The History of Cabo Verde

Previously uninhabited and then unknown, Portugal discovered the islands in 1456. As with many modern discoveries, some previous explorers, perhaps the Arabs or the Phoenicians, may have visited the island, but left no history. In 1460 Antonio and Bartolomeo da Noli, Genovese navigators claimed the Cape Verde Islands for Portugal.

As with many other colonies of the era, Portugal banished people from the mainland to settle the island. Portugal also permitted slave trade, starting in 1466, and slavery in Cabo Verde. Of course, other settlers came following opportunity.

The islands lie on major trade routes. Having deep water ports and fresh water, the colony played an important role in the early slave trade with both Africa and the New World. When Portugal abolished slavery on the mainland in 1761, starting the path to emancipation in 1869, Cabo Verde's trade declined. During this time, Cabo Verde began trade in textiles. The slave labor, farming both cotton and indigo locally, combined with the right climate to provide a significant source of trade mainly with the African Slave Coast, but eventually with others.

The colony suffered from poor natural resource management combined with fickle weather. Starting with the first major drought in 1747, this caused widespread famine and death. With very little support from the mother country, over 100,000 people were lost. Adding to the misery were both the eruptions of the Fogo Volcano and infectious diseases brought with trading.

Being in the center of the trade route brought the political troubles of the times, as well. Spain dominated Portugal from 1580 to 1640. The War of Spanish Succession, from 1701 to 1714, was fought over the slave trade. Both affected Cabo Verde adversely. Regularly raids, embargoes, tariffs and other entanglements would hamper the struggling colony. On a more positive note, the advent of the whaling trade from the late 1700s to the 1850s in New England required the trade-handling talents of the colonists. Many emigrated to the United States. An active "community" of Cabo Verde remains active in the U.S. Ties between the two remain high even today.

The trade industry's growing use of coal-fired ocean liners provided Cabo Verde with a recovery. Except during the interruption of normal trade during World War II, Cabo Verde provided coal imported from England, livestock and water to liners from its improved port of Mindelo from about 1790 to 1980. In the 1980s, the availability and use of coal greatly decreased, and the island again faced a transition.

Throughout its history as a colony, Cabo Verde's culture, location, politics and trade granted it uniqueness. With the decline of colonialism in the 1900s came a growing sense of nationalism for the people of the colony. Cabo Verde's fight for independence was one of the longest. On July 5, 1975, the political turmoil in Portugal and the rising resentment over poverty, famine, unemployment and international pressure combined to bring about formal independence.