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The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago located in the Macaronesia ecoregion of the North Atlantic Ocean, off the western coast of Africa. The previously uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century
though there may have been earlier discoveries, and attained independence from Portugal in 1975.
As of 2007, they are classified as a developing country after being promoted from Least Developed Countries status. About 20% of the population live on less than US $1.25 a day.
Lying 385 mi (620 km) off the western coast of Senegal, it consists of 10 islands and 5 islets. Area: 1,557 sq mi (4,033 sq km). Population (2008 est.): 500,000. Capital: Praia. More than two-thirds of its population are of mixed African and European origin (known as mestiço or
Crioulo); the remainder are African and European. Languages: Portuguese (official), Crioulo (a Portuguese
creole). Religions: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic); also Islam. Currency: Cape Verde escudo. The mountainous western islands are craggy and furrowed by erosion; the flatter islands of the east are largely plains and lowlands. The archipelago is volcanic in origin. Fogo Island has an active volcano; it is also the location of the highest peak, which rises 9,281 ft (2,829 m). The largest islands are Santo Antão, Boa Vista, and São
Tiago. Cape Verde has a largely service-based economy, and tourism has been promoted. It is a republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president and its head of government the prime minister.
The islands were uninhabited when Diogo Gomes sighted and named Maio and São Tiago in 1460; in 1462 the first settlers landed on São
Tiago, founding the city of Ribeira Grande. The city’s importance grew with the development of the slave trade, and its wealth attracted attacks so often that it was abandoned in 1712. The prosperity of the Portuguese-controlled islands vanished with the decline of the slave trade in the 19th century, when they were made a coaling and submarine cable station. In 1951 the colony became an overseas province of Portugal. Many islanders preferred outright independence, which was granted in 1975. Once associated politically with Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde split from it in the wake of a 1980 coup there.
Cape Verde consists of nine inhabited islands, one uninhabited island, and various islets, located between 14°30′ and 17°30′ N and between 22°30′ and 25°30′ W. The archipelago is divided into the Barlavento (Windward) group to the north and the Sotavento (Leeward) group to the south. The Barlavento Islands include Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia (which is uninhabited), São
Nicolau, Sal, and Boa Vista, together with the islets of Raso and
Branco. The Sotavento Islands include Maio, São Tiago (Santiago),
Fogo, and Brava and the three islets called the Rombos—Grande, Luís
Carneiro, and Cima.
The terrain of the Cape Verde islands varies from the geologically older, flatter islands in the east and the newer, more mountainous islands in the west. The eastern islands of Boa Vista,
Maio, and Sal, for example, have been heavily eroded by the wind over time and are very sandy and flat. The others are very rocky, jagged, and mountainous. Fogo (“Fire”) Island’s active volcano, Pico, rises 9,281 feet (2,829
metres) and is the highest point of the archipelago. On the northern island of Santo Antão, Tope de Coroa reaches 6,493 feet (1,979 meters).
There are few permanent watercourses in the islands, which generally suffer from seasonal rains, cyclical drought, and chronic water shortages. When precipitation does occur, it is often in the form of torrential downpours that cause significant damage through water erosion, flooding, and the destruction of containment dams.
Cape Verde’s soils, primarily volcanic or igneous in origin, are generally shallow, coarse, and rocky. Almost a quarter of the land area is rock of volcanic origin; basalt is a common type. More than three-fifths of the land is arid and lacking in humus and thus is suitable only for rough grazing; sand and limestone outcrops are common in these areas. Only a fraction of the total area has proper humus and sufficient water supplies for significant irrigation agriculture. Soil loss through wind and water erosion is a serious challenge. Since independence a nationwide campaign to prevent erosion—e.g., by promoting reforestation—has been under way.
Generally moderate, the climate is characterized by stable temperatures with extreme aridity. February is the coolest month, with temperatures in the low 70s F (low 20s C); August and September are the hottest and wettest months, with temperatures in the low 80s F (high 20s C). The islands are profoundly affected by the two-season nature of the intertropical convergence zone
(ITCZ), a belt of converging trade winds and rising air that encircles Earth near the Equator. Winter winds from Europe are cool and dry, but in the summer months, the ITCZ front moves to the north and the Guinea current brings more heat and moisture, which can result in increased precipitation, especially in the higher elevations of the more mountainous islands. Precipitation levels are a function of how far north the ITCZ progresses and how much tropical moisture it carries and are, as a result, unpredictable: years may go by with little or no precipitation. The clashing fronts near Cape Verde generate hurricanes that travel westward across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean and the eastern coast of the United States.
On most of the larger islands, elevations are great enough to generate precipitation on the windward slopes; grasses and some pine plantations are found in these relatively moist locations. The leeward slopes, however, exhibit a characteristic rain-shadow effect that produces desert conditions, and the sparse shrub cover almost disappears. The shrubs remaining in these areas are mostly thorny or bitter; some are toxic. Agriculture is practiced either in a limited way at high elevations or by intense terracing of the sharp-cut valleys. Some xerophilous (desert-type) plants are found rooted in the brackish subsoil of
Maio, Sal, and Boa Vista.
The scarcity of water limits the number of land turtles in the archipelago, but two species of sea turtles lay their eggs on the sandy shores of the uninhabited islets. There are many geckos and lizards and several species of skinks, including a rare and endangered giant skink. There are a number of species of butterflies, but none is endemic, and all the species are of African origin.
