Cape Verdean Americans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
300,000 (Cape Verdean ancestry, 2011 US Census) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Massachusetts, Rhode Island | |
| Languages | |
| English, Portuguese, Cape Verdean Creole (mixture of European and Niger-Congo languages) | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic and Christianity |
300,000 (Cape Verdean ancestry, 2011 US Census)
Cape Verdean Americans are Americans whose ancestors were Cape Verdean.
In 2010, the American Community Survey stated that there were 95,003 Americans living in the US with Cape Verdean ancestors.
Cabo Verdean immigration to the United States began in the early 19th century. The first Cape Verdean immigrants aboard New England whaling ships, which would often pick up crewmen off the coast of Cape Verde. Yankee captains valued Cape Verdeans as crews, because they “worked hard to save what they could while on board vessel they could be hired for much less money than American seamen. Furthermore, they made a disciplined crew.”
The Cape Verdeans were universally regarded as "hardworking, honest seamen." When all others abandoned the old sailing ships, the Cape Verdeans bought the decrepit vessels out of their earnings as seamen and kept patching them up with loving care. Eventually, they came to own almost all that remained of the New Bedford fleet, either by purchase or by default. In some cases, they received the ships as outright gifts and "sailed them all over the earth with their own crews and made a modest profit by whaling in the old and tried manner."
This Cape Verdean immigration "trickle" grew to a "flood" in the 20th century as Cape Verde suffered drought, starvation, and economic decline. Once on whaling ships and in America, Cape Verdean men were able to send home money and news of other family and friends already in “the land of opportunity.” They also sent bidons (gasoline barrels) full of food, clothes, and other items from New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island. The latter are the oldest and largest Cape Verdean communities in the United States. These communities and new Cape Verdean communities are marked by close kinship ties and interdependence among families, a traditional Cape Verdean practice that has been passed down through the generations.
One of the major forces that brought Cape Verdeans to the Americas was the whaling industry. American whalers from New Bedford first began travelling to the islands in the 1790s, and further developed their trade as time progressed into the 19th century. During this time, many Cape Verdeans joined American whaling crews in order to escape Cape Verde, a land plagued with poor natural resources and an often abusive Portuguese colonial government. By the mid-1800s New Bedford had transformed into an economic maritime center, where Cape Verdeans were not only about to excel in the whaling industry but in other maritime industries (such as fishing) as well. New Bedford Whaling Museum explains, “As the 20th century went on and the ties between the islands and the port strengthened, entrepreneurs like Roy Teixeira, Henrique Mendes, Louis Lopes, Frank Lopes and Antonio Cardoza purchased, managed and owned packet ships like the Coriolanus, the Savoia, and the Arcturus... Importantly, not only did Cape Verdeans settle in New Bedford, but between 1860 and 1965 41% of the packets trading between New England and the Islands were owned by Cape Verdeans.”
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Wikipedia