60 Fun Facts About Cape Verde

How many islands make up the Cape Verde archipelago?

Nine are inhabited; the tenth, Santa Luzia, is empty, and there are eight islets besides.

What is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde?

Its name means "beach" in Portuguese; it replaced Cidade Velha as capital in 1770.

Cape Verde is named after a peninsula on the coast of which African country?

Cap-Vert, the westernmost point of mainland Africa at Dakar, was named the "green cape" by the Portuguese in 1444.

Which colonial power settled the uninhabited islands in the 1460s and ruled until 1975?

Ribeira Grande, founded in 1462, was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics.

Cape Verde became independent on 5 July of which year?

It followed the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon; the PAIGC party led both Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau to freedom.

Which revolutionary, assassinated in 1973, founded the PAIGC that led Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau to independence?

An agronomist born in Guinea to Cape Verdean parents, he now names the international airport on Sal.

Cesária Évora, Cape Verde's most famous singer, was known by what nickname?

She performed barefoot, smoked on stage, won a Grammy in 2004 and now names São Vicente's airport.

Which melancholy song genre, made famous by Cesária Évora, is considered Cape Verde's national music?

Usually sung in Creole to guitar, cavaquinho and violin, it joined UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list in 2019.

Cape Verde's flag shows a circle of ten yellow stars representing what?

The blue stands for the ocean and sky; the flag was adopted in 1992, replacing a green-yellow-red one with a black star.

Cape Verde's currency, the escudo, has been pegged to which currency since 1999?

The rate is 110.265 escudos per euro; before that it was tied to the Portuguese escudo.

Cachupa, the national dish, is a slow-cooked stew based on which two staples?

Fried leftovers, cachupa refogada, are a classic breakfast with a fried egg on top.

Grogue, Cape Verde's traditional spirit, is distilled from what?

It is pressed in a trapiche, mainly on Santo Antão, and mixed with lime and molasses to make ponche.

Pico do Fogo, Cape Verde's highest point at 2,829 m, is what?

It last erupted in 2014, and its 1680 eruption drove refugees to neighbouring Brava.

Which is the largest and most populous of the Cape Verde islands, home to the capital?

About half the population lives there; it was the first island settled, in 1462.

Cape Verde's islands are divided into two groups by the trade winds. What are they called?

Sal, Boa Vista and São Vicente are windward; Fogo, Maio, Brava and the largest island are leeward.

Cidade Velha became Cape Verde's first World Heritage Site in 2009 for being what?

Founded as Ribeira Grande in 1462, it was sacked by an English privateer in 1585 and grew rich on the slave trade.

Which English privateer sacked Ribeira Grande, the old capital, twice in 1585?

A French raid in 1712 finished the town off and the capital moved to Praia in 1770.

Cape Verde was the first port of call for which famous scientific ship in January 1832?

Darwin's geological observations on the largest island helped launch his scientific career.

Which port city on São Vicente is Cape Verde's cultural capital, famous for its carnival?

It grew as a coaling station for British ships from 1838 and its carnival blends Portuguese and Brazilian traditions.

Cape Verdean Creole (Kriolu) holds what distinction among the world's creole languages?

It is also the most widely spoken Portuguese-based creole; Portuguese remains the official language.

Roughly how many Cape Verdeans live abroad compared with the population at home?

Nearly a million are scattered from Massachusetts to Lisbon, many descended from 19th-century whalers.

The first wave of Cape Verdean immigrants to Massachusetts in the 1840s came to work in which industry?

They later moved into cranberry picking and factory work; Boston's Cape Verdeans are now its largest African national group.

A "Cape Verde-type hurricane" is one that does what?

They are often the season's largest and most intense storms; the five biggest Atlantic cyclones on record were Cape Verde-type.

Which 2015 storm, the easternmost Atlantic hurricane ever to form, struck Cape Verde directly?

It was only the second hurricane to hit the islands since 1851; the other was in 1892.

Cape Verde's national football team is nicknamed what?

The Tubarões Azuis first reached the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 and made the quarter-finals.

Which nation broke Cape Verde's brief record as the smallest country by area to qualify for a World Cup?

Cape Verde then reached the knockout round and lost 3-2 to holders Argentina after extra time.

Cape Verde won its first Olympic medal at Paris 2024 in which sport?

Daniel Varela de Pina took flyweight bronze; the country had competed at every Games since 1996.

Which fast accordion-driven dance music of the largest island, suppressed under Portuguese rule, boomed after 1975?

Its rhythm comes from the ferrinho, an iron bar scraped like a zydeco washboard.

Batuque, the oldest Cape Verdean music genre, is performed mostly by whom?

It is the only polyrhythmic genre in the islands and its dance is all in the hips.

Sal island takes its name from which industry, developed at Pedra de Lume from the late 1700s?

The salt pans sit in a volcanic crater; visitors float in the brine like the Dead Sea. The island is now the tourist hub.

