Cape Verde Islands: About Cape Verde

HISTORY

The history of Cape Verde is typical and yet unique for its location. For three centuries, the islands were a setting for the transatlantic slave trade, …

GEOGRAPHY

The Cape Verde Islands are located between 14 and 17° northern latitude and 22 and 25° western longitude in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at the height of Senegal…

Cape Verde has about 450,000 inhabitants today. 236,000 of these live on the main island of Santiago. The fact that the people of Cape Verde have become such a mixture of many different ethnic groups can be explained by the history…

POLITICS

Already accepted into the UNO in 1975, the year of its declaration of independence, Cape Verde has become a stable country under the Pereira administration...

THE CREOLOE LANGUAGE

There is a saying that the language reveals much about a country. This also applies to Cape Verde, where Creole (Crioulo) – in addition to the official national language of Portuguese – reflects its citizen’s unbelievable diversity…

CLIMATE / WEATHER

The sun shines 350 days a year and temperatures range between 21°C and 29°C. The breeze blows constantly from the ocean at a relatively low average humidity of 40% to 60%…

VOLCANISM

The Cape Verde Islands were created by magma rising through the ocean, which is why they never were part of the African continent…

FAUNA

With the exception of the bat, there are no native species of mammals on Cape Verde! This is because there was initially no animal life on the volcanic islands; it was only possible for species that came by water or air to Cape Verde to develop…

FLORA

The Cape Verde Islands were initially without any vegetation after their formation by volcanic activity. Many seeds were introduced from West Africa, Latin America, the Mediterranean region and the other Macaronesian islands…

RELIGION

The Cape Verdeans are a very spiritual people. About 80% of the population is Catholic, 10% are Protestants, and the rest belong to smaller denominations…

ART AND CULTURE

Above all, pottery and weaving products are manufactured on Cape Verde. But you can also find paintings (by Manuel Figueira, Barros-Gizzi and Maria-Luisa Queirós, for example), crocheted blankets, which is a tradition from Portugal, woodworking, batik, embroidery and woven baskets…

MUSIC

It seems as if the Cape Verdean music has been on a long journey in which all of the experiences, images and people from a great variety of roots have merged into one unique form of expression, without whose existence the islands are hardly imaginable today…

GASTRONOMY

The cuisine on Cape Verde can be called as relatively hearty. There is no doubt that the national dish of the islands is the cachupa. This is a type of stew, consisting of mashed maize, onions, green bananas, manioc, sweet potatoes, squash, yams, tomatoes, cabbage and possibly bacon…

DEVELOPMENT AID

Much has been done on Cape Verde. Through the multilateral and almost universal cooperation of many countries and international organisations, but also through the competent administration of funds by the Cape Verdean government itself, a steady development has been achieved…

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