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1502 Santo Domingo, Island of Hispanola, West Indies. The
first enslaved Africans arrive in the New World.
1513 Official census records for the population of Vila de
Ribeira Grande only fifty years after settlement begin to reflect the
shape of Cape Verde's future demography: 162 residents includes
58 "whites," 12 priests, 16 "free blacks," soldiers and
Portuguese convicts and approximately 13,000 slaves. Between
1513-1515 a total of 2,966 captives were brought to
Santiago by 29 vessels. Many were taken to Portugal, others sold
to Spanish ships enroute to the Canaries or the West Indies.
1520 There were twenty-two ordained Luso-African priests in
Ribeira Grande, many of whom would be sent to do missionary work in
Brazil.
1533 Vila de Ribeira Grande is elevated to the status of a city.
A regional diocese based in Cape Verde is established by Papal
decree.
1536 Introduction of the Holy Inquisition and the Jesuit
religious order in Portugal. Large scale persecution of Jews and
"New Christians" begins. In 1538 leading citizens of Cape
Verde petitioned the king in a vain attempt to establish the
Inquisition in Cape Verde. They charged that some two hundred
so-called "New Christians" (Christianized Jew or ladinos) were
living with Africans on the Coast in violation of Royal edicts. One
motivation for the strong feelings may have been that these traders or
"lan«ados" were successfully competing with Cape Verde-based
business interests and were beyond the regulatory hand of the Crown.
1542 French pirates sink two vessels off of Fogo.
1544 French vessels attack Ribeira Grande, Santiago.
1550 A Bishop takes up residence in Cape Verde with jurisdiction
for most of West Africa.
1560s John Lovell and later George Fenner, both English
privateers, make damaging raids on Ribeira Grande.
1563 The volcano on the Island of Fogo erupts. Between
1563-1995 the volcano has erupted 29 times.
1580-1582 Bishop Brandao describes "a great famine" in
Cape Verde in his letters to church officials in Lisbon.
1580-1640 Spanish kings rule Portugal. The people of Sao
Felipe on the Island of Fogo refuse to fly the Spanish flag for six
years and steadfastly fly the Portuguese colors.
1582 and 1585 Sir Francis Drake, the English privateer,
sacks and burns Ribeira Grande. Frequent attacks by English,
French, and Dutch pirates were occasions for slaves to runaway to the
remote interior regions of Santiago Island where communities of free
Africans were formed as early as the mid-16th century. These
people became known as badius from the Portuguese word for vagabond or
runaway.
1582 The Account of the Islands of Cabo Verde by Francisco
Andrade provides evidence of the growth of slave communities in Cape
Verde. Andrade reports the combined population of Fogo and Santiago
as 13,408 persons by categories. These included 508
"inhabitants" (vezinhos), owning 5,000 slaves and 200
renters owning 1,000 slaves. Settlements in the interior
comprised 600 whites and pardos (mixed blood), 400 married free
blacks, and 5,000 slaves. Fogo's population was given as 300
renters and 2,000 slaves. Only 12.7 percent of the
inhabitants of Santiago and Fogo were free persons.
By mid-16th century the weaving craft became well established in
Cape Verde. The indigo-dyed body cloth or pano woven in the
Islands became part of the commodities mix in the currency of the slave
trade. African weavers who were brought to Cape Verde to establish
the "weaving craft industry" were Jalof (Walof), Mandinga,
Seninkes, Biafares, Sassos (Susu), Felupes (Fulani),
Papeis (Papels), and Banhuns. Antonio Carreira, the
distinguished Cape Verdean historian, writes that the best weavers
were from the Mnadingo people. The body cloths were woven on
horizontal narrow band treadle looms.
1550s-1600s Notwithstanding Royal Portuguese proclamations
prescribing severe penalties, Cape Verdean trade with western Africa
significantly expanded as mutually advantageous commercial relations are
established with African groups associated with the Banyun-Bak,
Biafada-Sapi, and Mande networks.
1583 Famine ravages Cape Verde after more than a century of
environmental exploitation irreparably damages the fragile ecosystems of
the islands.
1596 King Filipe II of Spain orders the construction of
fortifications above Vila de Ribeira Grande to defend against
pirates.
1598 Dutch ships raid Ribeira Grande, Santiago
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