Cape Verde Facts for Kids

Cape Verde is a sovereign nation located on a volcanic archipelago off the western coast of Africa, the archipelago includes 10 islands and 5 islets.
The country was discovered by Portuguese mariners in the year 1456, who found the islands uninhabited but fertile enough to attract the first group of settlers.
Cape Verdeans are of European and African origin this is due to the fact that slaves were brought to the islands to work on Portuguese plantations.
The official name of the country is the Republic of Cabo Verde.

The country’s neighbour are Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania.
The country gained its independence from Portugal in 1975.
With a surface area of 4,033 km² Cape Verde is one of the smallest countries in Africa, and the 166th largest country in the world.
The capital and the largest city of Cape Verde is Praia. The capital city is located on the southern coast of Santiago island and is home to one of the country’s international airports.

The tallest mountain in Cape Verde is the Pico do Fogo it stands at 9,281 feet above sea level and lies on the island of family. The mountain is an active stratovolcano, It last erupted in the year 2014.
The official language of government and instruction in Cape Verde is Potugese, although Cape Verdean Creole also known as kabuverdianu is spoken throughout the country although dialects may differ.
The eminent scientist and Chief proponent of the theory of evolution Charles Darwin studied flora and fauna in Cape Verde in 1832.
According to 2018 estimates the population of Cape Verde is 539,698 with 49.6% of the total population being male and 50.4% being female.
Cape Verde is a predominantly Christian country with Christianity constituting 89.1% of the population, 9.1% of the population consider themselves as having no religion affiliation, 1.5% professes Hinduism, 0.2 professes Buddhism and 0.1 professes Islam.
Cape Verde is one of the few African countries with a stable representative democracy, its democracy has not been interrupted since the early 1990s.
Some of the most beautiful beaches in the world can be found in Cape Verde. The beaches presents a spectacular and diverse view of surroundings, landscapes, and environments.
The islands that make up the Cape Verde archipelago are divided into two groups:The Barlavento Islands which comprises of the islands of Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Sal, and Boa Vista. The Sotavento Islands which comprises of Maio, Santiago, Fogo, Brava. Santiago is the archipelago’s largest island, both in size and population.
Cape Verde has very few natural and Mineral resources. Some of the mineral resources found in the country are salt, pozzolan, and limestone.
Cape Verde suffers from low rain fall making the country prone to drought, about 75% of the country’s food consumption are imported. This has however not stopped the country from experiencing economic growth the country was promoted to the group of “medium development” countries in 2007, leaving the least developed countries category, the country is currently the 10th best ranked country in Africa in its Human Development Index.
Cape Verde is home to The Pedra de Lume crater which is an extinct volcano listed to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, but never became one but remains in the tentative list. The area features salt evaporation ponds built over a natural salt lake that formed through infiltration of water from the sea.
According to an October 2016 report, there are 69 secondary schools throughout the country 19 of which are private secondary schools, the country also boast of at least 10 universities which are based on the two islands of Santiago and São Vicente.
There are more Cape Verdeans citizens abroad than the home country.
An archipelago is a group or collection of islands, it is also referred to as a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. The word “archipelago” is derived from two Greek words, arkhi which means “Chief” and pelagos which means “sea”.
Archipelago was used in medieval times to refer to the islands on the Aegean Sea but in modern times the word later became associated with a collection of islands.
There are many archipelago scattered across the earth, some of the well-known are Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Maldives, the British Isles, the Bahamas, Greece, the Florida Keys, Hawaii, the Polynesian islands, the Canary Islands, the Madeira, the Azores, and Cape Verde. For this purpose we shall shed more light on Cape Verde.