Cape Verde when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands, establishing the first European settlement in the tropics. Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration. Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for shipping routes. Incorporated as an overseas department of Portugal in 1951, the islands continued to campaign for independence, which was peacefully achieved in 1975. Since the early 1990s, Cape Verde has been a stable representative democracy,
Prostitution in Cape Verde transport, host, or receive children younger than 16 years of age or promote the conditions for sexual acts or prostitution in a foreign country with two to eight years' imprisonment. The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Cape Verde as a 'Tier 2' country. Prostitution in Cape Verde Prostitution in Cape Verde is legal and commonplace. There are no prostitution laws on the islands except for those concerning trafficking and child prostitution. UNAIDS estimate there are 1,400 prostitutes in Cape Verde, many were from Ghana and Senegal before being expelled by the