Flag of Portuguese Cape Verde (proposal)

Cape Verde was a

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

in 1975.

History

15th century

The islands of Cape Verde was discovered in 1444 by Dom Prince Henry The Navigator (Son of King John 1) and Antonio Noli in the service of Henrys relative King Afonso V. The southeastern islands, including the largest island

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

, were discovered in 1460 by António de Noli and

Diogo Gomes Diogo Gomes () was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer. Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim. They are an invaluable (if sometimes in ...

. The remaining northwestern islands São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão were discovered in 1461 or 1462 by

Diogo Afonso Diogo Afonso (fl. 15th century) was a Portuguese explorer. Biography He took part in several explorations in the northwest and west coast of Africa which were made by Prince Henry. In 1444, he commanded a ship which had other explorers includi ...

.Valor simbólico do centro histórico da Praia
Lourenço Conceição Gomes, Universidade Portucalense, 2008 There is no evidence of human settlement on Cape Verde prior to the arrival of the Portuguese. In 1462, the town of Ribeira Grande (now

Cidade Velha Cidade Velha ( Portuguese for "old city", also: ''Santiago de Cabo Verde'') is a city Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. T ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and the Caribbean. Due to its proximity to the African coast, it was an essential platform for the trade of enslaved persons. Other early Portuguese settlements were São Filipe on the island of Fogo (between 1470 and 1490),Centre historique de São Filipe
UNESCO

Praia Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.Ribeira Grande Ribeira Grande may refer to the following places: Cape Verde * Ribeira Grande (stream), a stream on the island of Santo Antão *Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde, a town on the island of Santo Antão *Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde (municipality), a municipal ...

on Santo Antão (mid 16th century) and Ribeira Brava on São Nicolau (1653).Inventário dos recursos turísticos do município de Ribeira Brava de São Nicolau
Direcção Geral do Turismo, p. 16 In 1492 the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Cathol ...

emerged in its fullest expression of

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

. It spread to neighboring

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

where King João II and especially

Manuel I Manuel I may refer to: *Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (1143–1180) *Manuel I of Trebizond, Emperor of Trebizond (1228–1263) *Manuel I of Portugal, King of Portugal (1496–1521) *Manuel I, Patriarch of Lisbon Manuel may refer to: Peop ...

in 1496, decided to exile thousands of Jews to

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Ál ...

Príncipe Príncipe is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Census;

, and Cape Verde. They were allowed to engage in trade. Free-lance traders were referred to as ''

lançados The ''lançados'' (literally, ''the thrown out ones'' Pardue 2015: p. 42 or ''the cast out ones'') were settlers and adventurers of Portuguese origin in Senegambia, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and other areas on the coast of West Africa. M ...

'', who were often, but not always, of Jewish origin.

16th—19th centuries

The riches of Ribeira Grande and conflicts between Portugal and rival colonial powers France and Britain attracted pirate attacks, including those by

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ...

(

1585 Events January–June * January – The Netherlands adopts the Gregorian calendar. * February – The Spanish seize Brussels. * April 24 – Pope Sixtus V succeeds Pope Gregory XIII, as the 227th pope. * May 19 – ...

) and

Jacques Cassard Jacques Cassard (30 September 1679 – 1740) was a French naval officer and privateer. Biography Born on 30 September 1679 to a family of merchants of Nantes, Cassard began a career as a sailor at age 14 on the merchantmen owned by his fa ...

(

1712 In the Swedish calendar it began as a leap year starting on Monday and remained so until Thursday, February 29. By adding a second leap day (Friday, February 30) Sweden reverted to the Julian calendar and the rest of the year (from Saturday ...

). Despite the construction of

Forte Real de São Filipe Forte Real de São Filipe is a 16th century fortress in the city of Cidade Velha in the south of the island of Santiago, Cape Verde. It is located on a plateau above the town centre, 120 meters above sea level. The historic centre of Cidade Velha i ...

in 1587-93, Ribeira Grande remained vulnerable and went into decline. The capital was moved to

Praia Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.Centre historique de Praia
UNESCO The eruption of the volcano

Pico do Fogo Pico do Fogo is the highest peak of Cape Verde and West Africa, rising to above sea level. It is an active stratovolcano lying on the island of Fogo. The main cone last erupted in 1680, causing mass emigration from the island. A subsidiary ven ...

in 1680 covered much of the island of Fogo in ash, which forced many inhabitants to flee to the nearby island of Brava. From the end of the 18th century,

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

ships from North America started hunting whales around the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. They used the harbours of Brava to stock up on supplies and drinking water. They hired men from Brava as sailors, and several of these settled around the Massachusetts whaling port of

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

. The exploitation of salt on the island of

Sal Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Ca ...

took a rise from around 1800. The port city of

Mindelo Mindelo is a port cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook ...

grew rapidly after 1838, when a

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

depot was established to supply ships on

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

routes.Génese e desenvolvimento da cidade do Mindelo: a preservação de uma identidade
Fred Yanick Fonseca Delgado, 2016, p. 76-80 In the course of the 19th century, the ''

Plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

'' of Praia was completely redeveloped with streets according to a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogo ...

, lined with grand colonial buildings and mansions. Slavery was abolished in Cape Verde in 1876.

20th century

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 São Tomé and Príncipe islands were a colony of the Portuguese Empire from its discovery in 1470 until 1975, when independence was granted by Portugal. History The Portuguese explorers João de Santarém and Pêro Escobar discovered the is ...

. In the lead-up to and during the

Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...

, those planning and fighting in the

armed conflict War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regu ...

Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as G ...

often linked the goal of liberation of

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

to the goal of liberation in Cape Verde. For instance, in 1956, Amílcar and

Luís Cabral Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral (11 April 1931 – 30 May 2009) was a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the first President of Guinea-Bissau. He served from 1974 to 1980, when a military '' coup d'état'' led by João Bernardo Vieira depose ...

founded the

African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ( pt, Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from ...

(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 The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lis ...

. 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 General Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves OA (; Lisbon 3 May 1921 – 11 June 2005) was a Portuguese army officer in the Engineering Corps who took part in the Carnation Revolution and later served as the 104th Prime Minister from 18 July 1974 to ...

turned over power to National Assembly President

Abílio Duarte Abílio Augusto Monteiro Duarte (16 February 1931 – 20 August 1996) was a Cape Verdean nationalist and early political leader in the independence era. Biography He was born in Praia, at the time colonial capital of Cape Verde. He was educated a ...

, 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.Alexander Keese, "The role of Cape Verdeans in war mobilization and war prevention in Portugal's African empire, 1955-1965." ''International journal of African historical studies'' 40.3 (2007): 497-51
online

References

{{Authority control Former Portuguese colonies