Cabo Verde

by Barry Needoff

What country sits in tropical mid-Atlantic, closer to South America than Europe, was once Portuguese, but is now considered African, and has more 'nationals' living abroad than at home?

The Republic of Cabo Verde. And it's not that green, either.

The Cabo Verde islands lie off the west coast of Africa, on the same latitude as Mauritania and Senegal and take their name from Cap Vert there. There are 10 islands, all but one inhabited, in two groups, one leeward and one windward.

The islands were only settled during the 15th Century, and all the inhabitants can trace their ancestry back to the slaves of west Africa or their European - mostly Portuguese - slavemasters. They settled on the islands, and intermarried with the slaves so creating a mestizo population which remained under Portuguese colonial rule until the 1975, when the island nation became an independent republic.

As the population grew, it looked towards Portugal - and beyond - for trade and education, with the result that there are now more Cabo Verdeans living abroad than at home. As well as Portugal, Cabo Verdeans are to be found in the eastern United States, Italy, France and the Netherlands. There is even reckoned to be a small community in Cardiff, a reflection of the days when the islands were used a mid-Atlantic maritime coaling station.

During the last hectic year I paid a brief visit to Santiago, the principal island in the Cabo Verde archipelago, working with their national airline. It was clear from the moment I stepped off the plane that this was to be a business trip out of the ordinary.

Whilst there wasn't much to see in the way of architecture or monuments, I was truly impressed with the friendliness and generosity of the people I met. Having worked with a senior IT officer from the airline for just two days, he invited me to join his family for a relaxing Sunday.

During that splendid day out, part on the beach and part in the countryside, I was asked if this was my first visit to Africa. But was it really Africa? Geography aside, it might well suit the locals to think so in view of how Cabo Verde's key metrics (GDP per capita, literacy, life expectancy etc.) compare with its African neighbours.

My hosts explained that their culture still owed much to Africa. The staple diet is millet and this forms the mainstay of cachupa, their national dish (a bit like cassoulet). Local pottery is made in an African style, and there is a widely spoken creole which shows traces of west African languages which mixed with Portuguese. Some of my hosts played an African game, which involves moving pebbles round a 'board' comprising two rows of six holes. I must have watched this for an hour and still found it totally impenetrable!

Returning to Cabo Verde later in the autumn, we had time to look around some of the other islands. Whilst most are volcanic, rather barren and mountainous, Sal is flat and sandy, and is the site of the main international airport. The island's principal resort, Sta. Maria, is noted for water sports, and we found a particularly fine bar-restaurant (excellent fresh fish!) with typical local music. This is quite unlike anything I have heard - a mixture of fado, west African and Latin American rhythms, in which guitar and violin play the leading parts.

We saw more of Santiago - again a mountainous and barren interior, with occasional pockets of lush green vegetation given over to intensive agriculture - and a surprisingly good beach at Tarrafal in the north of the island.

Transport between the islands is mostly by air, sometimes using aircraft smaller than the buses at home! Our flight from Santiago was by just such a plane but the advantage was that by the time we had strolled across the tarmac to the terminal building, our luggage was neatly lined up waiting for us. How many times can you say you've seen that on your travels?

Onwards to the other principal island, Sao Vicente. Once again, the island is mountainous and rather lunar in appearance, with stark black hills and sparse vegetation. However, as before, the friendliness and charm of the locals more than made up for this. The main town, Mindelo, is thought by the locals to have a rather English feel to it. I have my doubts about this as the architecture looked distinctly Portuguese-colonial to me. Perhaps the modern development of a department store in the middle of the Pracinha da Igreja and the rusting hulks in the harbour were other, more prosaic, reminders of England?

There was in fact a small English community in the islands and some of the locals have English family names. English as well as French is taught in schools and is reasonably well spoken by the Cabo Verdeans, whose main language is Portuguese.

How best to sum up Cabo Verde and its people? Perhaps by using a creole word of their own which defies translation - morabeza. At simplest, friendliness, but it's more a concept than a mere word, one embracing solidarity, tenderness, pride in homeland and welcoming hospitality - the comforting of strangers.

It may be the right moment to visit. The Cabo Verdean government have begun to define a tourist development policy and the national airline, TACV Cabo Verde Airlines, is extending its route network aggressively into Europe with a view to securing more tourist traffic. There is ample hotel accommodation on the larger islands, and a welcome absence of the worst excesses of tourist development.

Why wait until it's been "discovered"?

First published in VISA issue 32 (spring 1999).