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Pope Paul V

Pope Paul V (Paulus V; Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries. In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.

Trained in jurisprudence, Borghese was made Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII. He was elected as Pope in 1605, following the death of Pope Leo XI. Pope Paul V was known for being stern and unyielding, defending the privileges of the Church. He met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 and was involved in the controversy over heliocentrism. He canonized and beatified several individuals during his papacy and created 60 cardinals in ten consistories.

His insistence on ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to conflicts with secular governments, notably with Venice, which resulted in an interdict on the city in 1606. This disagreement was eventually mediated by France and Spain in 1607. Pope Paul V's diplomacy also strained relations with England, as his actions were perceived as undermining moderate Catholics in the country.

In Rome, he financed the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, improved the Vatican Library, and restored the ancient Roman aqueduct Aqua Traiana. Pope Paul V established the Banco di Santo Spirito in 1605 and is also known for fostering the rise of the Borghese family through nepotism. He died on 28 January 1621, after suffering from a series of strokes and was succeeded by Pope Gregory XV.

Early life
Camillo Borghese was born in Rome on 17 September 1550 into the Borghese family of Siena which had recently established itself in Rome. He was the eldest of seven sons of the lawyer and Sienese patrician Marcantonio Borghese and his wife Flaminia Astalli, a Roman noblewoman. Camillo was carefully trained in jurisprudence at Perugia and Padua, and became a canonist of marked ability.

Cardinal
In June 1596 Camillo was made the Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII, and had as his secretary Niccolò Alamanni. He then opted for other titular churches like San Crisogono and Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

Clement VIII also bestowed upon him episcopal consecration in 1597 after his appointment as Bishop of Jesi; the co-consecrators were Cardinal Silvio Savelli (former Latin Patriarch of Constantinople) and Cardinal Francesco Cornaro (former Bishop of Treviso). Bishop Borghese retained the diocese of Iesi until 1599. He held aloof from all parties and factions, devoting all his spare time to his law-books.

Election
When Pope Leo XI died, 1605, Cardinal Borghese became pope over a number of candidates including Caesar Baronius and Robert Bellarmine; his neutrality in the factional times made him an ideal compromise candidate.

In character he was very stern and unyielding, a lawyer rather than diplomat, who defended the privileges of the Church to his utmost. His first act was to send home to their sees the bishops who were sojourning in Rome, for the Council of Trent had insisted that every bishop reside in his diocese.

Theology
Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy. A letter from Bellarmine to Galileo states only the injunction that the heliocentric ideas could not be defended or held; this letter was written expressly to enable Galileo to defend himself against rumors concerning what had happened in the meeting with Bellarmine.

In 1618, a Decreto de Nuestro Sanctissimo Padre el Papa Paulo V. en favor dela Immaculada Concepción dela Sanctissima Virgen Madre de Dios y Señora Nuestra (Decree of our most holy father Pope Paul V in favor of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary,..) was published in Lima, Peru.

Canonisations and beatifications
Paul V canonised Charles Borromeo on 1 November 1610 and Frances of Rome on 29 May 1608. He also canonized Pompejanus in 1615 and canonized Cardinal Albert de Louvain on 9 August 1621.

He also beatified a number of individuals which included Ignatius Loyola (27 July 1609), Philip Neri (11 May 1615), Teresa of Avila (24 April 1614), Aloysius Gonzaga (10 October 1605), and Francis Xavier (25 October 1619).

Consistories
The pope created 60 cardinals in ten consistories held during his pontificate. He named his nephew Scipione Borghese as a cardinal (continuing the trend of nepotism) and also named Alessandro Ludovisi, who would become his immediate successor, Pope Gregory XV, as a cardinal.

Ecclesiastical jurisdiction
Paul's insistence of ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to a number of quarrels between the Church and the secular governments of various states, notably Venice, where patricians, such as Ermolao Barbaro (1548–1622) of the noble Barbaro family, argued in favor of the exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the civil courts. Venice passed two laws obnoxious to Paul, one forbidding the alienation of real estate in favour of the clergy, the second demanding approval of the civil power for the building of new churches. Two priests charged by the Venetian state with cruelty, wholesale poisoning, murder and licentiousness, were arrested by the Venetian Senate and put in dungeons for trial. Having been found guilty, they were committed to prison.

Paul V insisted that they be released to the Church. He demanded the release of the priests as not being amenable to the secular law. When this was refused, the Pope threatened an interdict on account of the property laws and the imprisonment of ecclesiastics, which threat was presented to the Senate on Christmas 1605. The Venetian position was ably defended by a canon lawyer, Paolo Sarpi, who extended the matter to general principles defining separate secular and ecclesiastical spheres. In April 1606 the Pope excommunicated the entire government of Venice and placed an interdict on the city. Father Sarpi strongly advised the Venetian government to refuse to receive the Pope's interdict, and to reason with him while opposing force by force. The Venetian Senate willingly accepted this advice and Fra Paolo presented the case to Paul V, urging from history that the Pope's claim to intermeddle in civil matters was a usurpation; and that in these matters the Republic of Venice recognized no authority but that of God. The rest of the Catholic clergy sided with the city, with the exception of the Jesuits, the Theatines, and the Capuchins. The dissenting clergy were forthwith expelled from Venetian territories. Masses continued to be said in Venice, and the feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated with displays of public pomp and "magnificence", in defiance of the Pope. Within a year (March 1607) the disagreement was mediated by France and Spain. The Most Serene Republic refused to retract the laws, but asserted that Venice would conduct herself "with her accustomed piety." The Jesuits, which Venice considered subversive Papal agents, remained banned. No more could be expected. Paul withdrew his censure.

The Venetian Republic rewarded Fra Paulo Sarpi, its successful canon lawyer, with the distinction of state counsellor in jurisprudence and the liberty of access to the state archives, which infuriated Pope Paul. In September 1607, after unsuccessfully attempting to lure Father Sarpi to Rome, the Pope responded by putting out a contract on his life. Father Sarpi was the target of at least two assassination plots in September and October. Stabbed three times with a stiletto, Fra Sarpi somehow managed to recover, while the assassins found refuge in the Papal States.

