Cidade Velha
In the mid-fifteenth century, Portuguese navigators were edging their way along the western coast of Africa and were drawn to the archipelago that lay off Cabo Verde as a place of refuge, repair and repose. Cidade Velha on the island of Santiago grew to be the first European settlement in the tropics. Bartholeme Diaz called here on the expedition that discovered the southernmost tip of the African continent on Christmas Day, 1487. He followed traditional Portuguese practice and named the place after its date of discovery, Natal, and went further in naming the Cape for the Good Hope it gave his fellow countrymen for future prosperity. Ten years later, Vasco da Gama called by on his expedition around the Cape of Good Hope to Mombassa and on to landfall in western India at Calicut. In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral followed the trade winds far to the west of the Cape Verde islands and discovered Brazil before making a volta to cross back past the Cape to India. When he returned to Lisbon, with a cargo of spices bought at rock bottom prices, the King of Portugal knew that the Venetian monopoly on the spice trade had been broken and that his country was about to embark on a glorious new chapter in its history.
Our expedition brought us to a charming old colonial town, a short bus ride away from our port of call at Praia, the capital of the archipelago since 1858. Much has happened here since the first flush of Portuguese discovery. Other maritime powers, jealous of Portuguese success, have left their visiting cards: the Englishman, Francis Drake, attacked Cidade Velha in 1585; the Frenchman, Jacques Cassart, did likewise in 1712. The city protected itself with the massive fort that we inspected at the start of our tour. In the eighteenth century, the city was a holding place for African slaves before they were transported to the New World on the notorious Middle Passage. The public square in the old city still has the pillory as its focus. Today, a Sunday, the local population of a newly independent country relaxed with music drinks beside the azure sea, proud citizens with a unique history at ease in the world.
In the mid-fifteenth century, Portuguese navigators were edging their way along the western coast of Africa and were drawn to the archipelago that lay off Cabo Verde as a place of refuge, repair and repose. Cidade Velha on the island of Santiago grew to be the first European settlement in the tropics. Bartholeme Diaz called here on the expedition that discovered the southernmost tip of the African continent on Christmas Day, 1487. He followed traditional Portuguese practice and named the place after its date of discovery, Natal, and went further in naming the Cape for the Good Hope it gave his fellow countrymen for future prosperity. Ten years later, Vasco da Gama called by on his expedition around the Cape of Good Hope to Mombassa and on to landfall in western India at Calicut. In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral followed the trade winds far to the west of the Cape Verde islands and discovered Brazil before making a volta to cross back past the Cape to India. When he returned to Lisbon, with a cargo of spices bought at rock bottom prices, the King of Portugal knew that the Venetian monopoly on the spice trade had been broken and that his country was about to embark on a glorious new chapter in its history.
Our expedition brought us to a charming old colonial town, a short bus ride away from our port of call at Praia, the capital of the archipelago since 1858. Much has happened here since the first flush of Portuguese discovery. Other maritime powers, jealous of Portuguese success, have left their visiting cards: the Englishman, Francis Drake, attacked Cidade Velha in 1585; the Frenchman, Jacques Cassart, did likewise in 1712. The city protected itself with the massive fort that we inspected at the start of our tour. In the eighteenth century, the city was a holding place for African slaves before they were transported to the New World on the notorious Middle Passage. The public square in the old city still has the pillory as its focus. Today, a Sunday, the local population of a newly independent country relaxed with music drinks beside the azure sea, proud citizens with a unique history at ease in the world.
