The Impact of the American Slave Trade upon Cape Verde and its People
In 1991, Pope John Paul II made the journey to West Africa and Cape Verde, in order to personally apologize for the slave trade as it existed prior to 1863. This was a fitting location from which to profess his apologies, as Cape Verde itself had actually become a central focus of the slave trade during that period in time. Cape Verde is a region of the world with a very interesting, and often sad history. The islands have the unfortunate luck of geography, having been positioned on the great trade routes between Africa, Europe, and the New World, leading to their use as a prosperous center for the American slave trade. This unfortunate positioning, however, also led to the large numbers of Cape Verdean immigrants in the United States, where today, they make a significant contribution to the economy, politics, and most importantly, the cultural make-up of what was once known only as the New World.
Cape Verde is an archipelago made up of nine small islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Along the south are Brava, Fogo, Sau Tiago, and Maio; the northern islands are Santo Antao, Sau Vicente, Sao Nicolau, Sal, and Boa Vista. The Capital, Praia is located on the Southern island of Sau Tiago. "Each island has a unique history and divergent cultural patterns. For example, the creole spoken on the northern islands of Sao Vicente, Santo Antao, Sao Nicolau, Boa Vista and Sal Rei differs markedly from that spoken in Sao Tiago, Fogo, Brava and Maio in the south, according to Cape Verdeans."
Uninhabited upon their discovery in 1456, the Cape Verde islands became part of the Portuguese empire in 1495. A majority of today's inhabitants are of mixed Portuguese and African ancestry. Positioned on the great trade routes between Africa, Europe, and the New World, Cape Verde quickly became a prosperous center for the slave trade.
Fogo and Brava islands have the distinction of s...