In order to prepare for this website I have read many books, papers and articles dealing with Cape Verdean related history as well as genetics. Too many to list all of them here. So I’ll just mention the ones that proved to be the most valuable for this website. However see this link for a very extensive bibliography!
- Bibliography of Cape Verdean History (Lire CapVert)
Starting off with four internationally acclaimed Cape Verdean writers. The first three being actual Cape Verde-born traders from the 16th and 17th century! Pretty much unique in that way because they provide first hand contemporary testimony! Their work is essential and highly recommended for anyone wanting to know about the history and ethnography of Upper Guinea from that period. Fourth one is a must have classic by the most productive and most frequently internationally referenced modernday Cape Verdean historian: Antonio Carreira.
- “Tratado breve dos rios de Guiné do Cabo Verde”, André Alvares d’Almada (1594) (Available online, English translation, see this link for the Portuguese version).
- “Descrição da Serra Leoa e dos rios de Guiné do Cabo Verde”, André Donelha (1625).
- “Description of the Coast of Guinea”, Francisco de Lemos Coelho (1684).
- “Cabo Verde: formação e extinção de uma sociedade escravocrata (1460-1878)”, António Carreira (1972).
This 3-volume work is also priceless. Most up to date summary of Cape Verdean history, very well documented and available online!
- “História Geral de Cabo Verde”, various authors (1991, 1995, 2002) (Available Online)
Another 3-volume work. Very detailed description of the centuries-old Cabo Verde-Guiné nexus, as well as the role played by Cape Verdean & Luso African (“Lançado”) traders and their regional networks in Upper Guinean history.
- “Landlords and Strangers: Ecology, Society, and Trade in Western Africa, 1000-1630”, George E. Brooks, (1993).
- “Eurafricans In Western Africa: Commerce Social Status Gender & Religious Observance”, George E. Brooks, (2003).
- “Western Africa and Cabo Verde, 1790s-1830s: Symbiosis of Slave and Legitimate Trades”, George E. Brooks, (2010).
Pioneering work in English language by a Guyanese historian.
- “History of the Upper Guinea Coast: 1545-1800”, Walter Rodney (1970).
The following book by a Dutch researcher also offers invaluable insights in how the various ethnic groups living in Guiné Bissau were involved with and impacted by the slave trade:
- Silences and Soundbytes: the gendered dynamics of trade and brokerage in the pre-colonial Guinea Bissau region, Philip Jan Havik (2004).
More recent work by an English historian. Much focus on Cape Verde and it creolization process but also very important for a proper understanding of the early slave trade to the Spanish Carribean.
“The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589”, Toby Green (2012)
Dissertation by a Cape Verdean American offering many fresh perspectives.
- “Transformation of ‘Old’ Slavery Into Atlantic Slavery: Cape Verde Islands, c.1500-1879”, Lumumba H. Shabaka (2013) (Available online)
Also this article is incredibly well researched and highly important for understanding the ethnic origins of not only Peruvian slaves but also other Afro-descendants in Latin Americans as well as Cape Verdeans themselves.
- “Ethnic Origins of Peruvian Slaves (1584-1650). Figures From Upper Guinea.”, Paideuma, (39), 57-110, Stephan Bühnen (1993).
Finally in 2016 the historian David Wheat wrote an extremely insightful book describing the Spanish Caribbean as an extension of the Luso-African Atlantic world, incl. Cape Verde! A very precious source to gain ethnic-specific understanding of Cape Verde’s Upper Guinean roots within this particular period.
- “Atlantic Africa and the Spanish Caribbean, 1570-1640” (D. Wheat, 2016)
For those who understand Portuguese this RTP documentary series is highly recommended viewing! It is focused on explaining the early settlement history of Cape Verde. In particular the island of Santiago and Ribeira Grande/Cidade Velha. But it also deals with how the Barlavento islands were increasingly settled in the 1600’s/1700’s by people with freed status from both Fogo and Santiago. Fleeing recurring droughts, in search of new farming land but also a less oppressive social regime. The first episode is with a Portuguese archaeologist. The second and third episode feature well known Cape Verdean historian Antonio Correia e Silva.