There are more than 100 known species of birds, of which only a portion, including four species of petrels and two of shearwaters, breed regularly. Other bird species include the greater flamingo, the frigate bird and the buzzard (both nearly extinct), the Egyptian vulture, the Cape Verde Islands kite, and the red-billed tropic bird. Several other birds are represented by local species, of which the kingfisher is among the most conspicuous. The only truly endemic species, however, are the cane warbler and the Raso lark, which is restricted to
Raso, one of the smallest uninhabited islets. The rest of the birds are overseas migrants. Remarkably, gulls and terns do not breed on the islands.
Mammals of Cape Verde include the feral goats found on Fogo, the descendants of domestic goats that were taken to the islands. The islands’ rodent population probably originated with rodents carried on early ships. Monkeys, introduced from the African continent, are also present on the islands. The long-eared bat is the only indigenous mammal
The overwhelming majority of the population of Cape Verde is of mixed European and African descent and is often referred to as mestiço or
Crioulo. There is also a sizable African minority, which includes the Fulani
(Fulbe), the Balante, and the Mandyako peoples. A small population of European origin includes those of Portuguese descent (especially from the Algarve, a historical province, and the Azores islands), as well as those of Italian, French, and English descent. There is also a substantial number that traces its roots to Sephardic Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th and 16th centuries during the Inquisition and were among the islands’ early settlers, or to other groups of Jews—mainly tradesmen—who arrived in the 19th century from Morocco.
Although Portuguese is the official language and is used in formal situations,
Crioulo, one of the oldest of the Portuguese creole languages, is by far the most widely spoken. The different dialects of Crioulo that exist on the islands may be broadly divided into Sotavento and Barlavento groups. There has been a struggle to legitimate and regularize Crioulo orthography in a dictionary and in schools.
The majority of the population is Roman Catholic, but a flourishing Protestant mission is based in Praia with a publishing venture in
Fogo. In practice, Catholicism is often enriched with African elements. The celebration of saints’ days, for example, may be accompanied by drumming, processionals, masks, and dancing in African styles, particularly on São
Tiago. Although many Cape Verdeans can trace Jewish ancestry, virtually none are practicing.
The proportion of Cape Verdeans living in rural areas has declined consistently since the mid-20th century. By the early 2000s, the majority of the population was urban and concentrated particularly in the centres of Praia and
Mindelo. Some two-fifths of the population remained rural, living in small villages and individual households in remote fertile valleys or in coastal towns and villages.
In 1462, Portuguese settlers arrived at Santiago and founded Ribeira Grande (now Cidade
Velha), the first permanent European settlement city in the tropics. They named the islands Cabo Verde (from which the English Cape Verde derives), after the nearby Cap Vert on the Senegalese
coast. In the 16th century, the archipelago prospered from the transatlantic slave
trade. Pirates occasionally attacked the Portuguese settlements. Sir Francis Drake sacked Ribeira Grande in
1585. After a French attack in 1712, the city declined in importance relative to Praia, which became the capital in
1770.
With the decline in the slave trade, Cape Verde's early prosperity slowly vanished. However, the islands' position astride mid-Atlantic shipping lanes made Cape Verde an ideal location for re-supplying ships. Because of its excellent harbor, Mindelo (on the island of São Vicente) became an important commercial center during the 19th
century.
Portugal changed Cape Verde's status from a colony to an overseas province in 1951 in an attempt to blunt growing nationalism. Nevertheless, in 1956, Amilcar Cabral, a Cape Verde, and a group of Cape Verdeans and Guineans organized (in Portuguese Guinea) the clandestine African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
(PAIGC), which demanded improvement in economic, social, and political conditions in Cape Verde and Guinea and formed the basis of the two nations' independence movement. Moving its headquarters to Conakry, Guinea in 1960, the PAIGC began an armed rebellion against Portugal in 1961. Acts of sabotage eventually grew into a war in Portuguese Guinea that pitted 10,000 Soviet bloc-supported PAIGC soldiers against 35,000 Portuguese and African
troops.
By 1972, the PAIGC controlled much of Portuguese Guinea despite the presence of the Portuguese troops, but the organization did not attempt to disrupt Portuguese control in Cape Verde. Portuguese Guinea declared independence in 1973 and was granted de jure independence in 1974. Following the April 1974 revolution in Portugal, the PAIGC became an active political movement in Cape Verde. In December 1974, the PAIGC and Portugal signed an agreement providing for a transitional government composed of Portuguese and Cape
Verdeans. On June 30, 1975, Cape Verdeans elected a National Assembly, which received the instruments of independence from Portugal on July 5,
1975.
Immediately following the November 1980 coup in Guinea-Bissau, relations between Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau became strained. Cape Verde abandoned its hope for unity with Guinea-Bissau and formed the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde
(PAICV). Problems have since been resolved, and relations between the countries are good. The PAICV and its predecessor established a one-party system and ruled Cape Verde from independence until
1990.
Responding to growing pressure for pluralistic democracy, 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 the Movement for Democracy
(MPD) in Praia in April 1990. Together, they campaigned for the right to contest the presidential election scheduled for December 1990. The one-party state was abolished September 28, 1990, and the first multi-party elections were held in January 1991. The MPD won a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, and MPD presidential candidate Mascarenhas Monteiro defeated the PAICV's candidate with 73.5% of the votes. Legislative elections in December 1995 increased the MPD majority in the National Assembly. The party won 50 of the National Assembly's 72 seats. A February 1996 presidential election returned President Monteiro to office. Legislative elections in January 2001 returned power to the
PAICV, with the PAICV holding 40 of the National Assembly seats, MPD 30, and Party for Democratic Convergence
(PCD) and Party for Labor and Solidarity(PTS) 1 each. In February 2001, the
PAICV-supported presidential candidate Pedro Pires defeated former MPD leader Carlos Veiga by only 13
votes.
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