Which country first built Cape Verde's airport on Sal in 1939 as a refuelling stop to South America?

It later served Soviet and Cuban flights to Angola; it is now named after the independence leader.

Which Cape Verde island, the third largest, is famous for Sahara-like dunes and the Deserto de Viana?

Its beaches are major loggerhead turtle nesting grounds; the capital is Sal Rei, "King Salt".

Which is the smallest inhabited island of Cape Verde, also called the greenest?

It was settled by refugees from Fogo's 1680 eruption; its men crewed New England whalers.

Which is Cape Verde's second-largest island, the greenest of the windward group with famous hiking?

Its Tope de Coroa reaches 1,979 m and its valleys grow the sugarcane for grogue.

Which Cape Verdean island's port is named Porto Inglês after the English who exported its salt to Europe?

A British and French frigate battle was fought off its coast in 1814.

Who was Cape Verde's first president, serving from 1975 to 1991?

Born on Boa Vista, he lost the country's first multi-party election in 1991; the island's airport bears his name.

Which former Cape Verdean prime minister and president won the 2011 Mo Ibrahim Prize?

Born on Fogo, he was the first prime minister in 1975 and president from 2001 to 2011.

What was Salazar's notorious concentration camp on Cape Verde's largest island, opened in 1936, called?

Nicknamed the "Camp of Slow Death", it later held African independence fighters.

Which literary review, founded on São Vicente in 1936, is credited with creating a 'Cape Verdean' identity?

Its founder Baltasar Lopes da Silva wrote Chiquinho (1947), considered the greatest Cape Verdean novel.

Cape Verde belongs to which island ecoregion, together with the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries?

The name means "fortunate islands" in Greek.

In February 2024, Cape Verde became only the third African country certified free of what?

Mauritius and Algeria had achieved it earlier.

Roughly what share of the food Cape Verdeans eat is imported?

Less than 2% of the arid land is arable, and only five islands farm significantly.

Which Cape Verde-born midfielder scored Switzerland's winner against Spain at the 2010 World Cup?

Born in Praia, he moved to Switzerland as a child and played for Sion, Manchester City and Frankfurt.

Which Cape Verdean chemist and Paris professor appears on the 500-escudo banknote?

He taught analytical chemistry at the École des Mines and École Centrale.

Which Cape Verdean poet from Brava, born 1867, is famous for mornas written in the island's Creole?

Self-taught, he never went to school; his "Hora di Bai" is a farewell classic.

Cape Verde's first resort hotel, Morabeza, was opened on Sal in 1967 by investors from which country?

Santa Maria itself was founded in 1830 to produce salt for Brazil.

Roughly how far off the African coast do the drought-prone Cape Verde islands lie?

Cold Atlantic currents keep the air arid; rainfall on the coast can be under 100 mm a year.

In 2013 the country told the UN that only which form of its name should be used officially?

Portuguese explorers had named the Senegalese cape 'Cabo Verde' in 1444, a few years before finding the islands.

For how long is Cape Verde's president elected by popular vote?

The prime minister is nominated by the National Assembly, whose members also serve five-year terms.

Cape Verde's Operation Flying Launch, run with the police from 2007, targeted what?

The operation was secret for its first two years and wound up in 2010.

Which endemic Cape Verdean songbird is named after a small uninhabited islet?

Other endemics include Alexander's swift, Bourne's heron, the Cape Verde warbler and the Iago sparrow.

How many municipalities (concelhos) is Cape Verde divided into?

They are subdivided into 32 parishes based on the colonial-era church parishes.

After Roman Catholicism, which is Cape Verde's second-largest religious community?

Catholics made up just under 80% of the population in 2010; the country has two dioceses, Mindelo and Santiago.

How many researchers did Cape Verde count in total in 2011?

That was 51 per million inhabitants against a world average of over 1,000; all worked in the government sector.

Where did the World Education Forum rank Cape Verde's education system in Africa in 2023?

About 91% of over-15s are literate, and one in four young people attended university as of 2017.

Which Cape Verdean kite-surfer won the 2008 world championship in the wave discipline?

Hawaiian windsurfer Josh Angulo, the 2009 PWA Wave World Champion, has also promoted the islands as a wave-sailing destination.

Which sport gives Cape Verde its most successful national team, with African silver in 2022?

The men's team has played at the IHF World Championship since 2019 and took African bronze in 2026.

At the 2026 World Cup, Cape Verde took which reigning champions to extra time before losing 3–2?

The debutants had drawn with Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to reach the knockout stage.

Which port on Sal supplies fuel for the island's Amílcar Cabral International Airport?

Cape Verde has four international ports: Mindelo, Praia, Palmeira and Sal Rei.

The airport on São Vicente island is named after which Cape Verdean?

Sal's airport honours Amílcar Cabral, Santiago's Nelson Mandela and Boa Vista's Aristides Pereira.