Emigration & Saudade

The history of Cape Verde is a history of emigration. Since the 18th century, droughts, famines, and a lack of economic prospects have driven hundreds of thousands of Cape Verdeans abroad. Today, an estimated 700,000 Cape Verdeans live in the diaspora — more than on the islands themselves (600,000). The largest communities are found in the USA (especially New England: Boston, Providence), Portugal (Lisbon), the Netherlands, France, Italy, and West African countries like Senegal and Angola.

This massive diaspora has deeply influenced Cape Verdean culture. The central feeling is Saudade (Kriolu: Sodade) — an inconsolable longing for home, for those left behind, for a past that is irretrievably lost. Saudade is not simple homesickness — it is an existential fundamental feeling that permeates all Cape Verdean art, literature, and music.

Cesária Évora's most famous song is called "Sodade" — and it speaks of exactly this pain: "Who showed you this long way? Who showed you this long way, this way to São Tomé? Sodade, sodade, sodade of this land of my São Nicolau..." The melody is so melancholic and universal that it has become the unofficial anthem of Cape Verde — and the anthem of all people far from home.

For travelers, this means: Ask Cape Verdeans about their family, and you will hear stories that span continents. An uncle in Boston, a cousin in Lisbon, a brother in Dakar. The remittances of the diaspora (Remittances) make up a significant part of the GDP. And when an emigrant returns home after years, it is celebrated as if a dead person has come back to life.