Slavery and the archipelago’s historical role

Santiago’s position near the West African coast and on Atlantic routes gave Ribeira Grande a central role in the trafficking of enslaved people. UNESCO describes the town as an essential platform in this trade and as a place associated with its inhuman practices.

Men, women and children captured on the African continent were assembled, sold or transported to other Atlantic territories. Others remained on the islands, where their forced labour supported agriculture, domestic life, trade and colonial construction.

This history cannot be reduced to commerce: it shaped social relations, resistance, memory and the country’s cultural formation. Archives preserved in Cabo Verde document slavery and manumission during the 19th century.