History:  

Uncorroborated evidence suggests that the Romans and the Carthaginians knew of the islands. It is also said that Arab sailors may have landed on the as-yet uninhabited islands in the 12th century.

Portuguese explorers discovered Cape Verde in 1460, at the beginning of the voyages of discovery. Two years afterwards, the islands were already inhabited by a mixed-race population, which developed its own richly influenced culture.

Europeans and slaves from the African coasts came together as a single population; they maintained their individual lifestyles but all spoke the Creole dialect, which became the unifying feature of this new nation.
So the African pestle exists side by side with the European grindstone, and the African tambourine with the popular Portuguese triangle.

From early on in their history, the Cape Verde people gained their
racially mixed identity – 80% of the population is mixed race, 7% is black and 3% is white. Cape Verde gradually established itself as a nation, a move, which was accompanied by the growing desire for a new political identity; after a lengthy struggle, it was granted national independence on 5 July 1975. The country’s multi-party government, together with all modern democratic institutions, were definitively established on 13 January 1991.

Today, Cape Verde is a country whose future seems characterised by safety, stability and social harmony; furthermore, if compared to other African countries, it boasts an enviable health and education system and a good standard of living (it is placed fourth in Africa).