Relations with England
Paul V's hard-edged Catholic diplomacy cut the ground from under moderate Catholics in England. His letter of 9 July 1606 to congratulate James I on his accession to the throne was three years late and seemed to English eyes merely a preamble to what followed, and his reference to the Gunpowder Plot, made against the life of the monarch and all the members of Parliament the previous November, was unfortunate for the Papal cause, for Papal agents were considered by the English to have been involved (the effigy of Pope Paul V is still burnt every year during the Lewes Bonfire celebrations). However, the Pope in that letter pleaded with James not to make the innocent Catholics suffer for the crime of a few, and Paul V also promised to exhort all the Catholics of the realm to be submissive and loyal to their sovereign—in all things not opposed to the honour of God. The oath of allegiance James demanded of his subjects, however contained clauses to which no 17th-century Catholic could in conscience subscribe: the oath of allegiance was solemnly condemned in a brief published a matter of weeks later (22 September 1606, extended 23 August 1607). This condemnation served only to divide English Catholics. The other irritant (to the papacy) in English relations was Cardinal Bellarmine's letter to the English archpriest George Blackwell, reproaching him for having taken the oath of allegiance in apparent disregard of his duty to the Pope. The letter received enough circulation to be referred to in one of James's theological essays (1608), and Bellarmine was soon fencing in a pamphlet exchange with the king of England.

Relations with Japan
In November 1615, Paul V welcomed the embassy of the Japanese samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga in Rome.

Hasekura gave the Pope a letter (from Date Masamune) which requested a trade treaty between Japan and New Spain. The letter also asked for Christian missionaries to be sent to Japan. The Pope agreed to the dispatch of missionaries, but left the decision for trade to the King of Spain.

Constructions
In Rome, the pope financed the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, and improved the Vatican Library, separating out the Vatican Apostolic Archives. He restored the Aqua Traiana, an ancient Roman aqueduct (named after him Acqua Paola), bringing water to the rioni located on right bank of the Tiber (Trastevere and Borgo) using materials from his demolition of the Forum of Nerva. He had always encouraged Guido Reni. Like many Popes of the time he was also allegedly guilty of nepotism, and his nephew Scipione Borghese wielded enormous power on his behalf, consolidating the rise of the Borghese family.

Paul V also established the Bank of the Holy Spirit in 1605.

Death
Paul V died on 28 January 1621 of a stroke in the Quirinal Palace and was succeeded as pope by Pope Gregory XV. The pope had been ill for more than three months following a series of strokes, and died six hours following his last stroke the morning of his death. He was interred in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

title: Pope Paul V


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List of metropolitan areas in Spain

This is a list of the largest metropolitan areas in Spain by population. Estimates are from the following sources:
 * the "Functional Urban Areas" (FUAs) of the Study on Urban Functions of the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON, 2007)
 * the "Larger Urban Zone" (LUZs) of Urban Audit project (2004), supported by the European Union. Not all cities were included in this survey.
 * calculations by Francisco Ruiz from data of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (2008 estimates). As well as "metropolitan area" data, Ruiz has produced larger conurbation data for some areas. The "conurbation" figure is used where available, and is cited as such; otherwise, the "metropolitan area" figure is used.

The figures differ between the reports due to the difference in survey dates and differences in methodology. For example, ESPON considers Oviedo–Gijón–Avilés as a single FUA, while Urban Audit has separate LUZs for Oviedo and Gijón. Similarly, Vilanova i la Geltrú is included in Barcelona metropolitan area by ESPON, but as a separate conurbation by Ruiz.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: List of metropolitan areas in Spain


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Talk:Nicolaus Copernicus/Nationality/Archive 1

AfD result for article titled "Copernicus' nationality"
— J I P | Talk 07:50, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

The article was subsequently deleted. The talk page from the deleted article is archived below, along with talk page discussions from Talk:Nicolaus Copernicus.

First discussion archived here
Removed this part to talk and put the correct place names and map on front:

Nicolaus (or Nicholas) Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Polish astronomer of German origins who developed a heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory of the solar system. He was also a priest and a medic.

His major theory was published in the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ("On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres") in the year of his death 1543, even though he had arrived at it several decades earlier. This book marks the beginning of the shift from a geocentric (and anthropocentric) universe. Copernicus held that the Earth is another planet revolving around the fixed sun once a year, and turning on its axis once a day. The theory, unfortunately, still had some serious defects, like circular as opposed to elliptical orbits and epicycles, that made it no more precise in predicting ephemerides than the then current tables based on Ptolemy's model. But it had a large influence on scientists such as Galileo and Kepler, who adopted, championed and, in Kepler's case, improved the model. The book was put on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1616 by the Roman Catholic Church. Galileo's observation of the phases of Venus produced the first observational evidence for Copernicus' theory.

Legend says that a printed copy of De revolutionibus was put in Copernicus's hands shortly before his death so that he could say goodbye to his opus vitae. He awoke from his stroke induced coma, looked at his book, and died peacefully.

It has now been confirmed by the scientific community that a number of theorems on which his theory of planetary motion was based were plagarized by him from the works of Arab & Persian astronomers of the 12th and 13th centuries. This fact is not widely known but very well documented.

Polish or German?

Copernicus is generally regarded as Polish, and in terms of the political geography of his time, this is undoubtedly correct. Torun, his place of birth, had passed from the suzerainty of the Order of Teutonic Knights to that of the King of Poland shortly after his father's arrival there from Krakow. However, ethnically both his mother and father were most likely of German origin. The family name can be traced to the town of Koppernigk near Neisse in Silesia, which was inhabited by Germans in the 14th century at the time of emigration from that region eastwards into Poland. No known letter written by him was in the Polish language -- they were all in Latin or German. However, that means little, as Latin was at the time the international language of scholars and those letters in German may have been addressed to Germans and therefore written in that language.

He was definitely Polish by allegiance (in terms of the politics of the time). In 1512, when he was Canon of the Chapter of Frombork, Copernicus swore allegiance to King Sigismund I of Poland. In 1520, after the outbreak of war between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, Copernicus was a member of the Polish embassy to the Grand Master requesting restoration of Braniewo to Poland. He also organized the defence of Olsztyn against the Order.

Polish or German?

Copernicus is generally regarded as Polish, and in terms of the political geography of his time, this is undoubtedly correct. Torun, his place of birth, had passed from the suzerainty of the Order of Teutonic Knights to that of the King of Poland shortly after his father's arrival there from Krakow. However, ethnically both his mother and father were most likely of German origin. The family name can be traced to the town of Koppernigk near Neisse in Silesia, which was inhabited by Germans in the 14th century at the time of emigration from that region eastwards into Poland. No known letter written by him was in the Polish language -- they were all in Latin or German. However, that means little, as Latin was at the time the international language of scholars and those letters in German may have been addressed to Germans and therefore written in that language.

He was definitely Polish by allegiance (in terms of the politics of the time). In 1512, when he was Canon of the Chapter of Frombork, Copernicus swore allegiance to King Sigismund I of Poland. In 1520, after the outbreak of war between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, Copernicus was a member of the Polish embassy to the Grand Master requesting restoration of Braniewo to Poland. He also organized the defence of Olsztyn against the Order.

