History of Cape Verde

The Discovery of Cape Verde

The discovery of Cape Verde is the subject of debate among authors. For a long time it was believed that the archipelago had been discovered by the Genoese merchant Luís Cadamosto. However, research carried out in the 19th century showed that Cadamosto did not discover any of the islands in the archipelago.

The conclusion that Cadamosto did not discover Cape Verde came from the contradictions and inconsistencies in his accounts. For example, the Genoese reported that on the island of Santiago he "found a river of fresh water - a large river into which a seventy-five ton ship could enter at will; along this river his men found small lagoons of very white and beautiful salt (...)". However, neither on the island of Santiago nor on any other island in Cape Verde is there a collection of water with these characteristics.

Other contradictions in Cadamosto's narrative can be read in the work Origins of the Cape Verde Colonyby Simão Barros.

Cape Verde was discovered in 1460 by the Portuguese navigator Diogo Gomes and the Genoese António da Noli, while in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator. Prince Henry, the navigator.

The Sotavento islands were probably the first islands in the archipelago to be discovered. Santiago, Maio and Fogo were discovered on May 1, 1460. Boavista was discovered on May 3rd of the same year. 

The exact date of the discovery of the other islands is not known for sure, but it is believed to have been between May 1460 and 1462, since the letter of donation issued by Dom Afonso V on September 19, 1462, in Portugal, already mentions all the islands.

Cape Verde and pre-discovery issues

Another question of historical debate is whether the islands were already inhabited when the navigators discovered them.

Some historians argue that Cape Verde was occupied by Mauritanian Berbers before the Portuguese arrived. This theory is based on the fact that drawings and rock inscriptions have been found on the islands of Santo Antão and São Nicolau that represent characters from runic or Phoenician writing, for some, and Berber for others. 

Those who claim that the Portuguese were the first to set foot on Cape Verde argue that the animal and plant poverty of the archipelago would not allow man to survive, which only became possible after the introduction of plants and animals to the islands. 

From the above, it can be concluded that the Cape Verde islands were uninhabited when they were discovered, but had at least been visited before by the Mauritanian Berbers. However, they did not settle there. 

The settlement of Cape Verde

As the islands of Cape Verde were not inhabited when they were discovered by Portuguese navigators, it was necessary to settle them. The settlement of Cape Verde can be characterized, according to pace and importance, as follows five distinct periods. 

• Cape Verde's first settlement period

It lasted from 1461, when the first settlers arrived, until 1495, when the islands were returned to the crown. 

After the discovery, Dom Afonso V donated the islands to Infante Dom Fernando, who soon began the process of colonization. Dom Fernando sent the Genoese António da Noli, one of the discoverers, as captain-donee to the island of Santiago. He had in his company some of Dom Fernando's servants and some Algarvian couples, who would have been the first settlers of Cape Verde. 

Due to the aridity of the soil and climate, António da Noli decided to bring enslaved blacks from the African continent to work in agriculture. From Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, couples of jalofos, felupes, papeles and balantas were brought, which gave rise to the first black Cape Verdeans.

However, the characteristics of the islands were not very attractive to Portuguese settlers, which made António da Noli's task more difficult. In order to attract settlers to the archipelago, King Afonso V, in 1466, granted all those who settled in Cape Verde the exclusive trade and ransom of slaves from Guinea. 

King Afonso V's strategy had an effect. A stream of migrants in search of fortune headed for Cape Verde. As a result, the transportation of goods and enslaved blacks was established between the port of Ribeira Grande and Africa. Thus came the first stable settlement in Ribeira Grande.

When Dom Fernando died, the islands passed to his brother D. Manuel. He divided the island of Santiago into two captaincies. The northern captaincy was given to Diogo Afonso and began to develop around the settlement of Alcatraz (Praia Baixo). The southern one, where Ribeira Grande is located, was given to Jorge Correia. Colonization continued apace, with the introduction of domestic animals, sugar cane, cotton and fruit trees.

At the end of the 15th century, the settlement of the island of Fogo began, with servants of Infante D. Fernando and blacks from Santiago. The population of the islands began to increase rapidly. 

The islands of Maio and Boavista were not granted to grantees for settlement during this period. Instead, they were set aside for the breeding of domestic animals. This activity would become one of the colony's biggest sources of income. 

In the first period, the Portuguese crown intervened little in the colonization process.

• Second period of the settlement of Cape Verde

It lasted from 1495, when the islands were returned to the crown, until the Philippine usurpation in 1580.  

In the second period, as the islands returned to the Portuguese crown, the system of leasing the rights to the archipelago began, with great powers being granted to the lessees. 

A new phase in the economic, social and population development of the islands began. There was a considerable increase in population. The tenants attracted foreign trade. Ribeira Grande became an important and populous commercial center. The prosperity and wealth of Ribeira Grande began to attract the greed of foreigners, which would later result in the town being plundered.

On the other hand, the northern captaincy - the settlement of Alcatraz - began to decline and was suppressed in 1505. This resulted in the rapid development of the port settlement of Praia de Santa Maria, the current capital. 

