Portuguese Cape Verde Algiers between the Portuguese government and the PAIGC, recognising the independence of Guinea-Bissau and the right to independence of Cape Verde. On 5 July 1975, at Praia, Portugal's Prime Minister Vasco Goncalves turned over power to National Assembly President Abilio Duarte, and Cape Verde became independent. Portuguese Cape Verde Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975. The islands of Cape Verde were discovered between 1460 and 1462 by Portuguese and Genoese sailors in the service of the Portuguese Crown.
Cape Verde–European Union relations African, whereas about 1% is of unmixed European descent. Because of this, Cape Verdeans find it hard to define themselves as either mixed or Africans. They regard themselves as either "both" or as "unique Cape Verdeans". Politically, Cape Verdeans also worked as part of the Portuguese administration, with independence leader Amílcar Cabral being part of the colonial administration in Guinea-Bissau and Angola. Cape Verde is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), an African regional bloc with aims for internal integration similar to those of the EU, and even though it has not yet participated in