![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Cabo-Verde-on-the-Globe-300x279.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>The Cabo Verde archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands, establishing the first European settlement in the tropics. Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade<\/a>, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of transatlantic slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration. Cabo Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for shipping routes. Incorporated as an overseas department of Portugal in 1951, the islands continued to campaign for independence, which was achieved in 1975.<\/p>\n Since the early 1990s, Cabo Verde has been a stable representative democracy, and remains one of the most developed and democratic countries in Africa. Lacking natural resources, its developing economy is mostly service-oriented, with a growing focus on tourism and foreign investment. Its population of around 540,000 is mostly of mixed European, Moorish<\/a>, Arab and African heritage, and predominantly Roman Catholic, reflecting the legacy of Portuguese rule. A sizable diaspora community<\/a> exists across the world, slightly outnumbering inhabitants on the islands.<\/p>\n Historically, the name “Cabo Verde” has been used in English for the archipelago and, since independence in 1975, for the country. In 2013, the Cabo Verdean government determined that the Portuguese designation Cabo Verde would henceforth be used for official purposes, as at the United Nations, even in English contexts. Cabo Verde is a member of the African Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n The name of the country stems from the nearby Cap-Vert, on the Senegalese<\/a> coast. In 1444, Portuguese explorers had named that landmark as Cabo Verde, a few years before they discovered the islands (Verde is Portuguese for “green”).<\/p>\n On 24 October 2013, the country’s delegation announced at the United Nations that the official name should no longer be translated into other languages. Instead of “Cape Verde”, the designation “Republic of Cabo Verde” is to be used.<\/p>\n Before the arrival of Europeans, the Cabo Verde Islands were uninhabited. They were discovered by Genoese<\/a> and Portuguese navigators around 1456. According to Portuguese official records, the first discoveries were made by Genoa-born Ant\u00f3nio de Noli,<\/a> who was afterwards appointed governor of Cabo Verde by Portuguese King Afonso V<\/a>. Other navigators mentioned as contributing to discoveries in the Cabo Verde archipelago are Diogo Gomes<\/a> (who was with Ant\u00f3nio de Noli and claimed to have been the first to land on and name Santiago island), Diogo Dias<\/a>, Diogo Afonso and the Italian (Venice-born) Alvise Cadamosto<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1462, Portuguese settlers arrived at Santiago<\/a> and founded a settlement they called Ribeira Grande (now called Cidade Velha (“Old City”)<\/a>, to avoid being confused with the town of Ribeira Grande <\/a>on the Santo Ant\u00e3o island<\/a>)<\/a>. Ribeira Grande was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics.<\/p>\n In the 16th century, the archipelago prospered from the Atlantic slave trade. Pirates occasionally attacked the Portuguese settlements. Francis Drake<\/a>, an English privateer, twice sacked the (then) capital Ribeira Grande in 1585 when it was a part of the Iberian Union<\/a>. After a French attack in 1712, the town declined in importance relative to nearby Praia<\/a>, which became the capital in 1770.<\/p>\n Decline in the slave trade in the 19th century resulted in an economic crisis. Cabo Verde’s early prosperity slowly vanished. However, the islands’ position astride mid-Atlantic shipping lanes made Cabo Verde an ideal location for re-supplying ships. Because of its excellent harbor, the city of Mindelo<\/a>, located on the island of S\u00e3o Vicente,<\/a> became an important commercial center during the 19th century. Diplomat Edmund Roberts<\/a> visited Cabo Verde in 1832.<\/p>\n With few natural resources and inadequate sustainable investment from the Portuguese, the citizens grew increasingly discontented with the colonial masters, who nevertheless refused to provide the local authorities with more autonomy. In 1951, Portugal changed Cabo Verde’s status from a colony to an overseas province in an attempt to blunt growing nationalism.