60 free Cape Verde trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Cape Verde, officially Cabo Verde, is a horseshoe of ten volcanic islands 570 km off West Africa that was uninhabited until the Portuguese arrived in the 1460s. It grew rich on the slave trade, starved through centuries of drought, sent whalers to New England, and now counts almost twice as many citizens abroad as at home. It also gave the world morna, the barefoot diva Cesária Évora and the name for the biggest Atlantic hurricanes. This quiz covers geography (Santiago, Sal, Fogo's volcano, Barlavento and Sotavento), history (Cidade Velha, Darwin's first stop, Amílcar Cabral and independence in 1975), symbols and money (why the flag has ten stars, the euro-pegged escudo), culture and food (morna and funaná, cachupa, grogue, Kriolu) and sport (the Blue Sharks' 2026 World Cup, the first Olympic medal). Questions run from easy to expert. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and other reference pages before publishing.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many islands make up the Cape Verde archipelago?
Ten
Nine are inhabited; the tenth, Santa Luzia, is empty, and there are eight islets besides.
Q 02What is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde?
Praia
Its name means "beach" in Portuguese; it replaced Cidade Velha as capital in 1770.
Q 03Cape Verde is named after a peninsula on the coast of which African country?
Senegal
Cap-Vert, the westernmost point of mainland Africa at Dakar, was named the "green cape" by the Portuguese in 1444.
Q 04Which colonial power settled the uninhabited islands in the 1460s and ruled until 1975?
Portugal
Ribeira Grande, founded in 1462, was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics.
Q 05Cape Verde became independent on 5 July of which year?
1975
It followed the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon; the PAIGC party led both Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau to freedom.
Q 06Which revolutionary, assassinated in 1973, founded the PAIGC that led Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau to independence?
Amílcar Cabral
An agronomist born in Guinea to Cape Verdean parents, he now names the international airport on Sal.
Q 07Cesária Évora, Cape Verde's most famous singer, was known by what nickname?
The Barefoot Diva
She performed barefoot, smoked on stage, won a Grammy in 2004 and now names São Vicente's airport.
Q 08Which melancholy song genre, made famous by Cesária Évora, is considered Cape Verde's national music?
Morna
Usually sung in Creole to guitar, cavaquinho and violin, it joined UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list in 2019.
Q 09Cape Verde's flag shows a circle of ten yellow stars representing what?
The archipelago's islands
The blue stands for the ocean and sky; the flag was adopted in 1992, replacing a green-yellow-red one with a black star.
Q 10Cape Verde's currency, the escudo, has been pegged to which currency since 1999?
The euro
The rate is 110.265 escudos per euro; before that it was tied to the Portuguese escudo.
Q 11Cachupa, the national dish, is a slow-cooked stew based on which two staples?
Corn (hominy) and beans
Fried leftovers, cachupa refogada, are a classic breakfast with a fried egg on top.
Q 12Grogue, Cape Verde's traditional spirit, is distilled from what?
Sugarcane juice
It is pressed in a trapiche, mainly on Santo Antão, and mixed with lime and molasses to make ponche.
Q 13Pico do Fogo, Cape Verde's highest point at 2,829 m, is what?
An active volcano
It last erupted in 2014, and its 1680 eruption drove refugees to neighbouring Brava.
Q 21Roughly how many Cape Verdeans live abroad compared with the population at home?
Almost double
Nearly a million are scattered from Massachusetts to Lisbon, many descended from 19th-century whalers.
Q 22The first wave of Cape Verdean immigrants to Massachusetts in the 1840s came to work in which industry?
Whaling
They later moved into cranberry picking and factory work; Boston's Cape Verdeans are now its largest African national group.
Q 23A "Cape Verde-type hurricane" is one that does what?
Forms near the islands from a tropical wave off West Africa
Q 14Which is the largest and most populous of the Cape Verde islands, home to the capital?
Santiago
About half the population lives there; it was the first island settled, in 1462.
Q 15Cape Verde's islands are divided into two groups by the trade winds. What are they called?
Barlavento (windward) and Sotavento (leeward)
Sal, Boa Vista and São Vicente are windward; Fogo, Maio, Brava and the largest island are leeward.
Q 16Cidade Velha became Cape Verde's first World Heritage Site in 2009 for being what?
The first European colonial settlement in the tropics
Founded as Ribeira Grande in 1462, it was sacked by an English privateer in 1585 and grew rich on the slave trade.
Q 17Which English privateer sacked Ribeira Grande, the old capital, twice in 1585?
Francis Drake
A French raid in 1712 finished the town off and the capital moved to Praia in 1770.
Q 18Cape Verde was the first port of call for which famous scientific ship in January 1832?
HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin
Darwin's geological observations on the largest island helped launch his scientific career.
Q 19Which port city on São Vicente is Cape Verde's cultural capital, famous for its carnival?
Mindelo
It grew as a coaling station for British ships from 1838 and its carnival blends Portuguese and Brazilian traditions.
Q 20Cape Verdean Creole (Kriolu) holds what distinction among the world's creole languages?
It is the oldest one still living
It is also the most widely spoken Portuguese-based creole; Portuguese remains the official language.
They are often the season's largest and most intense storms; the five biggest Atlantic cyclones on record were Cape Verde-type.
Q 24Which 2015 storm, the easternmost Atlantic hurricane ever to form, struck Cape Verde directly?
Fred
It was only the second hurricane to hit the islands since 1851; the other was in 1892.
Q 25Cape Verde's national football team is nicknamed what?
The Blue Sharks
The Tubarões Azuis first reached the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 and made the quarter-finals.
Q 26Which nation broke Cape Verde's brief record as the smallest country by area to qualify for a World Cup?
Curaçao
Cape Verde then reached the knockout round and lost 3-2 to holders Argentina after extra time.
Q 27Cape Verde won its first Olympic medal at Paris 2024 in which sport?
Boxing
Daniel Varela de Pina took flyweight bronze; the country had competed at every Games since 1996.
Q 28Which fast accordion-driven dance music of the largest island, suppressed under Portuguese rule, boomed after 1975?
Funaná
Its rhythm comes from the ferrinho, an iron bar scraped like a zydeco washboard.
Q 29Batuque, the oldest Cape Verdean music genre, is performed mostly by whom?
Women, in a circle, slapping a cloth
It is the only polyrhythmic genre in the islands and its dance is all in the hips.
Q 30Sal island takes its name from which industry, developed at Pedra de Lume from the late 1700s?
Salt
The salt pans sit in a volcanic crater; visitors float in the brine like the Dead Sea. The island is now the tourist hub.