He was definitely Polish by allegiance (in terms of the politics of the time). In 1512, when he was Canon of the Chapter of Frombork, Copernicus swore allegiance to King Sigismund I of Poland. In 1520, after the outbreak of war between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, Copernicus was a member of the Polish embassy to the Grand Master requesting restoration of Braniewo to Poland. He also organized the defence of Olsztyn against the Order.

I question this user:H.J.

 * Why? He lived in Poland (In part of Poland called Prussia, just like others where called Great Poland, Mazovia, Little Poland- if you will see map from that period, you will see map of Masovia, and no Polonia around). He was loyal to Polish state. His language - heh! in XVIII century one of most popular Polish Patriotic songs was in German, and was written by Danziger!szopen

A, one more thing: Mikolaj or Nikolaj, both forms were allowed in Polish by that time.

I have walked many years on this planet and Copernicus was always one of the guys to admire. It is nice to know that a guy from Poland (he was born in Polish Torun, studied in Polish Cracow, and died in Polish Frombork) wrote a book that started serious science not long after Gutenberg made publishing possible. The news that he might be a German hit me as much as if a German was to learn today that Gutenberg was Polish! I have never seen such a claim and never thought about the language he mights speak at home, although all my knowledge indicates it must have been Polish. As for his writings, no wonder it was in Latin (lingua franca of his day, esp. in science). He had also extensive German contacts. Note that only around Copernicus's death, first literary works in Polish were published. Polish language (esp. in writing) was still a toddler in the 16th century. -- Piotr Wozniak from Poland

 * Copernicus is generally regarded as Polish, and in terms of the political geography of his time, this is undoubtedly correct. Torun, his place of birth, had passed from the suzerainty of the Order of Teutonic Knights to that of the King of Poland shortly after his father's arrival there from Krakow. However, ethnically both his mother and father were most likely of German origin. The family name can be traced to the town of Koppernigk near Neisse in Silesia, which was inhabited by Germans in the 14th century at the time of immigration from that region eastwards into Poland. No known letter written by him was in Polish language - they were all in Latin or German language - but native languages weren't widely used in writing at that time.
 * He was definitely Polish by allegiance (in terms of the feudal politics of the time). In 1512, Copernicus as Canon of the Chapter of Frombork swore allegiance to King Sigismundus I of Poland. In 1520, after the outbreak of war with the Teutonic Knights, Copernicus was a member of the Polish embassy to the Grand Master requesting restoration of Braniewo to Poland. He also organized the defence of Olsztyn against the Order.
 * But in any case, modern concepts of nationalism did not exist in his era, so the question is really an anachronism.

At that time many city dwellers in Poland was non-Polish ethnically and spoke German at home. Polish-or-German is ethnic, not national question, as there was no nationality at that time. Copernicus was most probably of German origins, his name is German and there isn't any prove that he even spoke Polish. That looks like a German living in Poland. -- Taw

I think that, if his allegiance was to Poland, he must be considered polish. For example, Einstein is usually cited as an American physicist of german origin, so Copernicus would be a Pole of German origin. Just my non-expert opinion. --AstroNomer

Here Einstein is usually cided as a Jewish physicis and Columbus as Italian, not Spanish, sailor.
 * Columbus' father, mather, sister and 2 brothers were Italians, genovesi (from Genoa). They had in Genoa a huge business in wine and tissues (you know where the jeans comes from?). Strange, Columbus too was accidentally born in Italian Genoa. I wonder why some still insist in saying he was Italian...

In medieval times country wasn't that important. In feudalism, countries and pseudo-countries went up and down all the time. The only thing that could be reliably traced is ethnicity.

Actually, medieval ethnicity is a problem. In the Early Middle Ages (my end of the field) one of the real research growth areas is ethnicity-building. For instance, it is now quite clear that all those Germanic tribes (Ostro- and Visigoths, Lombards, Vandals, Heruli, Franks, etc., etc.) were very fluid concepts. We always knew that the Heruli had sort of dissolved into the Ostrogoths, but now it's clear that the Burgundians and the Bavarii were entirely composite groups - and the Bavarii Dukes were all Franks. Ethnicity is no clearer in the Middle Ages than it is today. Allegiance was clear - if someone changes allegiance, they have to swear a new and public oath. The *reasons* for that allegiance may or may not be 'volk'ish. --MichaelTinkler

I am amazed to find that there is actually a discussion going on and it is not just blindly copied what almost all the modern historians for the last 50 years have been echoing.

For Nicolaus Copernicus read http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04352b.htm  -Cath. Encyl. not always right, but much better than most books ( because written before WW I ).

Nicolaus never signed his name starting with - M  -which he would have done if he was Polish, then he would have had the name or signed  it M  - Mikolaj.

He never spoke or wrote any word of Polish. He did write Latin and Greek. The official language in Prussia, where he was born, was Low German Hanseatic Platt. He was born in a Hanseatic city, that means only German language people were citizen of the city. Thorn or in Latin Thorunensis was in Culmerland ,Kulmerland. This was and is Old Prussi land. The people in the country and villages spoke old Prussian, see wikipedia Baltic, Prussian Language. His uncle, Lucas Watzenrode or Watzelrode was bishop of Ermland , that meant governor.

see the Catholic encyclopedia www.newadvent above for Ermland, independend bishopric, Culm , Silesia etc.

The allegiences were Feudal laws, pledges to an individual, and from him again to the next higher individual.

The only correct answer is, Copernicus was born in Thorn or Latin Thorun , Prussia ( Culmer Land ,later Kulmerland if you want to be more specific) and he lived and died in Frauenburg ,Prussia and Heilsberg , Prussia.

For church records from Thorn, Heilsberg,Braunsberg, Frauenburg see http://www.familysearch.com  go to records-to places, type in the towm, then click on church record. You will find films taken by LDS of the original Kirchenbuecher- churchbooks.

Did the Elector or the Duke of Prussia of the Hohenzollern elector family of the Holy Roman Empire become Polish, because he gave an allegiance to an uncle (Sigismund I ), his mothers brother. ? Did the Polish dukes or kings become German, when they pledged allegiances to the German emperors ?

The people of Thorn did not become Polish, when again under the Feudal law they refused to pledge allegiance to the Teutonic Knights.

There was no state nationality, there was only citizenship. This meant if you wanted to live and work in a city and wanted to become a citizen you applied to the city council, which was the sole responsible government of a Hanseatic city. Then you became a citizen of that city, not of the city next door.

