The Second Cycle of Population (17th and 18th Centuries – Santo Antão, S. Nicolau, Brava)
- Demography
The second wave of population of the Cape Verde islands moved towards the northern islands (Santo Antão and S. Nicolau) and to Brava as a result of the cooling of the economy in Santiago and in Fogo due to various factors, particularly the pirate attacks on cities. Cape Verde was also relatively dependent on its luck as part of the kingdom (populations became dependent on the land, and in a post-slavery system the properties of the slave owners were abandoned and the ex-slaves became owners of small areas). Malaria and cyclical famine also empoverished the inhabitants of the mountains in particular (“forros” (freed slaves) and poor whites), who were compelled to emigrate to Portugal, Brazil or the Spanish Indies.
In 1727, the colonial magistrate Bravo Botelho recorded that 4,000 believers lived in Santo Antão, of which 502 were slaves, and that S. Nicolau was highly populated. It also becomes clear that this second wave of population has a different significance, with regard to the number of slaves. A report from 1731 shows that while the proportion of slaves in Santo Antão was around 15%, it was just 10.8% in S. Nicolau and even less in Brava (5.63%). At the same time there was a significant drop in Santiago to 16.28%, while Fogo still maintained a high level (25%).
However it is not just the number of slaves that reflect the great change in the society of Cape Verde at the start of the 18th Century, particularly on the recently occupied islands. The minority of slaves was recorded to enjoy autonomy, with the use of properties by common law, which meant the end de facto of the slave component in the population of the islands. This situation is proved by the failed attempts by “donatários” (colonial officials) and companies to reconstitute a slavery-based society in these spaces in Santiago and Fogo.
In this way there was a deep reconfiguration of the society, of the habitat and the economy of Cape Verde, as the most important population centres moved inland (Ribeira Grande, in Santo Antão (although by the sea, this town is distant from the exit port), Ponta do Sol; Ribeira Brava, right in the centre of the island, uses the ports of Preguiça and Tarrafal; in Brava, the central plateau was the heart of activities and concentrated the greatest population). While the donatários, the treasury and the Câmara (chamber) chartered the lands, these quickly reverted to the effective possession of the lessors, who divided them for inheritance over the generations. In this way the possession, purportedly based on common law, was consecrated, meaning that the lands were divided into ever smaller plots, and the sides of the mountains were increasingly used for agriculture, which overtook traditional fishing, to which the islands had been dedicated.
However in all of the islands of Cape Verde, the sea still remained closely linked to the life of the people of Cape Verde, who always built simple boats for fishing, gathered salt on the low islands, hunted birds to make oil for lamps, and gathered urzela (lichen) to trade with strangers on the beaches, and gathered turtles for trade and their own consumption.
The second wave of population of the Cape Verde islands moved towards the northern islands (Santo Antão and S. Nicolau) and to Brava as a result of the cooling of the economy in Santiago and in Fogo due to various factors, particularly the pirate attacks on cities. Cape Verde was also relatively dependent on its luck as part of the kingdom (populations became dependent on the land, and in a post-slavery system the properties of the slave owners were abandoned and the ex-slaves became owners of small areas). Malaria and cyclical famine also empoverished the inhabitants of the mountains in particular (“forros” (freed slaves) and poor whites), who were compelled to emigrate to Portugal, Brazil or the Spanish Indies.
In 1727, the colonial magistrate Bravo Botelho recorded that 4,000 believers lived in Santo Antão, of which 502 were slaves, and that S. Nicolau was highly populated. It also becomes clear that this second wave of population has a different significance, with regard to the number of slaves. A report from 1731 shows that while the proportion of slaves in Santo Antão was around 15%, it was just 10.8% in S. Nicolau and even less in Brava (5.63%). At the same time there was a significant drop in Santiago to 16.28%, while Fogo still maintained a high level (25%).
However it is not just the number of slaves that reflect the great change in the society of Cape Verde at the start of the 18th Century, particularly on the recently occupied islands. The minority of slaves was recorded to enjoy autonomy, with the use of properties by common law, which meant the end de facto of the slave component in the population of the islands. This situation is proved by the failed attempts by “donatários” (colonial officials) and companies to reconstitute a slavery-based society in these spaces in Santiago and Fogo.
In this way there was a deep reconfiguration of the society, of the habitat and the economy of Cape Verde, as the most important population centres moved inland (Ribeira Grande, in Santo Antão (although by the sea, this town is distant from the exit port), Ponta do Sol; Ribeira Brava, right in the centre of the island, uses the ports of Preguiça and Tarrafal; in Brava, the central plateau was the heart of activities and concentrated the greatest population). While the donatários, the treasury and the Câmara (chamber) chartered the lands, these quickly reverted to the effective possession of the lessors, who divided them for inheritance over the generations. In this way the possession, purportedly based on common law, was consecrated, meaning that the lands were divided into ever smaller plots, and the sides of the mountains were increasingly used for agriculture, which overtook traditional fishing, to which the islands had been dedicated.
However in all of the islands of Cape Verde, the sea still remained closely linked to the life of the people of Cape Verde, who always built simple boats for fishing, gathered salt on the low islands, hunted birds to make oil for lamps, and gathered urzela (lichen) to trade with strangers on the beaches, and gathered turtles for trade and their own consumption.
