Cabo Verde is a island group consisting of nine larger and a hardy sprinkling of smaller islands. And it’s one of the few places that hasn’t lost its indigenous population to invasion of the present. Locals will proudly inform the traveler that when the Portuguese explorer Luigi da Cadamosto first arrived here in 1455, there was nobody living here. The traveler may rest his gaze upon this lush land, daubed in festive shades of brown and grey, and wonder why…
We have arrived at Port Grande, the naturally shielded harbor of Mindelo, the main town on the island called Sao Vicente, which is the second most important island of the group. Across the water lies the island Sao Antonio, which was settled by mostly Jewish folk in 1548. They existed there for two centuries pretty much undisturbed because the island was not situated near any main shipping routes.
I’m overlooking these barren turds, wondering why anybody would want to live here. But they did. I’m sure the Jews who came here were on the run from persecution and found their little haven a gift from God. I have no time now but I would love to come back here some day and check out Sao Antonio. Are they still there? Did they go to Israel? Did their religion evolve in any significant way?
Some day I will return.
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| Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cabo Verde |
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| Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cabo Verde |
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| Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cabo Verde |
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| Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cabo Verde |
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