Cape Verde

Cape Verde, Cape Verde

Morning sun illuminates the terraced slopes of Cova Valley crater on Santo Antão island.

Cape Verde is a scatter of volcanic islands off West Africa, where Portuguese, African and Brazilian influences meet in music, food and island-to-island beach life.

The place

Cape Verde is an archipelago of ten volcanic islands in the Atlantic, roughly 500 kilometres off the west coast of Africa. The islands fall into two loose groups, and the difference shows. Some have wide, pale beaches and steady wind, while others rise into green, steep mountains cut by deep valleys. The total land area is only a little over four thousand square kilometres, so a trip between islands is quicker than it looks on a map, although ferries and short flights do not always keep to tight timetables.

Praia, on Santiago, is the capital and the main gateway. It is a working city rather than a resort, with a harbour, markets and government buildings, and a lively habit of walking round the praça to meet friends. Football and church activities are the usual ways people gather, and Portuguese runs through official life and schooling.

The islands suit different kinds of travellers. The sun-and-sand islands have resort development, watersports and diving, while the mountainous islands reward walkers with terraced valleys, villages stacked on slopes and cloud over the peaks. Heat is strongest late in the year, the wind can be fierce on exposed coasts, and island living costs more than many expect, so the trip is best planned around what each island offers.

Its story

Cape Verde was uninhabited until the mid-15th century. Genoese and Portuguese navigators reached the islands around 1456, and Portuguese records credit the Genoa-born navigator António de Noli with the first discoveries, after which the crown appointed him governor. Settlement followed quickly. In 1462 a group of Portuguese settlers landed on Santiago and founded Ribeira Grande, now called Cidade Velha, meaning Old City. Founded by Europeans, it was the earliest lasting European colony in the tropics, and the islands still hold that distinction in their history.

The archipelago's position made it a natural stopping point on Atlantic routes. Through the 16th and 17th centuries the islands grew prosperous on trade in manufactured goods, rum, cloth, ivory and gold, and they became entangled in the Atlantic slave trade. That history is hard and central to how the islands are understood today. Pirates raided the settlements as well. The English privateer Francis Drake sacked Ribeira Grande twice in 1585, when the Portuguese crown was part of the Iberian Union.

Around the mid-1800s, rivals from overseas, repeated dry spells and the waning of the slave trade left the islands in economic difficulty, and a large number of people chose to leave. Recovery came slowly, as the islands became a commercial centre and a stopping point for major shipping routes. Cape Verde became independent in 1975, and the country has since built its own institutions.

The landscape is far older than its human story. The archipelago formed roughly 40 to 50 million years ago, during the Eocene epoch, and its craters, dark lava slopes and steep valleys still show that volcanic origin.

What to see

Culture

Cape Verdean life blends African and European elements. The language is Portuguese and the dominant religion is Christian, yet music, dance and the rhythm of everyday life draw on African roots. Football and church activities are the usual meeting points in towns and villages. Late in the afternoon, the traditional walk round the praça, the town square, brings friends and families out to talk, and it is a welcome moment to watch from a café table.

Cafés and bars are social spaces where conversation runs long. Music matters a great deal. Morna, a slow and melancholy song form, and the livelier coladeira are heard at weddings, festivals and in bars. Creole is the everyday language of most islanders, sitting alongside Portuguese, so a few words in either are appreciated.

Television reaches the towns on a handful of channels, one state-owned and others from Portugal and Brazil, which reflects the country's outward-looking history. Many families keep close ties with relatives abroad, a legacy of the emigration that followed the nineteenth-century downturn. Ask before photographing people up close, particularly at church gatherings, and dress modestly when entering a church.

What to wear

Traditional dress in Cape Verde is less visible today than its music and food, and it varies between islands and between town and country life. Older styles tended to use practical cottons and simple cuts, with long skirts, blouses and headcloths for women, while festivals and church occasions bring out brighter colours and more formal layers. Textiles were chosen for heat and durability rather than display, which still shapes what people wear.

What people wear now is much like dress in any warm, sociable town. In Praia and the larger villages, men wear shirts and cotton trousers, women wear light dresses or skirts with blouses, and football shirts appear everywhere. Smart clothes come out for Sunday mass and weddings, when people dress carefully.

For a visitor, the answer is light, breathable clothing for the heat, with cotton or linen favoured over synthetic fabrics. Cover shoulders and knees when entering churches or village chapels, and bring a light layer for windy coasts and cooler mountain evenings. Choose sturdy sandals or walking shoes for rocky volcanic trails and wet valley paths, and pack a swimsuit with a cover-up for beaches away from resorts.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. March to May is the drier, more comfortable stretch, with the trade winds easing the heat for much of the year. The later months bring the strongest winds on some coasts, while the hottest, most humid weather tends to come later in the year. The climate figures in the brief are limited, so check current conditions for the islands you plan to visit.

How long. 4–6

Getting there. Amílcar Cabral International Airport on Sal and Nelson Mandela International Airport in Praia on Santiago are the main entry points, with Aristides Pereira International Airport on Boa Vista and Cesária Évora Airport on São Vicente also serving international routes. Connections between islands are by domestic flight or ferry, so check schedules before you plan a multi-island route.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources