James Baquet

    Quick: Of which country is Praia the capital? Right, I didn’t know, either. Turns out, it’s Cape Verde, more properly known now by its Portuguese name, Cabo Verde, or “Green Cape.”

    Although it’s really a tiny 10-island archipelago (ranking number 166 of 196 countries of the world in size) off the west coast of Africa, it’s actually named after a peninsula on the African mainland. That feature, most properly called “Cap-Vert,” is in Senegal; the capital of that country, Dakar, is located there. It is the westernmost point, not only of the African continent, but of the entire Old World mainland, meaning it’s farther west than any point in, say, Ireland or Portugal.

    Back to the island nation: Along with the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira and the Savage Isles, Cape Verde is part of the Macaronesia ecoregion, the name of which reflects in Greek the ancient designation of these islands as “the Islands of the Blessed” (perhaps in turn reflecting the idea that souls traveled westward to a semi-legendary land after death).

    Cape Verde is 560 kilometers west of Cap-Vert, and was long a Portuguese colony, until it peacefully gained independence in 1975. Thus, Portuguese is its official language, though Cape Verdean Creole (made up of Portuguese and various West African languages) is a recognized national language.

    The history of Cape Verde’s settlement is both positive and negative. The positive side is that it was uninhabited before the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century, meaning no native peoples were conquered or displaced. The negative side is that it was set up as a way station in the trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves. When that trade was abolished, the islands suffered economic decline. Today, more Cape Verdeans live outside of the country than in it.

    The nation’s economy is based largely on service. It is a stopover on shipping routes, and focuses on tourism and foreign investment. Despite its lack of natural resources, it is one of the most developed countries in Africa.

    Vocabulary: 

    Which word above means:

    1. perhaps real, perhaps imaginary

    2, 3. brief stop on a longer journey (two examples)

    4. supposed non-physical parts of people

    5. chain of islands

    6. reduction, slowdown

    7. ecologically defined area, smaller than a bioregion or ecosystem

    8. moved out of one’s home

    9. not lived in, deserted

    10. forests, mineral deposits, etc.