Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde rises out of the Atlantic off the bulge of West Africa as ten volcanic islands, nine of them inhabited, grouped into the windward Barlavento and the leeward Sotavento. Fogo is a single volcano whose cone is the highest point in the country; it erupted in 2014, burying villages on the crater floor of Chã das Caldeiras. Santo Antão is all mountains and ravines, while Sal and Boa Vista are flat and sandy. Rain is scarce, and the harmattan brings Saharan dust.

The islands were empty when Portuguese navigators reached them around 1460. Ribeira Grande, on Santiago, grew rich as a market where enslaved Africans were sold and shipped across the Atlantic; Francis Drake sacked it in 1585. Darwin first stepped ashore from the Beagle on Santiago in January 1832. Droughts brought repeated famines, and islanders left on American whaling ships for New England. Amílcar Cabral, born in Guinea-Bissau to Cape Verdean parents, led the fight against Portuguese rule, and independence came in July 1975.

Morna, a slow song of longing, found its best-loved voice in Cesária Évora of Mindelo, who sang barefoot. On Santiago, funaná is driven by the accordion and a scraped iron bar, and women drum batuku on rolled cloth held between their knees. Cachupa, a stew of hominy, beans and fish or pork, is the national dish; grogue is distilled from cane on Santo Antão. Beach tourism, tuna canning and remittances from emigrants sustain the islands.