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| In 15th Century the island of Cape Verde was discovered and colonized by the Portuguese and attained independence in 1975. |
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| Geography |
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The Republic of Cape Verde is a republic situated on an archipelago in the Macronesia ecoregion of the North Atlantic Ocean, off the western coast of Africa. It is located in the Western Africa, towards the west of Senegal. It has a coastal lines stretching upto 965 km. It claims a territorial sea of 12 nm, contiguous zone of 24 nm and an exclusive economic zone of 200 nm which is measured from claimed archipelagic baselines.
The geographical terrains are steep, rugged, rocky and volcanic. The lowest point in the island is the Atlantic Ocean and the highest point is highest poin is Mt. Fogo at 2,829 m it is a volcano on Fogo Island.
The climate is temperate with warm and dry summer. The precipitation is meager and very erratic.
The natural resources to be found in the island are salt, basalt rock, limestone, kaolin, fish, clay and gypsum.
Cape Verde has 11.41% of arable land, 0.74% permanent crops and about 87.85% for other use
The island faces prolonged droughts and seasonal harmattan wind that produces obscuring dust. The island is volcanically and seismically active as well.
People
The inhabitants of Cape Verde are a genetic blend of Sub-Saharan Africans and Europeans, the Africans basically the slaves and hailing mostly from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. The European ancestors include Portuguese settlers and exiles, Portuguese Jews who were victims of the Inquisition, and Spanish and Italian seamen who were given land by the Portuguese Empire. Many foreigners from different parts of the world settled here as their permanent country, most of them were Dutch, British, French, Arabs and Jews from Lebanon and Morocco, Chinese especially from Macau, American and Brazilians including the African and Portuguese descen.
The total population is about 426,998. The majority is Creole i.e. the mulatto with 71%, African with 28% and European with 1%. Majority of the population are Roman Catholic infused with indigenous beliefs and Protestant, mostly Church of the Nazarene. There are Buddhist and Muslim minority existing as well. The languages used by the inhabitants are Portuguese and Crioulo which is basically a blend of Portuguese and west African words. The Cape Verdean culture reflects its mixed African and Portuguese roots.
Cape Verde is ranked 5th best country in Africa in terms of Human Development Index.
Government
The political framework followed by the Cape Verean is republic form. The president is the chief of the state and Prime Minister the head of the government. The Council of Ministers are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term and eligible for a second term.
It is administratively divided into 17 municipalities Boa Vista, Brava, Maio, Mosteiros, Paul, Praia, Porto Novo, Ribeira Grande, Sal, Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz, Sao Domingos, Sao Filipe, Sao Miguel, Sao Nicolau, Sao Vicente and Tarrafal.
Capital: Praia
Independence day: 5 July 1975
President Pedro Verona Pires
Prime Minister Jose Maria Pereira Neves
Economy
Cape Verde has been steadily developing since its independence, and besides having been promoted to the group of "medium development" countries in 2007, leaving the Least Developed Countries category. Although the island economy suffers from a poor natural resource, including serious water shortages exacerbated by cycles of long-term drought. The economy is service-oriented, with commerce, tourism, transport, and public services accounting upto 66% of GDP. Almost 70% of the population lives in rural areas, the share of food production in GDP is low. About 82% of food has to be imported. The potential for fishing potential, chiefly lobster and tuna, is not fully explored.
The chief agricultural products are bananas, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, coffee, peanuts and fish. The major industrial products and services are food and beverages, fish processing, shoes and garments, salt mining and ship repair. |
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