Geography Quiz Arcade

Cabo Verde 🇨🇻

Cabo Verde is a country in Africa with a population of 593,149. Its capital is Praia. The official currency is CVE, and the main languages are Portuguese.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Praia
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 593,149
  • Area: 4,033 km²
  • Density: 147 people per km²
  • Currency: CVE
  • Languages: Portuguese
  • ISO code: CV

Where Cabo Verde sits

Cabo Verde 🇨🇻 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Praia. It covers 4,033 square kilometres — 168th in the world — and is home to about 593,149 people, 168th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Cabo Verde compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Cabo Verde sits closest to Suriname and Montenegro. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Trinidad and Tobago and Samoa.

At 147 people per square kilometre it is about 2.5 times the world average of 59.4. Its population and area ranks match exactly, which is uncommon.

Portuguese is an official language in 9 countries here, among them Angola, Brazil, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, and 4 others. The CVE is used by Cabo Verde and no one else.

To see Cabo Verde next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Cabo Verde

Praia means 'beach' in Portuguese, and the capital is on the south coast of Santiago, the largest island. Count the stars on the flag: ten stars for ten islands.

The flag of Cabo Verde: blue, white, red and yellow

🇨🇻 The flag is a blue flag with thin white, red and white stripes below the middle and a circle of ten yellow stars. Blue stands for the sea and sky, the white and red stripes for building the country through peace and effort, and the ten stars for the ten main islands.

Region and neighbours

Cabo Verde is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa, west of Senegal. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Cabo Verde

  1. The islands were uninhabited until Portuguese explorers settled them in the 1400s.
  2. Pico do Fogo, an active volcano on Fogo island, is the highest point, about 2,829 m.
  3. Cidade Velha, the old town of Ribeira Grande on Santiago, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sources: Wikipedia: Cape Verde, Wikipedia: Flag of Cape Verde, Wikipedia: Praia, Wikipedia: Cidade Velha, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Cabo Verde

Quizzes that include Cabo Verde

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Cabo Verde those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Cabo Verde

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Cabo Verde flag?

The flag of Cabo Verde is a blue flag with thin white, red and white stripes below the middle and a circle of ten yellow stars. Blue stands for the sea and sky, the white and red stripes for building the country through peace and effort, and the ten stars for the ten main islands.

Which countries border Cabo Verde?

None. Cabo Verde is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa, west of Senegal, so it has no land borders with other countries.

How can I remember the capital of Cabo Verde?

Praia means 'beach' in Portuguese, and the capital is on the south coast of Santiago, the largest island. Count the stars on the flag: ten stars for ten islands.