Cape Verde
Cape Verde, 1975 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Cape Verde, also referred to in English by its Portuguese name Cabo Verde, and known officially as the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an archipelagic country in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of West Africa. It consists of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about 4,033 square kilometres (1,557 sq mi). The archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers settled the islands, establishing one of the first European settlements in the tropics. Cape Verde became independent in 1975.
Seat of power: Praia
Rulers
Aristides Pereira
President of Cape Verde, 1975–1991
He was the first President of Cape Verde, serving from 1975 to 1991. Pereira was born in Fundo das Figueiras, on the island of Boa Vista. From the late 1940s until Cape Verde's independence, Pereira was heavily involved in the anti-colonial movement, organizing strikes and rising through the hierarchy of his party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.
Portrait of Aristides Pereira: SSGT Maria Briestline, Public domain, file
Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro
President of Cape Verde, 1991–2001
He was the first democratically elected President of Cape Verde from 22 March 1991 to 22 March 2001. Born in Ribeira da Barca in 1944, Monteiro went to university in Belgium and graduated with his law degree from the Catholic University of Leuven.
Portrait of Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro: Bruno Portela (photographer), CC BY 4.0, file
Pedro Pires
President of Cape Verde, 2001–2011
He served as Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 1975 to 1991, and later as president from 2001 to 2011. Pires was the PAICV candidate in the February 2001 presidential election, defeating former prime minister Carlos Veiga of the Movement for Democracy (MpD) in the second round by just 12 votes. Pires ran for a second term in the presidential election held on 12 February 2006 and again prevailed over Veiga, this time winning in the first round by a 51%-49% margin.
Portrait of Pedro Pires: Ron Bennett--HUD, Public domain, file
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Jorge Carlos Fonseca
President of Cape Verde, 2011–2021
He served as the President of Cape Verde from 2011 to 2021. Supported by the Movement for Democracy (MpD), he won the 2011 presidential election in a second round of voting. Presidential elections were held in Cape Verde on 2 October 2016, where he was re-elected with 74.08% of the vote.
Portrait of Jorge Carlos Fonseca: Olaf Kosinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, file
José Maria Neves
President of Cape Verde, 2021 to today
He is currently the president of Cape Verde, having previously served as the Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 2001 to 2016. In the 2021 presidential election, he was elected with 51.7% of votes, beating his nearest rival Carlos Veiga who got 42.4% of the total votes. He is a member of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV).
Portrait of José Maria Neves: Ricardo Stuckert of Palácio do Planalto (Palace of Planalto, workplace of Brazilian president), CC BY 2.0, file
Culture
- The official language is Portuguese, while the recognized national language is Cape Verdean Creole (Crioulo), which is spoken by the vast majority of the population.
- The national music is the morna, a melancholy and lyrical song form typically sung in Cape Verdean Creole. Cesária Évora was the best-known Cape Verdean singer in the world, known as the barefoot diva, because she liked to perform barefooted on stage.
- On 2 February 2024, Cape Verde became the third African country to be free of malaria.
- The president is the head of state and is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The prime minister is the head of government and proposes other ministers and secretaries of state.
Picture
Praia is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.
Image: Xandu, Public domain, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.