<\/p>\n In 1956, Am\u00edlcar Cabral<\/a> and a group of fellow Cabo Verdeans and Guineans organised (in Portuguese Guinea<\/a>) the clandestine African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC)<\/a>. It demanded improvement in economic, social and political conditions in Cabo Verde and Portuguese Guinea and formed the basis of the two nations’ independence movement. Moving its headquarters to Conakry<\/a>, Guinea in 1960, the PAIGC began an armed rebellion against Portugal in 1961. Acts of sabotage eventually grew into a war in Portuguese Guinea<\/a> that pitted 10,000 Soviet Bloc-supported PAIGC soldiers against 35,000 Portuguese and African troops.<\/p>\n 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 Cabo Verde. Portuguese Guinea declared independence in 1973 and was granted de jure independence in 1974. A budding independence movement \u2014 originally led by Am\u00edlcar Cabral, assassinated in 1973 \u2014 passed on to his half-brother Lu\u00eds Cabral and culminated in independence for the archipelago in 1975.<\/p>\n Following the April 1974 revolution in Portugal<\/a>, the PAIGC became an active political movement in Cabo Verde. In December 1974, the PAIGC and Portugal signed an agreement providing for a transitional government composed of Portuguese and Cabo Verdeans. On 30 June 1975, Cabo Verdeans elected a National Assembly which received the instruments of independence from Portugal on 5 July 1975. In the late 1970s and 1980s, most African countries prohibited South African Airway<\/a>s from overflights but Cabo Verde allowed them and became a center of activity for the airline’s flights to Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n Immediately following the November 1980 coup in Guinea-Bissau<\/a>, relations between Cabo Verde and Guinea-Bissau became strained. Cabo Verde abandoned its hope for unity with Guinea-Bissau and formed the African Party for the Independence of Cabo Verde (PAICV). Problems have since been resolved and relations between the countries<\/a> are good. The PAICV and its predecessor established a one-party system and ruled Cabo Verde from independence until 1990.<\/p>\n 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)<\/a> in Praia in April 1990. Together, they campaigned for the right to contest the presidential election scheduled for December 1990.<\/p>\n The one-party state was abolished 28 September 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 Ant\u00f3nio Mascarenhas Monteiro<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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)<\/a> and Labour and Solidarity Party (PTS)<\/a> 1 each. In February 2001, the PAICV-supported presidential candidate Pedro Pires<\/a> defeated former MPD leader Carlos Veiga<\/a> by only 13 votes.<\/p>\n The Cabo Verde archipelago is in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 570 kilometers (350 mi) off the western coast of the African continent, near Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania<\/a>, and is part of the Macaronesia ecoregion.<\/p>\n The country is a horseshoe-shaped cluster of ten islands (nine inhabited) and eight islets, that constitute an area of 4033 km2.<\/p>\n The islands are spatially divided into two groups:<\/p>\n The Barlavento Islands<\/a> (windward islands): Santo Ant\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Vicente, Santa Luzia<\/a>, S\u00e3o Nicolau<\/a>, Sal<\/a>, Boa Vista<\/a>; and The largest island, both in size and population, is Santiago, which hosts the nation’s capital, Praia, the principal urban agglomeration in the archipelago.<\/p>\n Three of the Cabo Verde islands, Sal, Boa Vista and Maio, are fairly flat, sandy, and dry; the others are generally rockier with more vegetation.<\/p>\n Cabo Verde’s notable economic growth and improvement in living conditions despite a lack of natural resources has garnered international recognition, with other countries and international organizations often providing development aid. Since 2007, the UN has classified it as a developing nation rather than a least developed country.<\/p>\n Cabo Verde has few natural resources. Only five of the ten main islands (Santiago, Santo Ant\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Nicolau, Fogo, and Brava) normally support significant agricultural production, and over 90% of all food consumed in Cabo Verde is imported. Mineral resources include salt, pozzolana<\/a> (a volcanic rock used in cement production), and limestone<\/a>. Its small number of wineries making Portuguese-style wines have traditionally focused on the domestic market, but have recently met with some international acclaim. A number of wine tours of Cabo Verde’s various microclimates began to be offered in spring 2010.