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.
History of Cape Verde 1956, Amílcar and Luís Cabral founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.) Although the Cape Verdeans were treated badly by their colonial masters, Portuguese treatment of Cape Verdeans was distinct from their treatment of other colonized regions, and the people of Cape Verde fared slightly better than Africans in other Portuguese colonies because of their lighter skin. A small minority received an education and Cape Verde was the first African-Portuguese colony to have a school for higher education. By the time of independence, a quarter of the population could read, compared to 5% in Portuguese