July 7, 2017

Heritages of Portuguese Influence

Luísa Trindade e António Correia e Silva

It is taken for granted that the main urban centres in Cape Verde were formed and developed around a seaport. Considering that the isles depend on the sea for communication and trade, such statement doesn't seem to be questionable and it is confirmed in two fundamental moments of the history of the archipelago in the 15th and 16th century, when the economic basis was slave trade and in the 19th century when steam navigation is affirmed. In both contexts, the port cities, already referred to in the bibliography, play a very important role. However, without denying the crucial relationship with the sea, the urbanisation of the isles doesn't only take place on the coast. As a result of a long process of ruralisation, other settlement centres occurred in the interior of the islands. They are villages, thus identified, of agrarian basis, that already in the 18th century seemed populous enough to receive the title of vila (municipal council) and that all through the 19th century were intended to be considered as towns. Besides these, other settlements were equally created to consolidate the occupation of the previously uninhabited islands. The purpose of this thesis is to disclose and discuss this process of affirmation and creation of urban centres in Cape Verde, in the
19th century, presenting the cases of Vila da Ribeira Brava (São Nicolau island), Vila da Ribeira Grande (Santo Antão island), and Vila Nova Sintra (Brava island). It is, in fact, an urbanisation process which takes up methods and forms of Portuguese urbanism and where the diversity of cases is significant. A process which took place in an apparently discreet way which is urgent to unveil. Each of these examples specifically problematizes some of the hazards of the processes of urban transformation in the archipelago. The studied vilas were designed, literally and metaphorically, on the existing settlements, by confronting the urban model with the basis of rural occupation. We can say that these towns have emerged from within the rural settlements, which preceded them. This is relevant since the apparent continuity of the processes have contributed to their relative historiographical 'invisibility'. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is also to reverse this situation, drawing the attention to and studying precisely these apparently 'invisible' processes of transformation. They resume the long-used methods and forms of Portuguese urbanism, where the persistence of the results is meaningful and for which the examples of Cape Verde bring relevant data, not as discreet as it seems. Quite on the contrary, they are especially significant. Besides what they represent, there is still the question of the role these new towns play in the territorial organization and structuring of the archipelago. This is the other objective of this research. To sum up, the aim of this thesis is to close a gap in the studies concerning the territorial and urban formation of Cape Verde, introducing the issue of the role of the small towns especially the vilas from the inland islands, which, in our opinion, cannot be overshadowed by the allure of the port cities. They are actually complementary and this is another issue we want to demonstrate with this research.

Key words: Cape Verde, Urbanisation, 19th century, Vila da Ribeira Brava (São Nicolau), Vila da Ribeira Grande (Santo Antão), Vila Nova Sintra (Brava).