To Michael Tinkler, boy am I glad I am not writing this one. H.J.

Is there a page in Wikipedia regarding ethnicity and nationalism in the 1400s-1500s? If so, could someone share that link? If not, some of the above might make for an interesting discussion. It appears to deserve attention as a topic. I don't feel competent to construct it, however (guess that makes me a Wikiwimp). --RjLesch

 * of possibly German origins

Why "possibly" ? Is there anything that suggests otherwise ? --Taw

 * Hi Taw -- yes, there are arguments to the contrary -- read the above discussion. One regular contributor claims that Copernicus was German, the majority say Polish, but that his ethnicity may have been German...JHK

Took this from main page, where user:H.J. placed it. Looks like it says it's a map of Poland to me... JHK

Poland is to the south-west of Prussia, open the map for a look at the land of Prussia or Preussen where Copernicus was born :

Hanseatic city of Thorn ,( Civitatis Thorun(ensis) in Latin ) is located in Prussia, Kulmerland Culmerland (Culmigeria on the map )to the bottom left of the map. This map is from circa 1600 (published 1660). It is also available re-published by Royal Geographic Society as "Blaeu's The grand Atlas of the 17th Century World ( Barnes & Noble).

1570 maps showing Prussia can be seen on: T # 70 Pomerania, Marca, Prussia T # 71 Prussia T # 72 Livonia T # 98 Index A-Z of the World- Atlas, but no Polonia ???

(Have available maps of 1493, 1539 and 1547 showing Prussia or Preussen , but not on internet.          user:H.J.

The map depicts not the country of Prussia, which simply did not exist in Copernicus' times, but a Polish province of Prussia, west part of which (the monastic state of Prussia, later Ducal Prussia) was administered by the German Order of Teutonic Knights, under direct suzerainity to Polish king. Copernicus, however, lived in the eastern part of that province, called Royal Prussia, an integral part of the Poland - Lithuania Commonwealth. Therefore any speculations trying to place Copernicus outside of Poland are absolutely untrue. Space Cadet.

--- Hey, 66.*, sorry about the editing conflicts. In general, please use the Preview button, and don't click the Save button till you're really done. This should minimize editing conflicts. -- Marj Tiefert, Sunday, April 14, 2002 --- Took AstroNomer's hint ref European and removed nonesense once again: Polish or German?

Copernicus is regarded as Polish, and in terms of the political geography of his time, this is undoubtedly correct. Torun, his place of birth, had passed from the suzerainty of the Order of Teutonic Knights to that of the King of Poland shortly after his father's arrival there from Krakow. However, ethnically both his mother and father were most likely of German origin. The family name can be traced to the town of Koppernigk near Neisse in Silesia, which was inhabited by Germans in the 14th century. No known letter written by him was in the Polish language -- they were all in Latin or German. However, that means little, as Latin was at the time the international language of scholars and those letters in German may have been addressed to Germans and therefore written in that language.

He was definitely Polish by allegiance (in terms of the politics of the time). In 1512, when he was Canon of the Chapter of Frombork, Copernicus swore allegiance to King Sigismund I of Poland. In 1520, after the outbreak of war between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, Copernicus was a member of the Polish embassy to the Grand Master requesting restoration of Braniewo to Poland. He also organized the defence of Olsztyn against the Order. H.J. May 16,2002

I think there must be a mention to the controversy (i put a very short paragraph about it), even if its not a detailed one. AstroNomer

HJ -- what you continue to do to this article is inexcusable. You are taking something created with NPOV, and just putting in what you, in your uninformed world, consider the truth. Moreover, your little "let's just say people can't agree" at the end was misleading. The truth is, most scholars do agree. You just don't want to accept that people had a very different world-view about nationality and ethnicity before the 19th century. Please stop -- what you are doing is worse than vandalism -- it is propogating half-truths, in the hope that you'll get away with them because many people don't know better. JHK

JHK your slanderous name-calling is unacceptable. You cannot even tell that I did not write the words, that you claimed I wrote and yet you want to pass yourself off as being a correct scholar. Copernicus was born in Thorn in Prussia. You do not have the right to say, it was in Poland, because it was not. Instead of searching for facts and correcting mistakes, you perpetuate them by your own false statement, that Copernicus was born in Thorn in Poland.

While I wrote this, Gianfranco's comment came it. I agree with Gianfranco. H.J.

I think we should keep on a more "encyclopedic" tone on the matter: the question of his nationality (whatever might it really represent, conclude or otherwise produce), effectively WAS widely discussed, with complex reasons proposed by both sides - for evident reasons. Whatever the final result or whatever the personal opinions on the real collective need of such a topic, we should consider (IMHO) that a relevant debate was going on for centuries and perhaps (as we can see) is not over. Many people weren't perhaps even aware that a such a debate existed, before reading this article.

None of us is wrong, and none of us is right, just because coming from one rather than from another world. Each of use responds of him/herself. And we are here to provide information, and (hopefully) contents, to uninformed worlds too, if we can decipher which ones they really are.

Wouldn't it be more useful to better describe Copernicus' contribution to general culture instead of giving all the attention to this (IMHO) quite useless debate? --Gianfranco
 * Gianfranco, it would be much more useful, but I would like to see evidence of this so-called widespread debate -- at least before the 19th century. I have not been around much of late, and you were not present when Frau user:H.J. began to infest this site with articles that demonstrate a narrow, irredentist, POV. To the best of my knowledge, which is well grounded in European history and its research methodology, the kind of claims that belong to this debate are grounded in late-19th and early 20th century ethnic nationalism.  They do not reflect the thinking of Copernicus' time.

 * This is why several wikipedians contributed to the article as it stood before Fr. user:H.J. jumped back in with her, "Copernicus is Prussian and that's all there is to it," argument, which you improved somewhat. The problem is, of course, that by doing so, you have encouraged the idea that this debate is central to understanding Copernicus.  As you point out above, it is minimal.