<\/p>\n The economy of Cabo Verde is service-oriented, with commerce, transport, and public services accounting for more than 70% of GDP. Although nearly 35% of the population lives in rural areas, agriculture and fishing contribute only about 9% of GDP. Light manufacturing accounts for most of the remainder. Fish and shellfish are plentiful, and small quantities are exported. Cabo Verde has cold storage and freezing facilities and fish processing plants in Mindelo, Praia, and on Sal. Expatriate Cabo Verdeans contribute an amount estimated at about 20% of GDP to the domestic economy through remittances. In spite of having few natural resources and being semi-desert, the country boasts the highest living standards in the region, and has attracted thousands of immigrants of different nationalities.<\/p>\n Since 1991, the government has pursued market-oriented economic policies, including an open welcome to foreign investors and a far-reaching privatization program. It established as top development priorities the promotion of a market economy and of the private sector; the development of tourism, light manufacturing industries, and fisheries; and the development of transport, communications, and energy facilities. From 1994 to 2000 about $407 million in foreign investments were made or planned, of which 58% were in tourism, 17% in industry, 4% in infrastructure, and 21% in fisheries and services.<\/p>\n In 2011, on four islands a wind farm was built that supplies about 30% of the electricity of the country. It is one of the top countries for renewable energy.<\/p>\n Between 2000 and 2009, real GDP increased on average by over 7 percent a year, well above the average for Sub-Saharan countries and faster than most small island economies in the region. Strong economic performance was bolstered by one of the fastest growing tourism industries in the world, as well as by substantial capital inflows that allowed Cabo Verde to build up national currency reserves to the current 3.5 months of imports. Unemployment has been falling rapidly, and the country is on track to achieve most of the UN Millennium Development Goals \u2013 including halving its 1990 poverty level.<\/p>\n In 2007, Cabo Verde joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in 2008 the country graduated from Least Developed Country (LDC)<\/a> to Middle Income Country (MIC) status.<\/p>\n Cabo Verde has significant cooperation with Portugal at every level of the economy, which has led it to link its currency first to the Portuguese escudo<\/a> and, in 1999, to the euro<\/a>. On 23 June 2008 Cabo Verde became the 153rd member of the WTO.<\/p>\n In early January 2018, the government announced that the minimum wage would be raised to 13,000 CVE (US$140 or EUR 130) per month, from 11,000 CVE, which was effective in mid-January 2018.<\/p>\n Cabo Verde’s strategic location at the crossroads of mid-Atlantic air and sea lanes has been enhanced by significant improvements at Mindelo’s harbour (Porto Grande<\/a>) and at Sal’s<\/a> and Praia’s<\/a> international airports. A new international airport was opened in Boa Vista<\/a> in December 2007 and on the island of S\u00e3o Vicente the newest international airport (Ces\u00e1ria \u00c9vora Airport<\/a>) in Cabo Verde was opened in late 2009. Ship repair facilities at Mindelo were opened in 1983.<\/p>\n The major ports are Mindelo and Praia, but all other islands have smaller port facilities. In addition to the international airport on Sal, airports have been built on all of the inhabited islands. All but the airports on Brava and Santo Ant\u00e3o enjoy scheduled air service. The archipelago has 3,050 km (1,895 mi) of roads, of which 1,010 km (628 mi) are paved, most using cobblestone.<\/p>\n The country’s future economic prospects depend heavily on the maintenance of aid flows, the encouragement of tourism, remittances, outsourcing labor to neighboring African countries, and the momentum of the government’s development program.<\/p>\n There are four international ports: Mindelo, S\u00e3o Vicente; Praia, Santiago; Palmeira, Sal; and Sal Rei, Boa Vista. Mindelo on S\u00e3o Vicente is the main port for cruise liners and the terminus for the ferry service to Santo Ant\u00e3o.<\/p>\n Praia on Santiago is a main hub for local ferry services to other islands. Palmeira on Sal supplies fuel for the main airport on the island, Am\u00edlcar Cabral International Airport, and is important for the hotel construction taking place on the island. Porto Novo on Santo Ant\u00e3o is the only source for imports and exports of produce from the island as well as passenger traffic since the closure of the airstrip at Ponta do Sol. There are smaller harbors, essentially single jetties at Tarrafal on S\u00e3o Nicolau, Sal Rei on Boa Vista, Vila do Maio (Porto Ingl\u00eas) on Maio, S\u00e3o Filipe on Fogo and Furna on Brava. These act as terminals for the inter-island ferry services, which carry both freight and passengers. The pier at Santa Maria on Sal used by both fishing and dive boats has been rehabilitated.