The Portuguese discovered the islands in the 15th century; they were uninhabited and there was no evidence of previous settlement. By the late 15th century, settlement began on São Tiago, which later became used as a supply point for slaves traded to Brazil and the West Indies. The inhospitable landscape and climate made development of the islands difficult, while the attentions of rival colonial powers also made life difficult for the Portuguese colonial administrators. Although sugar plantations, worked by slaves brought over from Africa, and, subsequently, cotton cloth weaving were successfully
established, life on the islands was one of extreme poverty.
In 1951, Cape Verde was redefined as an overseas province, from its previous status as a colony. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the islands were used as a garrison by the Portuguese army, while many members of the growing independence movement fled to Guinea-Bissau, another Portuguese colony on the mainland, to form the
Partido Africano da Independência do Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) under the famous revolutionary leader Amilcar Cabral. Following the revolution in Portugal in 1974, Cape Verde achieved independence in 1975, shortly after the granting of independence to Guinea-Bissau, with whom Cape Verde had close political associations. In 1976, Cape Verde joined the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The PAIGC took control of the political activities of both countries and full unification was discussed. This proposal was shelved after the 1980 coup in Guinea-Bissau, after which the Cape Verdean branch of PAIGC was renamed the
Partido Africano da Independência de Cabo Verde (PAICV) and the two countries pursued their own separate paths of development. At the turn of the 1990s, the Government followed the continental trend and held elections in February 1991. The PAICV faced the challenge of the
Movimento para Democracia (MPD) which duly won both the legislature and the race for the Presidency in which their candidate, ex-supreme court judge Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, defeated the incumbent Aristides Pereira.
The MPD held onto both Presidency and national assembly in 1995 but lost both to the PAICV at the most recent elections in early 2001. The extremely close Presidential race was won by the PAICV’s Pedro Rodrigues Pires with a margin of just 17 votes over the MPD’s Carlos de Carvalho. Cape Verde has pursued a determinedly non-aligned foreign policy, reflected in its being chosen as mediator in the settlement of a variety of international disputes, including those concerning Angola. More recently, in 1998, it hosted talks to reach a settlement of the conflict in Guinea Bissau. Cape Verde maintains close relations with Portugal, Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking African countries in the PALOP group (Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé).
GovernmentA new constitution introduced in 1992 allows for the election of an
Assembleia Nacional (national assembly) with 79 deputies and a President who serves as Head of State, both elected by adult suffrage for five-year terms. The next Presidential election is in 2006.
EconomyAbout one-quarter of the working population is engaged in agriculture. Maize and beans are the main crops; a variety of fruit and vegetables are also grown. The agricultural sector is especially vulnerable to the periodic droughts that afflict the islands, often lasting for several years. Meanwhile, the fishing industry has received substantial international aid, reflected in the result that the islands’ catches now contribute almost half of the total export earnings.
Cape Verde joined the International Whaling Commission in 2002 and, with the incentive of an aid package from Japan, has supported the resumption of commercial whaling.
The small industrial sector is dominated by fish processing and canning factories, to which electrical and other machinery, chemicals and textiles have recently been added. Mining is confined to salt and pozzolana. Future economic development is being focused on tourism, transhipment facilities and ‘offshore’ financial services.
A further vital source of national income are the remittances provided by émigré communities – some 700,000 Cape Verdeans live abroad, mainly in the USA. Cape Verde is a member of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS).
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