Cape Verde » History

In 1975, the islands achieved independence, partly due to the efforts of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). After independence, the PAIGC attempted to unite Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau into one nation, the PAIGC controlling both governments, but a coup in the latter nation in 1980 ended these plans. By the late 1980s there were increasing calls for multi-party democracy, and in 1990 the PAICV acquiesced, allowing lawyer Carlos Veigo to found the Movimento para a Democracia (MPD). 

With a centre-right policy of political and economic liberalisation, the MPD swept to power in the 1991 elections. However, privatisation and foreign investment - especially in tourism - brought only slow results, and the PAICV retook power in 2001. This time, it promised to adhere to a more centrist policy of prudent fiscal and economic management, in line with the wishes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

Tourism is the nation's main growth industry, and the country remains prosperous by West African standards. Famine is certainly no longer an imminent threat, yet improvements in the lives of the average Cape Verdean remain incremental, and for those without family abroad conditions remain difficult. 

Longer Historical Perspective

Cape Verde was unpopulated when the Portuguese arrived in 1460 and made the islands part of the Portuguese empire. Due to its location off the coast of Africa, Cape Verde became an important watering station, then sugar cane plantation site, and later a major centre of the slave trade.