About Cape Verde

Cape Verde was uninhabited 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 hub of the trans-atlantic slave trade, that would later form the contemporary African Diaspora. In 1975, Cape Verde achieved independence from Portugal after a long armed struggle in the jungles of Guinea-Bissau. The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) was the main entity responsible for the independence of Cape Verde. Moreover, the people's revolutionary armed forces of Cuba, too, played a role in the Cape Verdean independence armed struggle in Guinea-Bissau. 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. As a result, the G, standing for Guinea-Bissau, in PAIGC was dropped. Consequently, PAICV (African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde) was formed. In Cape Verde the PAICV (affiliated with the PAIGC) governed until democratic elections, held in 1991, resulted in a change of government. The Movimento para a Democracia (MPD) won that election. The MPD was re-elected in 1996. The PAICV returned to power in 2001, and was re-elected in 2006.