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Cape Verde.
Cape Verde
Culture:
Cape Verdean social and cultural patterns are similar to those of rural Portugal. Football (Futebol) games and church activities are typical sources of social interaction and entertainment. The traditional walk around the praça (town square) to meet friends is practised regularly in Cape Verde towns. The culture of Cape Verda is of European and African origin.
Cuisine:
The cuisine of Cape Verde is a West African cuisine largely influenced by Portuguese, Southern and Western European and West African cuisine. Cape Verde was a colony of Portugal from its colonization until 1975. Because the archipelago is inside the Atlantic Ocean, fish is very important in Capeverdean cooking.
One of the most important aspects of Cape Verdean culture is the beverage grogue, a strong rum made from distilled sugar cane on the islands of Santo Antao and Santiago. The beverage is made in towns such as Paul on Santo Antao and Cidade Velha on Santiago using a trapiche. A variation of the drink is ponche (punch) which is sweeted with condensed milk or sugarcane molasses. Due to the intoxication on consuming grogue, it is consumed by many Cape Verdean musicians seeking inspiration.
Milho (corn) and feilao (beans) are staples of Cape Verdean cuisine. Also popular are arroz (rice), batatas fritas (fried potatoes), mandioca (cassava), and vegetables such as cenoura (carrots), couve (kale), abobora (squash) and fish and meat such as atum (tuna), serra (sawfish), lagosta (lobster), frango (chicken), porco (grilled pork) and ovos (eggs). One legacy of the Portuguese on the islands is olives and Alentejo wines which are still imported. One type of Cape Verdean stew is a cachupa which includes mashed maize, onions, green bananas, manioc, sweet potatoes, squash and yams.
Cachupa, a stew is considered the national dish of Cape Verde which includes mashed maize, onions, green bananas, manioc, sweet potatoes, squash and yams . Manioc balls are one of the most common in Cape Verde.
In December 2002, the Cape Verdean government prohibited the killing of turtles by law, per their participation in the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1995 e a Convenção sobre Comercio Internacional de Espécies de Fauna e Flora Selvagem Ameaçadas de Extinção (CITES). The dish once popular on Santiago Island named turtle steak slowly no longer consumed. Strela is Cape Verde's most popular beer who started production in 2006, it superseded Portuguese beers including Super Bock and Sagres (in 2009).
Music:
Cape Verde is known internationally for Morna, a form of folk music usually sung in the Cape Verdean Creole, accompanied by clarinet, violin, guitar and cavaquinho. The islands also feature native genres such as funaná, batuque, coladeira, and mazurka. Cesária Évora is perhaps the best internationally known practitioner of morna. One of Cape Verde's most famous stars, on her passing, one Cape Verdean restaurateur stated that she was "more important than our flag"
Cape Verde is an island archipelago that was uninhabited until the Portuguese arrived in 1462. The sailors brought with them African slaves, and the islands' population became mixed with elements of both races. Climate conditions made the islands inhospitable, and the Portuguese governments mostly ignored the inhabitants and the frequent droughts and famines that wracked the islands periodically. As a result, there are now more Cape Verdeans abroad than at home, and sizable communities exist in New England, Portugal, Wales, Senegal, Italy, France and the Netherlands.
Ethnic Racial Composition:
* 71% Mulatto
* 28% Black
* 1% White
People:
The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited when the Portuguese discovered it in 1456. Slaves from adjacent West Africa were brought to the islands to work on Portuguese plantations. As a result, many Cape Verdeans are mulattoes (mestiços in Portuguese), having biracial origins. European ancestors also include Spanish and Italian seamen who were granted land by the Portuguese Empire, followed by Portuguese settlers, exiles, and Portuguese Jews who were victims of the Inquisition. Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled in Cape Verde as their permanent country. Most of them were Dutch, French, British (English), Arab and Jewish (from Lebanon and Morocco).
A genetic study revealed that the ancestry of the population in Cape Verde is predominantly European in the male line and West African in the female line; counted together the percentage is 56% West African and 44% European.
Languages:
Portuguese & Cape Verdean Creole are the two official languages of Cape Verde. Cape Verdean Creole is spoken by everyone and it is the language spoken locally. Cape Verdean Creole is a Portuguese based dialect that comes from the Portuguese spoken in central and southern Portugal with influences from West African languages, especially by those of present day Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Western Sahara, Morocco, and Liberia.
Religion:
Around 95% of the population are Christian. More than 85% of the population was nominally Roman Catholic in 2007. For a minority of the population, Catholicism is syncretized with African influences.
The largest Protestant denomination is the Church of the Nazarene; other groups include the Seventh-day Adventist Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Assemblies of God, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, and other Pentecostal and evangelical groups. There is a small Muslim community. There were Jewish settlements on several islands. The number of atheists is estimated at less than 1% of the population.
Sports:
The country's most successful sports team is the Cape Verde national basketball team, which won the bronze medal at the FIBA Africa Championship 2007, after beating Egypt in its last game. The country's most well-known player is Walter Tavares, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA.
Cape Verde is famous for wave sailing (a type of windsurfing) and kiteboarding. Josh Angulo, a Hawaiian and 2009 PWA Wave World Champion, has done much to promote the archipelago as a windsurfing destination. Cape Verde is now his adopted country. Mitu Monteiro, a local kitesurfer, was the 2008 Kite Surfing World Champion in the wave discipline.
Cape Verdean videos:
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Originally Posted by Sikeliot
South Africa
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