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23 thoughts on “Comments”

  1. Thank you for your time, energy, and effort on the history. To often the culture has been misguided by elders who have been indoctrinated & trained to teach that Cape Verdeans are Portuguese, never going outside the oppressive system they were born into for actual truth. Check out Born in Blackness by Howard W French, CV is mentioned throughout.

    1. Hi Jane, apologies for the very late reply! I haven’t checked into this website for a long time, sorry 😀 Thanks for the tip!

  2. Hello FonteFelipe,
    I hope all is well. My name is Kwame and I have a TikTok/Youtube page on the Atlantic African connection to the world. That has inspired me to come to Cabo Verde in the flesh. I was wondering if you have any suggestions on where to go to find more information on the African mainland connections culturally, spiritually and historically in Cabo Verde. Would love to connect.

    1. Hi Kwame, apologies for the very late reply! I haven’t checked into this website for a long time, sorry 😀 Have you been to Cabo Verde already in the meanwhile? The biggest island of Santiago would be the place to go to for what you’re after. Ribeira Grande/Cidade Velha was the former capital, but now mostly ruined. Very special place if you’re into history. Visiting some of the many ribeiras/valleys in the interior is also a must!

      But really all the islands are amazing. Each with its own character. Many people who visit CV go island hopping. There’s something for every one’s taste! Sal and Boavista are the main beach islands. Maio’s landscape is quite similar from what I understand but less ‘touristy”. It’s next to Santiago and will give you a more authentic experience. You go there by ferry. Fogo is another island you can reach from Santiago by ferry. It is known for its vulcano but formerly also many Pano textiles were produced here. Brava, the smallest island is on the next ferry trip from Fogo, lol. A small island and quite green and serene from what i’ve heard.

      In the north you have Santo Antão and São Nicolau which have spectacular valleys and mountain scenery. Tourists often go here for hiking. São Vicente is the home island of singer Cesaria Evora. Its main city, Mindelo, has a stunning bay. Sometimes compared as a Rio de Janeiro in miniature haha. They actually also have a similar Carnaval. Definitely recommended if you’re into partying!

  3. Jennifer Bennett

    I just wanted to say thank you so much for the effort and money it costs you to create & keep this website up and running. It is a service to all Cape Verdeans and those who descend from them. I’ve used this website as a resource many times and I hope it stays up for a very long time! Thanks again.

    1. Hi Jennifer,

      Thanks so much for this heartwarming message! Really glad you have found this website useful. I love performing this kind of research. But knowing that it’s also meaningful for other people makes it all the more worthwhile!

  4. Edson dos Reis

    Thank you for all the information. I’m CapeVerdean from The Netherlands and I’ve trying to find out more about my roots for some time now. My parents are from Santo Antaõ, so the part about fugitive Mandinka slaves possiby being the first settlers there is very interesting to me. I hope to learn more about that. Again, thanks.

    1. Hallo Edson, bedankt voor je bericht! Als je meer wil weten over jouw persoonlijke roots dan kan ik je echt aanraden om een DNA test te nemen! In Nederland wordt vooral MyHeritage zwaar gepromoot. Maar zelf vind ik 23andme en Ancestry veel beter. In ieder geval wat betreft hun z.g. ethnicity estimates. Deze zijn niet al te letterlijk te nemen (want schattingen!) maar momenteel al behoorlijk nauwkeurig. Vooral het onderscheid tussen Afrikaans en Europees (vnl. Portugees) DNA. Maar ook binnen Afrika een overduidelijke regionale focus op het gebied tussen Senegal en Sierra Leone, wat ik normaal gesproken als Upper Guinea benoem op deze blog.

      Voor meer specificatie is het heel erg nuttig als je je vervolgens ook richt op het vinden van Afrikaanse (vasteland) DNA matches. De kans hierop is niet heel groot aangezien de Afrikaanse roots van Cabo’s meestal een paar eeuwen teruggaan. Maar op Ancestry zal je waarschijnlijk wel een aantal kunnen vinden. Ik heb hier namelijk uitgebreid onderzoek naar gedaan. Op basis van de resultaten van 50 Cabo’s die getest hadden op Ancestry zie links hieronder voor meer details wat je ongeveer kan verwachten:

      DNA matches reported for 50 Cape Verdeans on AncestryDNA (Fonte Felipe, 2018)
      100 Cape Verdean AncestryDNA results (Fonte Felipe, 2018)
      100 Cape Verdean 23andme results (Fonte Felipe, 2021)

  5. Ola,

    Great piece on the culture of the area. Do you have any suggestions about getting textiles used in the Cabo Verde or Guiné-Bissau regions?

    1. Thank you for your comment! I do not have any specific suggestions to make other than visiting Cabo Verde and Guiné Bissau yourself and do your purchasing locally. It might also be worthwhile to make inquiries with art dealers specialized in vintage African textiles. There should be a few in Europe, atleast the major capitals of London, Paris, Lisboa etc. But I have a hunch that vintage Cape Verdean panos might be quite rare. You might also want to try out the Manjak textiles made in Senegal:
      http://obatala.co.uk/blog/textiles/manjak-fabric-a-journey-into-the-senegalese-weaving-tradition/.

      If anyone reading this knows about any specific address where to buy Cape Verdean Pano please let me know in the comments!

      1. Hello,

        Check this webpage: http://www.maosdecaboverde.com/ – they have info about pottery, textile, and objects made from Fogo volcano lava.
        On another note, I’m curious to know about the origin of the ‘pano de obra’ used on the webpage theme and on the ‘next’ button. They are extremely elaborated and I would like to know more about them.

        Congrats on the work you’re doing with this webpage!