With the arrival of the 15th century, the crown began to worry about the settlement of the other islands. In order to attract settlers to the then uninhabited islands, the monarchs granted the same privileges as the inhabitants of Santiago and Fogo. In other words, they enjoyed the same commercial benefits in Guinea. 

The island of São Nicolau was donated to the counts of Portalegre, who introduced many slaves there. 

The islands of Maio and Boavista, important for their role in cattle breeding, began to require people to look after the animals. At that time, the production of butter and salted meat (chacina) and leather production developed greatly. 

The first mestizos appeared during this period, as a result of the settlers and the black women brought from Africa.

As in the previous period, settlement during the second period was limited to the coastal areas. There was, however, an attempt at centralization. Until then, each island represented a captaincy. From 1530 onwards, the archipelago was governed by captains-general residing in Santiago. 

• Third period of the settlement of Cape Verde

It lasted from 1580 to the Restoration.

The colony lived in a constant state of unrest due to the lack of security. Ribeira Grande suffered several pillages, the most important of which were those of the English in 1582 and 1595.  

The attacks also took place on the high seas, which greatly damaged trade in the territories of Guinea, which were the main attraction for the colonists. To protect their property, many returned to Portugal. White colonization decreased considerably.

On the other hand, the pirate attacks contributed to the settlement of the interior of the island of Santiago. The blacks who still lived on the coast, under the threat of pirate attacks, fled inland, hiding in the mountains until it was safe to return to their old homes.

Despite the pirate looting, Ribeira Grande continued to grow. 

In 1596 the island of Santo Antão was donated to the Count of Santa Cruz. The regular settlement of Santo Antão began, with the introduction of a large number of slaves. 

To the islands of Maio and Boavista, which were not seen as agricultural islands, shepherds and hunters were sent to work with the cattle. 

In 1592, the archipelago of Cape Verde became a general government.

• Fourth period of the settlement of Cape Verde

It took place from 1640 until the archipelago's capital moved to the city of Praia in 1769. 

The islands are experiencing a period of peace. Dom João IV orders forts to be built and armed to prevent further pirate attacks. 

Further attempts by the crown to recapture emigration to the islands failed. The settlers preferred Brazil. As an alternative, they sent "convicts" to supply white colonization. The importation of black slaves continued, but with less intensity. 

Ribeira Grande began to fall into decay. Many inhabitants had abandoned the town. Trade moved to the town of Praia. The idea of moving the capital to Praia, which had emerged at the end of the 16th century, began to materialize.

On February 6, 1652, King João IV decreed a series of measures to speed up the process of changing the capital. These included: fortifying the town; having the bishop and governor live there; rebuilding the decayed houses; centralizing the dispatch of cargo at the port of Praia, etc. 

The exodus from Ribeira Grande accentuated its decline. In 1712, French privateers under the command of Jacques Cassard plundered much of its wealth. In 1763, a great flood killed many people and destroyed much of the housing and buildings. The ships that used to dock there stopped coming to the port.

However, the capital was only transferred from Ribeira Grande to Santiago in 1770, after the Marquis of Pombal decreed the move. In that year, the population of Cape Verde was estimated at 80,000.

In 1732, the villages of Ribeira da Brava, in São Nicolau, and Ribeira Grande, in Santo Antão, were elevated to the category of towns, with the establishment of town halls and other authorities. 

• Fifth period of the settlement of Cape Verde

It took place from 1769. 

The move of the capital instilled a new dynamic in the archipelago. The other islands were also taken care of.

In 1781, orders were given to populate the uninhabited islands with inhabitants from the other islands. In an attempt to populate São Vicente, in 1795 the government ordered 20 couples from Fogo to move to São Vicente in order to start settling the island. A small settlement was formed on the west coast of the island, which would later become the city of Mindelo. 

The settlement of Santa Luzia began in 1801, when settlers and a priest were sent to the island. However, the island's adverse weather conditions were not conducive to settlement and the settlers ended up abandoning the island.

On the island of Sal, settlement began around Portinho, now the port of Santa Maria. Other settlements sprang up in the interior of the island, giving rise to Pedra de Lume and Palmeira.

In 1858, the town of Praia was elevated to city status. 

White colonization continued to be based on "convicts" who were sent to the islands to serve time. Black emigration continued at a slower pace, and only came to a halt after the slave trade ended. 

Cape Verde under Portuguese colonial rule

The archipelago of Cape Verde remained under Portuguese colonial rule for around 500 years, from 1462 when settlement of the islands began until independence in 1975. 

Economic exploitation was one of the pillars of Portuguese colonial rule in Cape Verde. The islands were used as a trading post for African slaves, who were transported to the Americas to work on the sugar cane plantations. 

The archipelago faced many challenges under colonial rule. Among them were several droughts, which caused deaths of tens of thousands of inhabitants. The drought of 1770, which wiped out around 32,000 inhabitants, and the drought of 1831, which killed around 30,000 inhabitants, stand out. 

Similarly, epidemics did not spare the population, including cholera in 1856, which decimated entire villages on São Nicolau and did not spare other islands. 

