page_title: Portuguese Cape Verde
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Portuguese Cape Verde / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Information: 5. Todestag von Amilcar Cabral: A. Cabral, Freiheitskämpfer aus Guinea-Bissau Ausgabepreis: 20 Pfennig First Day of Issue / Erstausgabetag: 17. Januar 1978 Auflage: 8.00.000 Entwurf: Lothar Grünewald Druckverfahren: Offsetdruck Michel-Katalog-Nr: Ländercode-MiNr: 2293
context_page_description: Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975.
context_section_description: From the beginning of the 20th century the port of Mindelo lost its importance for transatlantic navigation. Causes for this were the shift from coal to oil as fuel for ships, the rise of competing ports like Dakar and the Canary Islands and the lack of investment in port infrastructure. Due to its generally dry climate, Cape Verde has been struck by a series of drought-related famines between the 1580s and the 1950s. Two of Cape Verde's worst-ever famines occurred in 1941–43 and 1947–48, killing an estimated 45,000 people. Several thousands of islanders emigrated, for instance accepting contract labour on the cocoa plantations of Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe.
  In the lead-up to and during the Portuguese Colonial War, those planning and fighting in the armed conflict in Portuguese Guinea often linked the goal of liberation of Guinea-Bissau to the goal of liberation in Cape Verde. For instance, in 1956, Amílcar and Luís Cabral founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). However, there was no armed conflict in Cape Verde, and ultimately independence for Cape Verde resulted from negotiation with Portugal after the April 1974 Carnation Revolution. In August 1974, an agreement was signed in Algiers between the Portuguese government and the PAIGC, recognising the independence of Guinea-Bissau and the right to independence of Cape Verde. On 5 July 1975, at Praia, Portugal's Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves turned over power to National Assembly President Abílio Duarte, and Cape Verde became independent.
  Cape Verde Islanders had higher educational levels and were often appointed to low-level administrative posts in Portuguese territories. Thereby they acquired a reputation of loyalty to Lisbon.
caption: Amílcar Cabral on an East German stamp
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