<\/p>\n There were seven operational airports as of 2014 \u2014 4 international and 3 domestic. Two others were non-operational, one on Brava and the other on Santo Ant\u00e3o, closed for safety reasons.<\/p>\n Due to its geographical location, Cabo Verde is often flown over by transatlantic airliners. It is part of the conventional air-traffic route from Europe to South America, which goes from southern Portugal via the Canary Islands and Cabo Verde to northern Brazil.<\/p>\n International airports in Cabo Verde:<\/p>\n Am\u00edlcar Cabral International Airport, Sal Island The National Flag of the Republic of Cabo Verde has five unequal horizontal bands of blue, white, and red, with a circle of ten yellow five-pointed stars. The topmost blue stripe is half the width of the flag. Each of the three stripes of white and red are one-twelfth of the width, and the bottom blue stripe is one quarter. The circle of stars is centered on the red stripe and positioned three-eighths of the length of the flag from the hoist side.<\/p>\n The 10 stars on the flag represent the main islands of the nation (a chain of islands off the coast of West Africa). The blue represents the ocean and the sky. The band of white and red represents the road toward the construction of the nation, and its colors stand for peace (white) and effort (red). The circle of yellow stars on a dark blue field is similar to the flag of Europe<\/a> (which has 12 stars instead of 10). The width of the stripes are in a 6:1:1:1:3 ratio and the circle of stars is centered ?3\/8 along the fly.<\/p>\n Before independence from Portugal, Cabo Verde did not have an official flag, and the Portuguese national flag was used. In the late 1960s, a flag for the Portuguese overseas province of Cabo Verde was proposed, consisting of the flag of Portugal with the shield from the provincial arms added to the lower fly. However, this flag was never adopted.<\/p>\n The original national flag of Cabo Verde was introduced on independence in 1975 and was based on the flag of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC)<\/a>. It used the common African colors of red, green and yellow, and was identical to the flag of Guinea-Bissau<\/a> except for the proportions and the charge in the hoist-side stripe. Their similarity evoked the plans to unite both countries, which, however, were abandoned shortly after independence. Guinea-Bissau gained independence on 10 September 1974.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The National Flag of the Republic of Cabo Verde has five unequal horizontal bands of blue, white, and red, with a circle of ten yellow five-pointed stars. The topmost blue stripe is half the width of the flag. Each of the three stripes of white and red are one-twelfth of the width, and the bottom blue stripe is one quarter. The circle of stars is centered on the red stripe and positioned three-eighths of the length of the flag from the hoist side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[80,81,59,5,6,7,29,41,34],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Sao-Vicente-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Etymology:<\/h2>\n
History:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/1598-Map-of-Cabo-Verde-300x214.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Grain-Ship-Garthpool-Wrecked-off-Boavista-300x168.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Amilcar-Gabral-on-East-German-Stamp-255x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Cabo-Verde-From-Satellite-300x236.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
\nThe Sotavento Islands (leeward): Maio<\/a>, Santiago, Fogo<\/a>, Brava<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Topographic-Map-of-Cabo-Verde-300x223.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Estrada-Ba\u00eda-das-Gatas-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Resort-on-Sal-Island-300x202.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Santo-Ant\u00e3o-Port-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Aristides-Pereira-International-Airport-in-Boa-Vista-island-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
\nNelson Mandela International Airport, Santiago Island
\nAristides Pereira International Airport, Boa Vista Island
\nCes\u00e1ria \u00c9vora Airport, S\u00e3o Vicente Island
\nJo\u00e3o dos Santos Airport, CPV<\/p>\nFlag of Cabo Verde:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Flag-of-Cape-Verde-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/01\/Flag-of-Cape-Verde-1975-1992-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>