 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c.500,000–850,000 Cape Verdean ancestry and citizenship worldwide | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Cape Verde491,875(2010)[1] | |
 Portugal | 260,000[2][3] |
 Argentina | 35,000[4][5] |
 United States | 30,000[6] |
 Senegal | 25,000 (1995)[citation needed] |
 Netherlands | 21,218(2011)[7] |
 France | 21,000(1995)[8] |
 Spain | 10,000[2][9] |
 Italy | 10,000 (1999)[10] |
 Angola | 9,400[11] |
 Mozambique | 6,843[11] |
 Cuba | 6,000[citation needed] |
 Mexico | 5,000[citation needed] |
 Brazil | 4,831(2024)[12] |
 Canada | 4,000(1999)[13] |
 Germany | 3,500(1995)[14] |
 Luxembourg | 2,562(2021)[15] |
 São Tomé and Príncipe | 1,237[11] |
 Uruguay | 1,000[citation needed] |
 Venezuela | 1,000[citation needed] |
| Languages | |
| Cape Verdean Creole,Portuguese | |
| Religion | |
| PredominantlyRoman Catholicism Protestantism,Irreligion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| •West Africans mainly:Wolof people,Serer people,Mandinka people,Biafada people,Papel people•Europeans mainlyPortuguese people | |
Cape Verdeans, also calledCabo Verdeans (Portuguese:cabo-verdiano), are a people native toCape Verde, anisland nation inWest Africa consisting of an archipelago in the centralAtlantic Ocean. Cape Verde is a multi-ethnic society.
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TheCape Verdearchipelago was uninhabited when thePortuguese landed there in 1456. Africans from the main lands were brought to the islands to work on Portuguese plantations. As a result, many Cape Verdeans have a multi-ethnic ancestry. The last time racial groups were counted in Cape Verde was in the 1950 census.
Italian seamen who were granted land by thePortuguese Empire, were followed by Portuguese settlers, exiles, andPortuguese Jews (lançados) who were victims of theInquisition. Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled in Cape Verde as their permanent country. Most of them wereDutch,French,British,Spanish, or theEnglish, as well as some MENA population and Jews (fromLebanon andMorocco).
The most important ethnic roots for Cape Verde based on historically known presence, cultural retention and ancestral connections are those of theMandinga,Wolof,Biafada,Papel andBainouk ethnicities, while the remaining suspected ethnicities will show much variation in actual contributions to Cape Verde's ethnogenesis. But for each of them there is some kind of historical testimony to their presence in Cape Verde, which are theFula,Sereer,Diola, Cassanga,Basari/Tenda,Balanta, Bijagos,Nalu,Cocoli,Baga,Susu,Jallonké,Bambara andSape.
Prior to independence in 1975, many thousands of people emigrated from drought-strickenPortuguese Cape Verde, formerly anoverseas province of Portugal. Because these people arrived using their Portuguese passports, they were registered asPortuguese immigrants by the authorities. Today, more Cape Verdeans live abroad than in Cape Verde itself, with significant emigrant[16] Cape Verdean communities in Brazil and in the United States (102,000 of Cape Verdeans descent in the U.S., with a major concentration on theNew England coast fromProvidence, Rhode Island, toNew Bedford, Massachusetts).
In 2008, Portugal's National Statistics Institute estimated that there were 68,145 Cape Verdeans who legally resided in Portugal. This made up "15.7% of all foreign nationals living legally in the country."[2]
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Cape Verde's official language isPortuguese. It is the language of instruction and government.[citation needed]
Cape Verdean Creole is used colloquially, and is the mother tongue of virtually all Cape Verdeans. Cape Verdean Creole orKriolu is a Portuguese-basedcreole, on adialect continuum, that came fromGuinea-Bissau Creole.[citation needed] There is a substantial body of literature in Creole, especially in theSantiago Creole and theSão Vicente Creole. Creole has been gaining prestige since the nation's independence from Portugal.[citation needed]
More than 80% of the population ofCape Verde is nominallyRoman Catholic, according to an informal poll taken by local churches.[18] About 5% of the population is Protestant.[19] The largestProtestant denomination is theChurch of the Nazarene.[18]
Other religious groups include theSeventh-day Adventist Church,the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, theAssemblies of God, theUniversal Church of the Kingdom of God, theNew Apostolic Church, and various otherPentecostal andevangelical groups.[18] There are also smallBaháʼí communities and a smallMuslim community.[18] The number ofatheists is estimated at less than 1 percent of the population.[18]
Theculture of Cape Verde reflects its mixed West African (Badiu) and Portuguese roots. It is well known for its diverse forms of music such asMorna, and a wide variety of dances: the soft danceMorna, theFunaná, the extreme sensuality ofcoladeira, and theBatuque dance. These are reflective of the diverse origins of Cape Verde's residents. The term "Criolo", or also "Kriolu"[20] is used to refer to residents as well as the culture of Cape Verde.
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