 * Really, I had heard many years ago of this nationalistic dispute, and when I read this page (with all this attention to the point) I made a quick search on books to better remember. I then added what I found in an old abstract, where no details are given about the times of the debate, so I just took out the fact that the debate lasted for a relevant while (yes, every attribute is relative), if I well understood it.
 * Of course, we needed first to consider Copernicus "important" in a modern sense, for this nationalistic dispute to have a meaning, and this could only happen in the last centuries. So, I am not contesting at all that the debate was in the times you indicated.
 * I sincerely regret if my notes produced the result of giving even more importance to this matter, I had merely tried to give a draft of note that could explain what the thing was about, in order to provide NPOV elements to solve this stall and sooner get back to our good old "Nick". If we had spent just a third of the energies used for this "debate's debate" to develop instead the real topic, we would now read - i.e. - what his theories represented for the evolution of science, religion, culture. Not a minor issue, maybe.
 * Let's try this way: his nationality needs to revolve around his figure, it's not his figure that needs to revolve around his nationality, like the Sun is not revolving around Earth (someone said). :-) --Gianfranco

 * As for you Frau user:H.J., first, the correct word, if true, would be libelous, as a website is a quasi-print format. However, it is not true.  It's also ridiculous that a woman who has made very personal comments about others on this site would dare to be offended when someone points out scholarly misbehavior (and nothing personal).  The facts are clear, and can be demonstrated in almost a year of your contributions:  to date, you have repeatedly written articles that are at best misleading and often untrue or incorrect, grounded in part in your refusal to work according to NPOV policy; you have often plagiarized other sources; your contributions are seldom edited for grammar, typos, etc.; you tend to use untrustworthy sources because they support your somewhat rarified point of view.  Initially, people assumed that you wanted to contribute to a group project, and tried to help you in interpreting your sources, checking facts, etc.  You have clearly demonstrated that you have no interest in working in a collegial manner.  It is your refusal to accept that yours is often not the accepted POV, and your willingness, nay, outright determination, to mislead others that I consider vandalism.  I stand by that. JHK

Moving text from Nicolaus Copernicus, where it was removed to Talk:

"There were more Germans than Poles living in Krakow at the time of Copernicus during European Imperial rule. Russians, Poles and Czech had no difficulty in 1945 telling nationality, when nearly all ethnic Germans, many barely speaking any German, nevertheless were ethnically cleansed from Eastern European countries.

These new Slavic countries were formed by military take-overs after WW I. For many centuries German groups had lived there. 1945 it became part of the Polish pattern to claim everything was originally Polish by the Communist military government, lead by Soviet Union. These Communist Poles claim re-gained original Polish territory. Not even the Russian claim anything like that. The majority of people who had to lived under the communist system of propaganda, knew that they were fed lies.

One should remember however, that Stalin had powerful allies that aided him in his undertakings, thus making his total take-over of all of Eastern Europe for decades possible.

Copernicus lived for over fourty years in Frauenburg in Ermland in Prussia and he kept daily record books on rentals, incomes, secular and church business. He used his native language and spoke with the native people of the country. He was their physician and only occasionally did he work on his astronomy. He several times signed as his name Kopperlingk, obviously because his father's family business was copper and therefore the Low German Kopper (High German Kupfer) and the -lingk ending indicated someone who is dabbling in copper, a copperling. User:H.J.

The paragraph about nationality (and what above) could perhaps be better placed in a separate Copernicus' nationality page because: --Gianfranco
 * if we believe that this matter is not fundamental in describing Copernicus, it would not be appropriated to keep here all this stuff.
 * if we believe instead that this matter is fundamental in describing Copernicus, it should deserve a separate page that could give this important discussion all the space it needs.

I agree with Gianfranco here - this "controversy" isn't important enough to warrent anything more than one or two sentences in the main Copernicus article. It would be more appropriate to have anything more than that elsewhere. --maveric149

I rewrote the second paragraph in the hopes of being NPOV and more accurately representing the nature of the controversy. I also separated the article into two sections. Perhaps the more theoretically sophisticated historians out there would take this opportunity to flesh out the second part. It might be a good "teaching moment" -- at least for some future reader who stumbles across this article. SR

I've rewritten the "Second Debate" section ever so slightly because as it stood it didn't really describe a debate at all (and it wasn't really all that NPOV, even if I do agree with its sentiments.) I hope these changes aren't going to spark off some enormous row. --Bth

If there weren't nations back then, how could there be nationalities? Kingturtle 08:24 27 May 2003 (UTC)

I've added two sentences, taken from discussion in the usenet. -- szopen

I removed last message from here. It was in polish language and against polish law -- inciting ethnic hate -- see polish penal code art. 119, section 2. See Page History below if this is a concern. Przepla

--- I just found that until partitions Germans generally considered Kopernik to be Polish astronom (including Prussian king, what was his name... Fryderyk? Who wrote that in letter to Voltaire). I think now, that Kopernik was ethnic German, political Pole - maybe in the sense he considered Poland to be his fatherland, and himself as German and Pole simultanously. szopen

Yes, yes,

Copernicus was German, Sklodowska was French, The Pope is Italian, Bush is Texan (just born and living under Yankee occupation), my father is also German since he was born during WWII in III Reich (few km from Vistula), and I am American because 99% what I speak and write is in English - this Polish passport of mine is very inconvenient. It actually may mean that I am Israeli. Did i mentioned that Lincoln was Mexican and Columbus American. Or rather Cuban?

PS Reading this discussion I recall my visit to Chicago Art Institute. Most of labels on world class paintings read like this:

Painting Title Name Born Died American Citizen since ...

Since that visit I am not mistaken anymore! All French impressionists were actualy American.

Good grief!
I see this is quite an old discussion, and one that descended into inanity at times.

I think Copernicus's reaction would be, in modern American terms, "Good grief!" In other words, what a waste of energy, space, thought, etc.

It's evident from reading the article and the discussion that Copernicus, like many other Europeans of the pre-modern era, did not fit anyone's concept of a discrete ethnic nationality. In his mentality, he probably was more what later generations would call a Renaissance man. It would be a mistake for both Poles and Germans to view him as "belonging" exclusively to one or the other nation.

If we must assign a nationality to this person, whose mother evidently was ethnically German, and who "spoke German as his native tongue" – but who lived in what was politically part of Poland and apparently sided with Poland in the political disputes of his day – let us call him German-Polish or Polish-German.

The widespread notion that every ethnic group must have its own homogenous nation-state is a relatively new one, and the horrors produced by such ideas when they're taken to extremes are matters of living memory. Let us not project such stupidities back centuries to people who would have had a much broader outlook on ethnicity.

When Lincoln died, someone said: "Now he belongs to the ages," or something to that effect. Copernicus belongs to humankind, not to one country alone. Sca 20:58, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

All Enlish language encyclopedias I've encountered called him a Polish astronomer. So those who want to call him "Polish" here, are not projecting any stupidities, but are just using the commonly accepted encyclopedic sources. Space Cadet 22:54, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

From one of the leading astronomical and space oriented news webpage: http://www.space.com/news/ap_051103_copernicus.html Jerzy Gassowski, head of an archaeology and anthropology institute in Pultusk, central Poland, said his four-member team found what appears to be the skull of the Polish astronomer and clergyman in August, after a one-year search of tombs under the church floor. --Molobo 02:29, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Through the ethnic lens
Yes, I know he's commonly referred to as a Polish astronomer. The fact that this simplification is widespread doesn't necessarily make it accurate, however. What about his "native tongue" – isn't that the most commonly used criterion for ethnic identity? Linguistic minorities formerly existed in many European countries, and still exist in some, where the dread hand of ethnic cleansing hasn't swept them out.

