Monday, December 10, 2012

Country Profiles: Cape Verde

Cape Verde is located in Africa.
The uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th century; Cape Verde subsequently became a trading center for African slaves and later an important coaling and resupply stop for whaling and transatlantic shipping. Following independence in 1975, and a tentative interest in unification with Guinea-Bissau, a one-party system was established and maintained until multi-party elections were held in 1990. Cape Verde continues to exhibit one of Africa's most stable democratic governments. Repeated droughts during the second half of the 20th century caused significant hardship and prompted heavy emigration. As a result, Cape Verde's expatriate population is greater than its domestic one. Most Cape Verdeans have both African and Portuguese antecedents.
CIA World Factbook
With an area of 4,033 sq km, it is slightly larger than the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

Cape Verde is a group of islands surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean. It is mostly steep, rugged, rocky, and volcanic.



People who live in Cape Verde are called Cape Verdeans, which is also an adjective used to describe something from this country. As of July 2012, there are 523,568 people in Cape Verde. The ethnic groups that reside in Cape Verde are mostly Creole (71%) with some African (28%) and European (1%). Portuguese is the official language, but Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words) is also spoken there. The main religions of Cape Verde are Roman Catholicism (infused with indigenous beliefs) and Protestantism (mostly Church of the Nazarene).

The country's official name is Republic of Cape Verde (or Republica de Cabo Verde). The capital is Praia, and the country is made up of 17 municipalities. Though Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal on July 5, 1975, a constitution was not drafted until September 25, 1992. The constitution can be found here (in Portuguese) through Constitution Finder. The current president is Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca. Information about the leaders of Cape Verde's government can be found here. The currency is the Cape Verdean escudos(abbreviated CVE), which stands at 79.323 CVE per USD as of 2011.



All of this information was gathered from the CIA World Factbook. For more information, check out these resources...

Cape Verde Government Site (in Portuguese)

Cape Verde, CIA World Factbook

Background Notes: Cape Verde, U.S. Department of State

2011 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Cape Verde, U.S. Department of State.

You can also check out the Country Studies tab on our Fed Docs libguide here for more resources on all of the countries.




Sonnet Ireland
Head of Federal Documents
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Subject Specialist: Legal Research
Planning and Urban Studies
Political Science

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