Independence of Cabo Verde

Following the transition opened in 1974, a National People’s Assembly was elected. On 5 July 1975 it proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Cabo Verde in Praia. Aristides Pereira became the first president and Pedro Pires the first prime minister.

The new state had to build institutions in an archipelago marked by poverty, recurrent drought and substantial emigration. The planned political union with Guinea-Bissau was ultimately not realised; after 1980, the Cape Verdean party became the PAICV.

Cabo Verde quickly joined the international community. The UN Security Council recommended its admission in August 1975, and the General Assembly admitted it as a member state on 16 September 1975.