The second half of the 19th century was particularly challenging. The 1840s saw the sharp decline of the transatlantic slave trade. The end of the slave trade meant that the archipelago lost its strategic importance for the metropolis. 

Portugal failed to provide sufficient supplies and materials to the inhabitants of Cape Verde. The islands' inability to produce enough food for their population, coupled with the lack of sanitary infrastructure and access to adequate medical care, contributed to the high mortality rates due to infectious diseases and droughts.

The colonial yoke and the consequent social inequalities gave rise to several revoltsThese include the Revolt of the Sugar Mills (1822), the Revolt of Achada Falcão (1841) and the Revolt of Ribeirão Manuel (1910).

Despite the difficulties, the archipelago's population continued to grow, to the point where demographic growth no longer required the introduction of immigrants. The migratory movement reversed the flow. In other words, Cape Verdeans began to emigrate elsewhere in search of better conditions. Emigration by American whalers in the 19th century is one of the main migratory movements in the history of the islands.

The adventurous nature of Cape Verdeans is still latent in the population today, partly due to the limitations of the archipelago. 

Cape Verde in the struggle for independence 

During the colonial period, Cape Verdeans faced various difficulties, including the enslavement of many of their citizens and political and economic oppression by the Portuguese authorities. The difficulties of settlement, revolts against colonial rule and the strengthening of a Cape Verdean identity led to the emergence of the nationalist liberation movement. 

Cape Verde's independence, however, was not to come immediately. Rather, it was a gradual process that involved the struggle for political liberation and the affirmation of national identity.

An important milestone in Cape Verde's independence process was the creation of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) in 1956 by Amílcar Cabral, the son of Cape Verdeans living in Guinea Bissau. The party's aim was to unify the Portuguese colonies of Guinea and Cape Verde and fight for their independence. Cabral argued that this would allow Cape Verde to fight for its own independence and prevent the colony from remaining under Portuguese control. 

The party's initial strategy was to call for the peaceful withdrawal of Portuguese troops from the colony of Guinea. As this peaceful route was unsuccessful, the PAIGC changed tactics and began to use more violent measures to achieve independence. The armed struggle against the Portuguese occupation began in March 1962when the PAIGC launched its first guerrilla campaign in Guinea-Bissau. 

In the following years, the struggle for independence intensified, with the PAIGC increasing its presence in Cape Verde and mobilizing the people with a view to the ideals of freedom. However, at no time did armed struggle take place in Cape Verde. Some scholars argue that the absence of armed conflict in Cape Verde contributed to the country's later success in establishing a democratic regime.

On January 13, 1973, Amílcar Cabral was assassinated in Conakry. Despite his death, the ideals of struggle and independence remained. Guinea's independence was declared unilaterally on September 24, 1973. 

In 1974, the Carnation Revolution in Portugal paved the way for independence for the islands. The party's demands for independence and the widespread unrest forced the previously reluctant Portuguese government to negotiate the terms of Cape Verde's independence. On December 19, 1974, an agreement was signed between the PAIGC and Portugal. government of transition in Cape Verde. 

The transitional government prepared the elections for a People's National Assembly which in July 5, 1975 officially proclaimed Cape Verde's independence. Aristides Pereira is elected as the first President of the Republic and Pedro Pires as the country's first head of government, in the then one-party regime. 

Cape Verde after independence 

After independence, Cape Verde held national elections that elected a national assembly on June 30, 1975. Due to its geographical position as an island state in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the national assembly declared the country neutral in the Cold War. Cape Verde maintained good relations with both the US and the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War, avoiding any foreign military presence as an affirmation of its neutrality.

With the coup d'état in Guinea Bissau in 1980, Cape Verde abandoned plans for unity with Guinea Bissau. The PAIGC was replaced by the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), which then became Cape Verde's only party. 

Parliamentary elections continued and Aristides Pereira was re-elected President of the Republic in 1981 and 1986. After these last elections, pressure grew for multi-party elections.

In January 1991, the first multi-party parliamentary elections were held in Cape Verde. The Movement for Democracy (MpD), made up partly of dissidents from the PAICV, won the elections and obtained a majority in parliament. Carlos Veiga was elected prime minister by parliament and, later that year, the MpD-backed candidate, António Mascarenhas Monteiro, won the presidential elections. Since then, multiparty elections have been held, with a peaceful transfer of power. 

In terms of foreign policy, Cape Verde has maintained friendly relations with a number of countries, including Portugal, Brazil, the United States and several African countries. The country has also been an active advocate of regional integration in West Africa and has worked closely with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Independence was not the solution to all of Cape Verde's problems. The country faces many challenges, including a shortage of natural resources, an arid climate and an economy still dependent on foreign aid. However, the country's political stability has helped create an environment conducive to economic development.s economic growth. From the 1990s onwards, Cape Verde began to experience steady economic growth, driven by tourism and the service industry.

In short, since its independence in 1975, Cape Verde has come a long way, despite the challenges. From a small archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the country has become a stable democracy and an example of economic success in Africa. Cape Verde continues to face challenges, it is true, but its success story is a testament to the human potential and resilience of the Cape Verdean people.