In the U.S. we have had lots of hyphenated Americans – Italian-American, Irish-American, Polish-American, etc. In our case, part of what the hyphenated national label denotes is that the person typically spoke some other language than English as his or her "mother tongue" (except for the Irish). Why would it be so offensive from the Polish (nationalist?) point of view to call Copernicus a German-Polish astronomer? I think it's because many Poles tend to view everything "German" through the lens of the Nazi experience. But Copernicus lived long before the Nazis.

Here's a question for Molobo, Space Cadet, Halibutt: Suppose the Nazis and WWII had never happened – wouldn't Poland be a more interesting country if it still had large minorities of Jews, Belarussians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and, yes, Germans?

But back to Copernicus: At the very least, the article should spell out his ethnic duality and include, parenthetically, the German names of the towns associated with him that were generally used during his time. (See: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Copernicus.html.) Otherwise, it presents a misleading picture, which of course is what half-truths are designed to do. Sca 19:29, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Copernicus lived long before Nazis, but right during the Teutonic Knights, so what's your point?

-- That you shouldn't view all German influences in Poland as negative solely because of the Nazi horrors. – sca

If Poland had more minorities, yes, it would still be an interesting country, so what's your point?

-- That the fact that Copernicus was apparently partially German shouldn't be viewed as negative by Poles, and makes him more interesting as a historical personality. Also, it bespeaks the ethnographic history of northeastern PL, the former East Prussia, which as I've said many times seems to be something many modern Poles would like to obscure. – sca

I don't think that Britannica uses what you call "widespread simplifications". Space Cadet 23:05, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

-- Maybe not, but in this case they did. – sca

My opinion on this case was expressed few times before, and it hasn't changed. I think he could be described as Polish-German astronomer. Szopen 19:04, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

-- In American usage, at least, and probably generally in English elsewhere, if you say Polish-German the emphasis is on German but if you say German-Polish the emphasis is on Polish. Seems to me that in this sense Copernicus was German-Polish, i.e. a Pole politically and a resident of what constituted Poland at the time, but (mainly) German in ethnic terms. But as said above, I don't think the man himself would have been impressed with efforts to claim him solely for one nation (as opposed to state) or the other.

Sca 19:46, 9 November 2005 (UTC)


text:
History of Cape Verde

The recorded history of Cape Verde begins with the Portuguese invasion and colonization of the island in 1458. Possible early references to Cape Verde date back at least 2,000 years.

Prehistory
The first islands formed, around 40–50 million years ago, were present-day Sal and its eastern neighbors. The western islands were formed later, including São Nicolau (as early as 11.8 million years ago), São Vicente (nine million years ago), present-day Santiago and Fogo (four million years ago), and Brava (two to three million years ago). Millions of years after the seamounts rose above the Atlantic, the first lizards, insects and plants came to the archipelago, possibly on ocean currents from the African mainland when the ocean's salinity was lower.

The archipelago experienced several large volcanic eruptions, including Praia Grande 4.5 million years ago, São Vicente (and, possibly, present-day Porto Grande) 300,000 years ago, Topo da Coroa 200,000 years ago, and east of present-day Fogo 73,000 years ago which inundated coastal Santiago Island and possibly Brava and part of the Barlavento Islands.

During the last Ice Age, the sea level dropped to about 130 m below its current level. Cape Verde's islands were slightly larger, and there was a large island known as Northwest Island. Santo Antão was one kilometer northwest of the island; Boa Vista and Maio were one island, and another island known as Nola (Ilha da Nola, northwest of Santo Antão) was about 80 to 90 m meters above sea level. Before the end of the Ice Age, the Eastern Island (Ilha Occidental) split into three islands; one became submerged and is now the João Valente Reef, the Canal de São Vicente widened to provide 12 km separation from Santo Antão, Nola Island was submerged and again became a seamount, and eastern Northwest Island broke up into São Vicente, the smaller Santa Luzia, and the two islets of Branco and Raso.

Possible classical references
Cape Verde may have been referenced in De choreographia by Pomponius Mela and Historia naturalis by Pliny the Elder. Mela and Pliny called the islands "Gorgades", referring to the home of the mythical Gorgons killed by Perseus. In typical ancient euhemerism, they suggested the islands as the place where the Carthaginian Hanno the Navigator slew two female "Gorillai". Pliny, citing the Greek writer Xenophon of Lampsacus, placed the Gorgades at two days' travel from "Hesperu Ceras" (the westernmost part of the African continent, today called Cap-Vert). As quoted by Gaius Julius Solinus, he also said that the voyage from the Gorgades to the Hesperides took around 40 days. The Isles of the Blessed, written about by Marinus of Tyre and referenced by Ptolemy in his Geographia, may have been the Cape Verde islands.

15th and 16th centuries
In 1456, Alvise Cadamosto, Antoniotto Usodimare (Venetian and Genoese captains, respectively, in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator) and an unnamed Portuguese captain discovered some of the islands. During the next decade, Diogo Gomes and António de Noli (also captains in the service of Prince Henry) discovered the remaining islands of the archipelago. When they first landed in Cape Verde, the islands were barren of people but not of vegetation.

Prince Fernando, King Afonso V of Portugal's brother, was granted the archipelago as a fiefdom. The Portuguese established Ribeira Grande (present-day Cidade Velha) in 1462 on the island of São Tiago - the first permanent European settlement in the tropics. The first settlers included Portuguese, Genoese, and Flemish adventurers; reprieved convicts; and Sephardic Jews fleeing persecution. In 1466, with the settlement failing to attract enough settlers, Afonso- gave the population trading rights in all of West Africa except Arguim. He rescinded this a few years later, when the monarchy began selling lucrative trade monopolies instead, but enterprising Cape Verdeans and Luso-Africans would still play a prominent role in the first centuries of European trade in the region, often in defiance of the Portuguese crown.

In Spain, the Reconquista was growing in its mission to conquer Iberia and expel the Muslims and Jews. In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition also emerged in its fullest expression of anti-Semitism. It spread to neighboring Portugal (as the Portuguese Inquisition), where King João II and Manuel I exiled thousands of Jews to São Tomé, Príncipe, and Cape Verde in 1496.