        1. Hi Maggy, apologies for the very late reply! I haven’t checked into this website for a long time, sorry 😀

          Really happy about that link you sent me, thank you!!! They have great pano’s indeed! During my last stay in Cape Verde I tried ordering a few. But it appears you can only get them in their shop in either Santiago or Sal. When i get one I will post it on the Pano page.

          The photo of “pano de obra” used for my webpage theme was taken from a website which is no longer online. But you can still visit it by way of webarchive, see this link.

          Apparently it’s a relatively recent work (2002) done by a weaver named Henrique Sanches. I agree it’s very beautiful! If you do a google search on his name + pano you’ll find a few more links for this very talented artisan. On that archived site you will also find his telephonenumber and place of residence at that time. But most likely on this site you will find up-to-date contact details: https://siart.cv/.

  6. Elisabete Gonçalves

    Congratulations for the excellent work!
    I am from Portugal. I did a collection of Cultural Heritage with students. Some brought elements from Cape Verde (written files).
    We will do an exhibition with images. Can we use photos from your website? how should we reference them?

    Thank you verry much.
    Elisabete Gonçalves

    1. Muito obrigado Elisabete!
      Best of luck with your exhibition. I would be greatly honoured to be featured as well by way of photo’s from this blog. You are welcome to use them! You can use my blog’s name CVRAIZ.com by FonteFelipe as a general reference.

      But I have actually taken most of the images on my blog from other sources. Most of the references for the tables, charts etc. to be found on this page. In case you are looking for a reference for a specific image feel free to ask me.

      Best regards
      FonteFelipe

  7. I am Cape Verdean but not criola . I am full blooded Toroodo fulani . I find that western historians over look the pure African element on the islands there are Fulani’s , balantes, manjakas , and I believe Mandings too I don’t know how they escaped slavery or if they came afterwards . But I know my folks generations ago came from Mauritania.

    1. Very intriguing! There are several documented references of mainland Africans arriving in Cape Verde out of their own will. This goes back to the 1400’s/1500’s even!

  8. Susan Hurley-Glowa

    Greetings! You are doing very good work. I want to reference your site in a book project that I am working on, but I am not exactly seeing your name. How would be the best way to cite this website as a source? My project is on the musician Norberto Tavares.
    Thanks,
    Susan

    1. Hello Susan, my apology for the late reply! I wasn’t notified that any comments had been made. I am very pleased and greatly honoured that you would want to refernce my work in your upcoming book project! You can cite FonteFelipe as being the author of http://www.cvraiz.com. Allmost all the text featured on this website was written in December 2014.

      My regular blog is “Tracing African Roots“. I have written several articles about Cape Verde over there, incl. this one which might also interest you: Cape Verdean AncestryDNA results. I am actually preparing an update of that article, hopefully to be published this summer.

      I would be very much interested to hear when your book is finished! Please let me know when it’s available as well as the title.

      Best
      FF

  9. Clifford J Pereira

    Thank You for including my paper on the Panos de Terra on this website.

    Muito obrigado por incluir o meu papel dos Panos de Terra neste website.

    Asante sana ikiwa ni pamoja na karatasi yangu kwenye website hii.

    Clifford J Pereira FRGS

  10. Hello ! I thank you for the research I will read all in the next weeks !
    I would read something about white people who mixed with the black people in this context.
    In the context of Reconquista the sailors where mixed with new catholics and perhaps italians from Genova … ??? and the prisoners from the portuguese crown …
    What the genetic says about that ?
    Excuse me for my poor english !
    Many thanks.
    Maï.

    1. FonteFelipe

      Merci beaucoup! This website is actually focussing only on the African roots of Cape Verdeans. But most Cape Verdeans are of mixed origins to some degree and of course their other origins are also very fascinating. If you want to read more specifically about the mixed genetics of Cape Verdeans i can recommend this paper: The Admixture Structure and Genetic Variation of the Archipelago of Cape Verde and Its Implications for Admixture Mapping Studies

      I will shortly add a new page to this website with some exciting personal DNA testing results for Cape Verdeans on Ancestry.com. So you might want to check that out also 🙂

      1. Clifford J Pereira

        Indeed Felipe. I do have a paper on academia on Luso-Asians in Macaronesia – which of course includes Cabo Verde, Madeira and the Açores.

        1. Hello Clifford, thanks so much for letting me know about your research! I had a look on your Academia page and I was greatly impressed! I would love to read this paper you mentioned. I have sent you a request to upload it on Academia.

          You might be interested to know that I have been investigating the genetic legacy of these Luso-Asians in Cape Verde for a while now. In almost all cases this will be greatly diluted as this would be traced back to one single South Asian ancestor (possibly already mixed with Portuguese) from many generations ago. People may be aware of such Luso-Asian connections when relatively recent from the 1900’s or 1800’s. But I imagine in some cases it might be going back to the 1700’s or 1600’s even?

          Through personal DNA testing I have myself discovered some minor South Asian admixture which I was not aware of. Given that it was a rather small percentage (<1%), at first I was inclined to dismiss it as most likely "noise" or a misreading. However by looking at other DNA results of Cape Verdeans I have noticed that such South Asian admixture is quite widespread and can also reach higher levels of around 5% even. Which provides a much more reliable basis.

          See these links below for my survey findings based on AncestryDNA results. I intend to eventually publish a follow-up on the South Asian matches as well as admixture results on 23andme on my other blog:

          100 Cape Verdean AncestryDNA results (go to section 6)
          DNA matches reported for 50 Cape Verdeans on AncestryDNA (part 1) (South Asian DNA matches will be discussed in greater detail in part 2)

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