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Cape Verde
built 192 days ago
Most inhabitants of Cape Verde are mestiços, descendants of enslaved black Africans and white Portuguese settlers. Mestiços’ European ancestors ... include Spanish and Italian seamen who were granted land by Portuguese Empire and followed by Portuguese settlers and exiles and Portuguese Jews who were victims of the Inquisition. The remainder includes mostly black Africans or Europeans (most Portuguese stepped out of the country after independence). Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled Cape Verde as their permanent country. Most of them were Dutch, French, British ( English), Arabs and Jews (from Lebanon and Morocco), Chinese (especially from Macau), Americans, and Brazilians (including people of Portuguese and African descent) settlers. All of these have been absorbed into the mestiço population.
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One of Cape Verde's main riches is the sea, due to its very abundant maritime fauna, the underwater platforms and the purity and temperature of the water that varies between 21° to 25°. Among the many permanent species of fish there is the dory, the sawfish, the victor fish, the moray and the grouper. There are ... many migratory species such as the tuna, dolphins, whales, sperm whales and killer whales. But it is for its abundant and varied shellfish that the seas of Cape Verde are often visited.
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![[Country Map]](http://retrieverimages.lycos.com/images/c/a/p/cape-verde/i/019.jpg)
In January 2006, Cape Verde held a successful round of parliamentary elections, followed by successful presidential elections on February 12, 2006. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) judged both elections free and fair. The leading parliamentary opposition party filed a court case in an attempt to overrule the NEC on the grounds of alleged fraud; this action ultimately failed. Three parties now hold seats in the National Assembly--PAICV 40, MPD 30, and Cape Verdean Independent Democratic Union (UCID) 2. Municipal elections will be held in May 2008.
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The culture of Cape Verde reflects its mixed African and Portuguese roots. It is well known for its diverse forms of music such as Morna (like the Portuguese Fado) and the urban Angolan kizomba, and a wide variety of dances: the soft dance Morna, and its modernized version, pasada, the Funana - a sensual mixed Portuguese and African dance, the extreme sensuality of coladeira (literally "glued"), and the African Batuque dance. These are reflective of the diverse origins of Cape Verde's residents. The term "Cabo" is used to refer to residents as well as the culture of Cape Verde.
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A promontory nicknamed Cape Verde can be seen jutting out from the walls of Victoria Crater in this false-color image taken by the panoramic camera on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The rover took this picture on Martian day, or sol, 1329 (Oct. 20, 2007), more than a month after it began descending down the crater walls — and just 9 sols shy of its second Martian birthday on sol 1338 (Oct. 29, 2007). Opportunity landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 25, 2004. That’s nearly four years ago on Earth, but only two on Mars because Mars takes longer to travel around the sun than Earth.
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Although the nationalist movement appeared less fervent in Cape Verde than in Portugal’s other African holdings, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) was founded in 1956 and many Cape Verdeans fought for independence in Guinea-Bissau. After the fall (Apr., 1974) of the Caetano regime in Portugal, widespread unrest forced the government to negotiate with the PAIGC, and independence for Guinea-Bissau (Sept., 1974) and Cape Verde (July, 1975) soon followed. Although the PAIGC was the sole legal party in both nations, a movement to unite the two was hindered by Cape Verde’s nationalism and geographic remoteness. Plans for unity came to an abrupt end in 1980 after Guinea-Bissau’s government (which was mostly Cape Verdean) was overthrown in a coup.
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Cape Verde