The Portuguese soon brought slaves from the West African coast. Positioned on trade routes between Africa, Europe, and the New World, the archipelago prospered from the transatlantic slave trade during the 16th century. Sao Tiago and Fogo hosted slave plantations growing sugar and cotton for shipment to Portugal, and producing panos (cotton cloth) for export to West Africa. Massive amounts of salt were produced on Maio, Boa Vista, and Sal, sold to cod fishermen. Horses were reared on Santiago and shipped to the African coast as well.

Settlements began to appear on other islands. São Filipe was founded in 1500; Ponta do Sol and Ribeira Grande were founded in the mid-16th century (when its first settlers also arrived in Madeira and Ribeira Brava on São Nicolau. Povoação Velha on Boa Vista, Furna, Nova Sintra on Brava, and Palmeira on Sal were later founded.

Cabo Verdean society at this period was deeply segregated and hierarchical. At the top were the peninsula-born Portuguese whites, mostly government officials, soldiers, and the upper clergy. The next group were the brancos da terra, the local whites, with the earliest settlers and their descendants, the morgados, chief among them. Free pardos (mulattos) and pretos (blacks) came next, and the escravos (slaves) were at the bottom.

The islands' prosperity encouraged sacking by pirates, particularly during the period of the Iberian Union 1580-1640, when Spain's enemies, the British, French, and Dutch, raided Portuguese colonies. Sir Francis Drake sacked Ribeira Grande in 1582, captured the island in 1585 and raided Cidade Velha, Praia and São Domingos.

17th and 18th centuries

During the 17th century, Algerian corsairs established a base on the Cape Verde islands. They raided Madeira in 1617, stealing the church bells and taking 1,200 people captive.

Given the scarcity of capital for the region's development, the Portuguese Finance and Overseas Councils authorized the 1664 foundation of the Guinea Coast Company. The company aimed at the slave trade, ending individual tenancy and encouraging slave companies. The Company of Cacheu and Rivers and Commerce of Guinea, which operated between 1676 and 1682, was succeeded by the Company of Cacheu and Cape Verde in 1690.

Pico do Fogo erupted in 1680, which resulted in the movement of the population to Brava and other regions (including Brazil). For a few years, the volcano was a natural lighthouse for sailors. The latter decades of the 17th century also saw the first emigration flows from the islands to North America. Whales abounded in the waters around Cape Verde, and whaling ships from Massachusetts and Rhode Island recruited local crewmen who knew the currents and weather from the islands of Brava and Fogo. These outflows would continue for centuries.

As a result of the 1712 French Cassard expedition in which Ribeira Grande was destroyed, the capital was partially moved to Praia. With the Portuguese increasingly sidelined in Atlantic trade, Cape Verde became a poor backwater. By 1740, the island was a supply point for American slave ships and whalers. This began a stream of male immigration to the American colonies. Praia, with its natural harbor, became the permanent capital in 1770 as the plantation economy diminished in importance relative to trade and naval supply.

In 1747, the islands were hit with the first of several droughts and famines which have plagued them ever since at average five-year intervals. The situation was made worse by deforestation and overgrazing, which destroyed the ground vegetation that provided moisture. Three major droughts during the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in well over 100,000 people starving to death. The Portuguese government sent little relief during the droughts.

In 1758 the Grão Pará and Maranhão Company was granted a 20-year monopoly on all trade in Cape Verde and the West African coast. Its agents ruthlessly exploited the islands' inhabitants, commandeering panos, liquor, food, and other supplies regardless of droughts and famines. Many were recruited for service in Guinea. Construction of the Fortaleza de São José da Amura in Bissau cost more than 2,600 lives, most of them Cabo Verdean laborers. Textiles were smuggled and sold on the black market. Between 1766 and 1776, 95,000 "barafulas" (Cape Verdean textiles) were imported to the Guinean coast.

Pico do Fogo again erupted in 1769. This was the last time it erupted from the top, although it also erupted in 1785 and 1799. Another famine, affecting Brava and Fogo, began in 1774; 20,000 people starved. Fogo's population dropped from 5,700 to 4,200 around 1777. The Company's mismanagement made the situation worse, as they sold desperately needed food and raised the prices of what little was available. In 1778 the monopoly ended, and the Portuguese created the Province of Cabo Verde e Guine.

Although Portugal was neutral in the Anglo-French War and American Revolutionary War, British and French squadrons fought the Battle of Porto Praya off Praia on 16 April 1781.

19th century

Mindelo (originally Nossa Senhora da Luz) was founded in 1795, Pedra de Lume on Sal in 1799, and Santa Maria in early 1830 on the same island. Praia (the colonial capital) was modernized in 1822, expanding northward.

In the aftermarth of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, slave trader Manuel António Martins used the unrest to form a junta with other leading civilians, driving the governor out and ruling the islands until 1823. Martins was officially appointed prefect of the province in 1833. Soon after he took office, he disbanded the branco-dominated militias. When, in 1835, some conservative officers in the local garrison mutinied, the disaffected brancos accused Martins of abetting the plot and arrested him. A new governor, Joaquim Pereira Marinho, arrived in September to restore order. He attempted to start local fishing companies, where previously Cape Verdean had been banned from owning boats for fear of slaves escaping, but his successor cancelled the project.

The British established a station in Mindelo to refuel ships with coal, water, and other supplies beginning in 1839, and the city flourished. Two attempts to move the colonial capital from Praia were made: a plan to move to Picos in 1831 when another famine struck Cape Verde, and Mindelo was proposed in 1838. Many people did not want to move the colonial capital, and it remained in Praia. Two submarine telegraph cables were linked in 1874 to Pernambuco, Brazil and to Cameroon via Bathurst in the Gambia in 1885.

The system of morgados was abolished in 1863, and slavery in 1864, but much of the population remained dependent on their former masters, renting or sharecropping land. The decline of the slave trade dealt a blow to Cape Verde's economy. The shipping traffic at Mindelo, however, served as an important engine of economic activity. Ships plying the South Atlantic to and from Africa and Asia stopped at Mindelo for coal, salt, meat, water, and wine imported from Madeira and the Azores. In 1890 a total of 156 ships unloaded 657,633,588 metric tons of coal there, and the port was visited by 2,264 ships carrying 344,907 persons.

20th century

Throughout much of the 20th century, the colonial government organized forced emigration to supply "contract" labor for Portugal's tropical colonies. Between 1900 and 1970, particularly during periods of famine when people were desperate, some 80,000 Cabo Verdeans were shipped to the plantations of Sao Tome e Principe, and more than 7,000 to Angola and Mozambique.

