Cape Verde

Named for the Cap Vert peninsula in West Africa, adjacent to the nation of Guinea-Bissau, the archipelago that makes up the nation of Cape Verde houses a majority Roman Catholic populace. Nine of the 10 islands under the nation's banner are inhabited, mostly by a mixed creole population, and the Portuguese legacy of the first inhabitants of the islands remains in the official language of the country. Between 85% and 95% of the population is at least nominally Catholic, although many are nonpracticing and many others engage in syncretic practices within the church. The largest Protestant Christian denomination is the Church of the Nazarene, and other groups active in Cape Verde include the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, the Assemblies of God, and smaller evangelical churches. There are also a small Baha'i community and a small but growing Muslim community, but no reliable statistics on membership existed at the time of this entry. There are also some who practice traditional African religions exclusively, especially on the island of São Tiago.

The islands of the country were uninhabited when the Portuguese landed in 1460, and the region soon became important as a slave trade post between the African continent and the New World. Some of the slaves were kept on the island plantations (known as latifundas), but nearly the entire area was deserted after the French assaulted the islands in 1712. Settlers would reinhabit the archipelago soon after, but the land lost much of its economic value with the decline of the slave trade only to regain some wealth in the 19th century as a stop on the global trade routes. Cape Verde became an overseas territory of Portugal in 1961 and became fully independent after Guinea-Bissau's war for freedom in 1975. Some pushed for incorporation with Guinea-Bissau following independence, and the Catholic Church originally stood in opposition to the ruling Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV). Due in part to conflict within the Movement for Democracy Party, which originally enjoyed the support of the Church, many Catholics have now begun to back the PAICV.

Identity in Cape Verde is determined largely by geographic location. An individual's identity is linked to his or her island of origin, and speaking generally, the northern islands (barlavento) are influenced more by their Portuguese heritage while the southern islands (sotavento) identify with Africa. There is also a large diasporic population, and it is estimated that the population of Cape Verdeans in the United States rivals the total number of people in the islands themselves. The number of people claiming adherence to Catholicism notwithstanding, church weddings are rare in Cape Verde, and traditional systems of life still dominate. There is a de jure separation between church and state, but the Catholic Church enjoys a preferential standing with the government that stops short of claiming it as a state church. Religious organizations must register with the country's Ministry of Justice before engaging in any activities, and legal penalties exist for any violations of a Cape Verdean's free exercise of religion. Admitted to the United Nations the year of its independence, the small nation now has membership in the G-77 and the World Trade Organization.

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