Cape Verde and Cape Verdean Coins

A-Z Countries Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

We Want To Buy Coins of Cape Verde

Portuguese Colonisation
The Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited when they were first discovered by the Portuguese in 1456. The islands became prosperous as a stopping off point for ships involved in the slave trade, but this prosperity dropped off rapidly from the early 19th Century onwards as the slave trade was abolished by Britain in 1807, who then used the Royal Navy to suppress the trade. Its excellent natural harbour meant that it did retain some usefulness as a stopover port for passing ships, as well as support a local fishing industry. However, its economy was largely neglected, and agitation for independence from Portugal continued to grow in the 20th Century.

Independence
Cape Verde’s status was changed from Colony to Portuguese province in 1951, however this did little to satisfy local feeling, and in 1956, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (or Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, or PAIGC) was founded in 1956 to campaign for independence in Cape Verde and Nearby Portugese Guinea. After a series of brutal crackdowns by the Portugese authorities on PAIGC sympathisers and local civilians, PAIGC adopted a more violent strategy.
The brutal war for independence was largely confined to Portugese Guinea, as the Portugese wer better able to deny supplies to local guerillas in the isolated archiepelago, however The Cape Verdean Amílcar Cabral was a prominent leader of the united struggle for the independence of both colonies during the 1960s and early 1970s.
The war continued until 1974, when the Carnation Revolution brought down the Estado Novo regime in Portugal, following which the new Portuguese Government moved rapidly to decolonise. Cape Verde thus gained its independence in 1975.

Post-Independence
Amílcar Cabral was assassinated in 1973 by a disgruntled former colleague. His brother Luis had taken over as leader of the PAIGC and became the first president of independent Guinea-Bissau. A union between the two former colonies was mooted until 1980, when Luis Cabral was overthrown in a coup. The Cape Verde branch of PAIGC broke off from its mainland equivalent to form the PAICV. Cape Verde was then ruled as a one-part state until 1990, when multi-party politics were introduced.

Cape Verdean Coins
The first coins used in Cape Verde were Portugese. Cape Verde replaced the Cape Verdese Real with the Cape Verdean Escudo, 3 years after Portugal had replaced its own Real with the Escudo. The Cape Verdean Escudo was retained after independence, but the link with the Portuguese Escudo was severed and the currency depreciated considerably.
Under the Escudo system, the $ sign is placed after the amount in Escudo.
Today, coins of 1$00, 5$00, 10$00, 20$00, 50$00, 100$00 are issued. Although coins of 20 and 50 centavos were issued originally, the centavo subunit only now exists in theory due to inflation.

For Sale and Wanted
If you are interested in coins from Cape Verde please see our product index:-
Cape Verdean Coins

Gold Coins
We also have gold coins from Cape Verde on our taxfreegold website:-
Cape Verdean Gold Coins