Mindelo became the most-used transatlantic telegraph station in 1912. A total of 669 ships were refueled each year at the port, reaching 1,927 ships a decade later. When gasoline began to be used as fuel, however, Mindelo could not rival the improved port facilities of Las Palmas on Grand Canary or nearby Dakar in Senegal. The Suez Canal had also rerouted much of the maritime traffic out of the south Atlantic. The use of coal declined, leading to a coal strike in 1912 due to insufficient work. When the Great Depression began in 1930, ship activity ended.

Two of Cabo Verde's worst-ever famines occurred in 1941-43 and 1947-48, killing an estimated 45,000 people. The massive disaster was not reported in the Portuguese press, and no food aid was sent, due to World War II. Half the population of Fogo perished. Portuguese authorities forbade reporting on the deaths or even the use of the word "famine."

Espargos, in the centre of the island of Sal was founded in the late 1940s as the last Portuguese airport town. From 1950 to 1970, the number of flights increased. Espargos became an important stop for Alitalia's Portuguese-Brazilian flights and South African Airways' (SAA) 1967 flights between London and Johannesburg. The airline had to use the airport because to the international boycott of South Africa due to its apartheid policy.

In 1952, the Portuguese government planned to transfer over 10,000 settlers to the island of São Tomé in São Tomé and Príncipe (another Portuguese colony) to work on plantations. Africans came primarily from the islands of São Nicolau, Santiago, Santo Antão, Fogo, and Brava. When the two colonies became independent, many people left for Europe and the United States, and few returned to Cape Verde. Several famines occurred at this time due to poor harvests, the Second World War, and a poor response from the Portuguese colonial administration. Until and during the Portuguese Colonial War, those planning and fighting in the armed conflict in Portuguese Guinea often linked the liberation of Guinea-Bissau to liberation in Cape Verde; in 1956, Amílcar and Luís Cabral founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.

Independence movement
Although Cape Verde was neglected by Portugal, Portuguese treatment of Cape Verdeans was differed from their treatment of other colonized peoples; the people of Cape Verde fared slightly better than Africans in other Portuguese colonies because of their lighter skin. A small minority received an education, and Cape Verde was the first African-Portuguese colony to have an institution of higher education. By the time of independence, one-quarter of the population could read (compared to five percent in Portuguese Guinea, present-day Guinea-Bissau).

Literate Cape Verdeans became aware of the pressures for independence which were building on the mainland. The islands continued experiencing droughts, famines, epidemics and volcanic eruptions amid Portuguese government indifference. Thousands of people died of starvation during the first half of the 20th century. Although the nationalist movement appeared less fervent in Cape Verde than in Portugal's other African holdings, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, or PAIGC) was founded in 1956 by Amílcar Cabral and other pan-Africanists. Many Cape Verdeans fought for independence in Guinea-Bissau.

In 1926, Portugal had become a rightist dictatorship which regarded the colonies as an economic frontier to be developed in the interest of Portugal and the Portuguese. Famines, unemployment, poverty, and the failure of the Portuguese government to address those issues caused resentment, but Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar did not want to give up his colonies as easily as other European colonial powers had given up theirs.

After World War II, Portugal was intent on holding onto its former colonies (known since 1951 as overseas territories). When most former African colonies gained independence between 1957 and 1964, the Portuguese still held on. After the Pijiguiti Massacre, however, the people of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau fought one of the longest African liberation wars.

Like other colonies, autonomy was granted in 1972 and Portuguese Cape Verde held its only parliamentary elections in 1973 in which only Portuguese citizens could vote. Only 25,521 people registered to vote out of a total population of 272,071, and a total of 20,942 people voted. The Portuguese constitution banned political parties at the time, and most of the candidates were put forward by the ruling People's National Action movement; some civic associations, however, were allowed to nominate candidates.

After the 25 April 1974 Carnation Revolution, Cape Verde became more autonomous but continued to have an overseas governor until that post became a high commissioner. Widespread unrest forced the government to negotiate with the PAIGC, and agreements for an independent Cape Verde were on the table. Pedro Pires returned to Praia on 13 October after being exiled for over a decade. After his return, Portugal signed the 1975 Algiers Agreement. On 5 July in Praia, Portuguese Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves transferred power to National Assembly President Abilio Duarte. The colonial history of Cape Verde ended when Cape Verde become independent. There was no armed conflict in Cape Verde, and its independence resulted from negotiation with Portugal. The catalyst for independence was the PAIGC branch in Guinea-Bissau, which began an ultimately-successful war against the Portuguese there; this eventually compelled Portugal to accept independence for Cape Verde as well.

One-party rule
Immediately after a November 1980 coup in Guinea-Bissau (Portuguese Guinea declared independence in 1973 and was granted de jure independence in 1974), relations between the two countries became strained. Cape Verde abandoned its hope for unity with Guinea-Bissau, and formed the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV).

Responding to growing pressure for a political opening, the PAICV called an emergency congress in February 1990 to discuss proposed constitutional changes to end one-party rule. Opposition groups came together to form the Movement for Democracy (MpD) in Praia in April of that year, and campaigned for the right to contest the presidential election scheduled for December 1990. The one-party state was abolished on 28 September of that year, and the first multi-party elections were held in January 1991.

End of one-party rule
The MpD won a majority of the seats in the National Assembly. MpD presidential candidate António Mascarenhas Monteiro defeated the PAICV candidate, 73.5 percent to 26.5 percent. Legislative elections in December 1995 increased the MpD majority in the National Assembly, where the party held 50 of its 72 seats. A February 1996 presidential election returned Monteiro to office. In the presidential election campaign of 2000 and 2001, two former prime ministers (Pedro Pires and Carlos Veiga) were the main candidates. Pires was prime minister during the PAICV regime; Veiga was prime minister during most of Monteiro's presidency, stepping aside to campaign. In what might have been one of the closest races in electoral history, Pires won by 12 votes; he and Veiga each received nearly half the votes. Pires was narrowly re-elected in the 2006 elections.

Jorge Carlos Almeida Fonseca, President of Cape Verde since 2011, was re-elected in October 2016. Fonseca was supported by the Movement for Democracy (MpD). MpD leader Ulisses Correia e Silva has been prime minister since the 2016 elections, when his party ousted the ruling PAICV for the first time in 15 years. In April 2021, the ruling party, led by Prime Minister Jose Ulisses Correia e Silva, maintained its parliamentary majority in the election.

In October 2021, opposition candidate and former prime minister Jose Maria Neves of PAICV won Cape Verde's presidential election. On 9 November of that year, Neves was sworn in as president.

title: History of Cape Verde