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,
Bank of Cape Verde Bank of Cape Verde The Bank of Cape Verde () is Cape Verde's central bank. Its headquarter is located on Avenida Amílcar Cabral, in the national capital of Praia on the island of Santiago. Its current governor is João António Pinto Coelho Serra, who is in office since December 2014. The government established the Bank of Cape Verde in 1975, as a bank that combined commercial banking and central banking functions. The government created the bank by nationalizing the operations of the Portuguese colonial and overseas bank, Banco Nacional Ultramarino, which had established its first branch in Cape Verde in