5th July: Cape Verde Independence Day

Cape Verde today celebrates its Independence from Portugal in 1975.

1. Cape Verde consists of ten volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres (350 mi) off the coast of Western Africa. The cluster of islands is shaped like a Horseshoe. Nine of the islands are inhabited.
2. The name of the country comes from Cap-Vert, on the Senegalese coast, which in turn was originally named "Cabo Verde" when sighted by Portuguese explorers in 1444. (verde is Portuguese for "Green").
3. The largest island is Santiago, in terms of both area and population. It is about twice the size of the Isle of Wight, and is home to the capital city, Praia. The smallest island is Santa Luzia, 35km2. Santa Luzia is the uninhabited island. The smallest inhabited island is Brava at 64km2.
4. Nobody lived on any of the islands until the Portuguese settled there in 1462. Their settlement, Ribeira Grande, was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics. Now, the people who live there are Creole, descended from both Europeans and West Africans. A genetic study revealed that the ancestry of the population is predominantly European in the male line and West African in the female line. The percentage is 56% African and 44% European. People with dark skin, blond hair and blue eyes are not uncommon here.
5. Creole is the first language of most of the people, although the official language is Portuguese. Creole is thought to have evolved in slave communities who were discouraged from speaking their own language, so they would use some Portuguese words intermingled with words from their native language. Hence Creole can be very different from island to island, and even in different parts of the same island.
6. The highest point is Mount Fogo at 2,829 metres (9,281 ft). Mount Fogo is an active volcano situated on the island of Fogo, which is Portuguese for fire.
7. The flag of Cape Verde has a blue base with a white horizontal stripe about two thirds of the way down. In the middle of the white stripe is a thinner horizontal red stripe. Towards the left side of the white stripe is a circle made up of ten Yellow five-point stars. The stars represent the ten islands and the blue represents the infinity of sea and sky. The stripes represent the road to the construction of Cape Verde; white represents peace and red represents effort.
8. It is illegal to capture Turtles in Cape Verde between June and February.
9. Cape Verde is known for its hurricanes. In fact, there is a type of hurricane named after it. Cape Verde-type hurricanes are Atlantic hurricanes that develop near the Cape Verde islands and are usually the largest and most intense storms of the season because they often have plenty of warm open ocean over which to develop before encountering land.
10. Cape Verde is often praised as an example among African nations, for its stability and developmental growth despite its lack of natural resources.