighting within its borders.
Immediately after a November 1980 coup in Guinea-Bissau (Portuguese Guinea declared independence in 1973 and was grantedde jureindependence in 1974), relations between the two countries became strained. Cape Verde abandoned its hope for unity with Guinea-Bissau, and formed theAfrican Party for the Independence of Cape Verde(PAICV).
Responding to growing pressure for a political opening, the PAICV called an emergency congress in February 1990 to discuss proposed constitutional changes to end one-party rule. Opposition groups came together to form theMovement for Democracy(MpD) in Praia in April of that year, and campaigned for the right to contest the presidential election scheduled for December 1990. The one-party state was abolished on 28 September of that year, and thefirst multi-party elections were held in January 1991.
The MpD won a majority of the seats in the National Assembly. MpD presidential candidateAntónio Mascarenhas Monteirodefeated the PAICV candidate, 73.5 percent to 26.5 percent.
Legislative elections in December 1995 increased the MpD majority in the National Assembly, where the party held 50 of its 72 seats.A February 1996 presidential electionreturned Monteiro to office.
In the presidential election campaign of 2000 and 2001, two former prime ministers (Pedro PiresandCarlos Veiga) were the main candidates. Pires wasprime ministerduring the PAICV regime; Veiga was prime minister during most of Monteiro's presidency, stepping aside to campaign. In what might have been one of the closest races in electoral history, Pires won by 12 votes; he and Veiga each received nearly half the votes.Pires was narrowly re-elected in the2006 elections.
Jorge Carlos Almeida Fonseca, President of Cape Verde since2011, wasre-electedin October 2016. Fonseca was supported by theMovement for Democracy(MpD). MpD leaderUlisses Correia e Silvahas been prime minister since the2016 elections, when his party ousted the ruling PAICV for the first time in 15 years.In April 2021, the  ruling party, led by Prime Minister Jose Ulisses Correia e Silva, maintained its parliamentary majority in theelection.
In October 2021, opposition candidate and former prime ministerJose Maria Nevesof PAICV won Cape Verde's presidentialelection.On 9 November of that year, Neves was sworn in aspresident.
On 2 February 2024, Cape Verde became the third African country to be free ofmalaria.