Colonial Cape Verde
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Cape Verde was a
colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...
of the
Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of
Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
in 1975.


History


15th century

The islands of Cape Verde were discovered in 1460-62 by
Prince Henry the Navigator Princy Henry of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Infante Dom (title), Dom Henrique''; 4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (), was a Infante of Portugal, Portuguese prince and a ...
(Son of King John I) and Antonio Noli, in the service of Henry's 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 and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
, were discovered in 1460 by
António de Noli Antonio de Noli (born 1415 or possibly 1419) was a 15th-century Genoese nobleman and navigator, and the first governor of the earliest European overseas colony in Subsaharan Africa. He discovered some of the Cape Verde islands on behalf of Henry ...
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 ...
. The remaining northwestern islands São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão were discovered in 1461 or 1462 by Diogo Afonso.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 Portuguese founded the town of Ribeira Grande (now
Cidade Velha Cidade Velha (, Portuguese for "old city", also: ''Santiago de Cabo Verde'') is a cityCape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...
,
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
in South America, and the
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. Due to its proximity to the African coast, it was an essential platform for the Atlantic trade of enslaved Africans. 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 municip ...
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
Between 1492 and 1497,
Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate (), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as monarch. Manu ...
exiled thousands of '' conversos,'' Jews forced to accept baptism and conversion to Christianity but considered suspect, 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 Álv ...
,
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 Cens ...
, and Cape Verde. They were allowed to engage in trade. Free-lance traders were referred to as ''
lançados The ''lançados'' (literally, ''the launched ones'') were settlers and colonizers of Portuguese origin in Senegambia, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and other areas on the coast of West Africa. Many were Jews—often New Christians—escaping ...
'', who were often, but not always, of Jewish origin. Most married or had unions with African women, creating close trade ties with their families and clans.


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 ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...
( 1585) 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 f ...
(
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, M ...
). Despite the construction of Forte Real de São Filipe 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 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 hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...
ships from
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
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 is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...
. The exploitation of salt on the island of Sal took a rise from around 1800. The port city of grew rapidly after 1838, when a
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
depot was established to supply ships on
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
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 (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), 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. ...
'' 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 orthogon ...
, 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 Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe or Portuguese Central Africa was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the discovery of the islands in 1470 until 1975, when independence was granted by Portugal. History The Portuguese explorers João de S ...
. In the lead-up to and during the
Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War (), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the Portuguese Empire, former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan War of Independence, Angolan, Guinea-Bissau War of Independence ...
, those planning and fighting in the
armed conflict War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
in
Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea (), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a Portuguese overseas province in West Africa from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as G ...
often linked the goal of liberation of
Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...
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 The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from Portugal, the party turned to armed conflict in the 1960s and was o ...
(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 (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
. In August 1974, an agreement was signed in
Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...
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 Order of Aviz, OA (; Lisbon 3 May 1921 – 11 June 2005) was a Portugal, Portuguese army officer in the Engineering Corps who took part in the Carnation Revolution and later served as Prime Minister of Portug ...
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.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


See also

* History of Cape Verde * List of colonial governors of Cape Verde * Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (archives in Lisbon documenting Portuguese Empire, including Cape Verde)


References

{{Authority control Former Portuguese colonies
Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
States and territories established in 1462 States and territories disestablished in 1975 Populated places established in the 1460s 15th-century establishments in Africa 1975 disestablishments in Africa