Cape Verde

Cape Verde /ˌkeɪp ˈvɜːrd/ or Cabo Verde /kɑːboʊ ˈvɜːrdeɪ/, /kæ-/ (Portuguese: Cabo Verde, pronounced: [ˈkabu ˈveɾdɨ]), officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country spanning an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands in the central Atlantic Ocean. Located 570 kilometres (350 mi) off the coast of Western Africa, the islands cover a combined area of slightly over 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi).

The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands, establishing the first European settlement in the tropics. Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration, although Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for shipping routes. Incorporated as an overseas department of Portugal in 1951, the islands continued to agitate for independence, which was peacefully achieved in 1975.

Portuguese Cape Verde

Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975.

Prior to its settlement by the Portuguese, Cape Verde was uninhabited.

In the lead-up to and during the Portuguese Colonial War, those planning and fighting in the armed conflict in Portuguese Guinea often linked the goal of liberation of Guinea-Bissau to the goal of liberation in Cape Verde. (For instance, in 1956, Amílcar and Luís Cabral founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.) However, there was no armed conflict in Cape Verde and ultimately independence for Cape Verde resulted from negotiation with Portugal.

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Notes

Coordinates: 14°55′04″N 23°30′33″W / 14.9177°N 23.5092°W / 14.9177; -23.5092

Cape Verde (disambiguation)

Cape Verde is an island country in West Africa.

Cape Verde can also refer to:

See also

Sal, Cape Verde

Sal (Portuguese for “salt” — from the mines at Pedra de Lume) is an island in Cape Verde. It belongs to the northern group of islands, called Barlavento ("windwards"), and comprises a single administrative division, the Sal municipality. The island is home to Amílcar Cabral International Airport, the main airport of Cape Verde.

History

The island was discovered on December 3, 1460 and named Llana until salt deposits were found. Sal is the geologically oldest island in Cape Verde, formed 50 million years ago during the eruption of a volcano which is now inactive.

Geography

The island is 35 km long by 12 km wide. It is one of the three sandy eastern islands (Sal, Boa Vista and Maio) of the archipelago, with white sandy beaches and fairly flat. The highest elevation of 408 m is at Monte Grande. Serra Negra has a height of 92 m.

Climate

Sal Island has on average 350 days of sunshine a year. Winds mainly blow from the northeast. However,some days do also have clouds, but they tend to be scattered and seldom bring rain. The 'rainy season' is from July to mid-October, although rainfall is still low.

Sal, Cape Verde (municipality)

Sal is a concelho (municipality) of Cape Verde. It covers the whole island of Sal. Its capital is the town Espargos. The municipality consists of one freguesia (civil parish), Nossa Senhora das Dores, which also covers the whole island. The freguesia is subdivided into the following settlements:

Economy

Sal’s main town, Espargos, is home to one of the nation’s international airports and has around 17,000 inhabitants. Sal's population grew around salt collection and later shifted to fishing, but is now based on tourism (amounting to 50% of the archipelago’s tourism) at the beach resort of Santa Maria.

Its airport, Amílcar Cabral International Airport, was used as a refuelling base by South African Airways on its Johannesburg to London routes. Later, flights to and from New York and Atlanta also refuelled there, and the island was a crew-change station. SAA established the long runways needed by the fully fueled Boeing 707s on their take-offs in the high temperatures. On July 1, 2006, SAA operated its final flight to Sal due to the ending of its flights to Atlanta.

Cape Verde (Mars)

Cape Verde is a large promontory and extremity on the rim of Victoria Crater in Meridiani Planum, an extraterrestrial plain within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of the planet Mars. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity perched atop this feature in 2006 to take a true-color mosaic of the crater below. Sols 958 to 991 were spent on this cape, including the period of solar conjunction which spanned from sol 970 to sol 984.

Cape Verde and neighboring Cabo Frio are named after Cape Verde and Cabo Frio, places visited on Ferdinand Magellan's voyage around the world by the ship Victoria.

Cape Verde can be seen jutting out from the walls of Victoria Crater in this false-color image taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.

Cape Verde can be seen jutting out from the walls of Victoria Crater in this false-color image taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.

Close-up of Cape Verde.