Land and People
Cape Verde's islands fall into two main groups—the Barlavento, or Windward, in the north, which include Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Boa Vista, and Sal, and the Sotavento, or Leeward, in the south, which include São Tiago (c.600 sq mi/1,550 sq km, the largest island), Fogo, Maio, and Brava. The islands are mountainous and of volcanic origin; the only active volcano is at the archipelago's highest point, Cano (c.9,300 ft/2,830 m), which is located on Fogo. Regularly active until the 18th cent., the volcano's most recent eruptions were in 1951 and 1995. The area is sometimes subject to severe droughts and the fierce harmattan wind. About 70% of the population is of mixed African and European descent, and almost 30% are of African descent; there are also a few Portuguese. Most persons are Roman Catholic, and the religion is often mixed with indigenous beliefs. Portuguese and Crioulo, a blend of Portuguese and West African languages, are widely spoken.
Economy
Farming, the main economic activity, is severely limited by the small annual rainfall and extensive soil erosion; about 90% of the country's food must be imported. Cape Verde has considerable underground reserves of water, but extraction has proved too costly. The main crops are bananas, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, coffee, tomatoes, peanuts, and sugarcane. Goats, hogs, cattle, and sheep are raised. Tuna and lobster are the main catches of a small but potentially rich fishing industry. Salt is extracted and there are unexploited gypsum deposits. The islands' manufactures are limited to processed food, beverages, clothes, and footware. Mindêlo is an important coaling station for ships, and transatlantic flights are serviced at an airport on Sal.
The islands carry on a small foreign trade, mostly with Portugal and other European Union countries; the annual cost of imports is usually much higher than export earnings. The main imports are petroleum, foodstuffs, consumer goods, and machinery; the leading exports are fish, bananas, hides, and salt. Remittances from emigrants living in the United States, Portugal, and Africa constitute an important supplement to the islands' economy.
Government
Cape Verde is a multiparty democracy governed under the constitution of 1992. There is an elected president, a prime minister, and a unicameral legislature, the 72-member national assembly. Administratively, Cape Verde is divided into 14 districts.
History
Cape Verde was discovered in 1456 by Luigi da Cadamosto, a navigator in the service of Portugal. Four years later, Diogo Gomes, a Portuguese explorer, visited the uninhabited islands, and colonists from Portugal began to settle there in 1462. People from W Africa were soon brought in as slaves, and by the 16th cent. the islands had become a shipping center for the slave trade. Later a Portuguese penal colony was established, and some of the convicts remained after completing their terms. Slavery was abolished on the islands in 1876. Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau (gĭn`ē-bĭs'sou`), officially Republic of Guinea-Bissau, republic (2005 est. pop.
..... Click the link for more information. ) was administered as part of the Cape Verde Islands until 1879. In 1951 the status of the islands was changed from colony to overseas province.
Although the nationalist movement appeared less fervent in Cape Verde than in Portugal's other African holdings, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) was founded in 1956 and many Cape Verdeans fought for independence in Guinea-Bissau. After the fall (Apr., 1974) of the Caetano Caetano, Marcello (mərsĕ`l
..... Click the link for more information. regime in Portugal, widespread unrest forced the government to negotiate with the PAIGC, and independence for Guinea-Bissau (Sept., 1974) and Cape Verde (July, 1975) soon followed. Although the PAIGC was the sole legal party in both nations, a movement to unite the two was hindered by Cape Verde's nationalism and geographic remoteness. Plans for unity came to an abrupt end in 1980 after Guinea-Bissau's government (which was mostly Cape Verdean) was overthrown in a coup.
In 1981 the PAIGC was renamed the PAICV (African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde), a new constitution was adopted, and Arístides Maria Pereira (Cape Verde's first president) was reelected. In 1983, Cape Verde normalized relations with Guinea-Bissau, and in 1986, Pereira was unanimously reelected. Multiparty elections were held in 1991; the centrist Movement for Democracy party (MPD) took a majority of seats in the national assembly, and Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, an independent, defeated Pereira for the presidency. The MPD retained its majority in the 1995 assembly elections, and Mascarenhas Monteiro was reelected unopposed in 1996.
In the late 1990s the government continued economic reforms aimed at developing the private sector and attracting foreign investment. However, the nation has been plagued with a prolonged drought that has caused staggering economic problems and large-scale emigration, as well as the need to import most of its food. In 2001 the PAICV regained control of national assembly, and PAICV candidate Pedro Pires narrowly won the presidency. The PAICV retained control of the national assembly after the Jan., 2006, elections, and Pires was reelected the following month.
Bibliography
See T. B. Duncan, Atlantic Islands: Madeira, the Azores, and the Cape Verdes in Seventeenth-Century Commerce and Navigation (1972); C. Shaw, Cape Verde Islands (1990).
Cape Verde
officially Republic of Cape Verde)
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Cape Verde
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