Cape Verde Emigration and Immigration

Online Records

 * United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records
 * 1816-1931 Cabo Verde, passaportes, 1816-1931 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1821-1876 Passaportes, 1821-1876 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1836-1858 Cabo Verde, escravos (Slaves), images
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at Findmypast; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Cape Verde
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Cape Verde, index and images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Africa, index and images ($)


 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Cape Verde, index and images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Africa, index and images ($)


 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Cape Verde
If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Cape Verde, see Cape Verde Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Cape Verde Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Immigration

 * The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited when the Portuguese landed there in 1456. Slaves and Arabs from adjacent West Africa were brought to the islands to work on Portuguese plantations. As a result, many Cape Verdeans, are of mixed ethnicity (mestiços in Portuguese). European ancestors also include Italian, and French.
 * Italian seamen were granted land by the Portuguese Empire, followed by Portuguese settlers, exiles, and Portuguese Jews (lançados) who were victims of the Inquisition. Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled in Cape Verde as their permanent country. Most of them were Dutch, French, British, Spanish, (English), Arab and Jewish (from Lebanon and Morocco).

Emigration

 * Prior to independence in 1975, many thousands of people emigrated from drought-stricken Portuguese Cape Verde, formerly an overseas province of Portugal. Because these people arrived using their Portuguese passports, they were registered as Portuguese immigrants by the authorities.
 * Today, more Cape Verdeans live abroad than in Cape Verde itself, with significant emigrant Cape Verdean communities in Brazil and in the United States (102,000 of Cape Verdeans descent in the U.S., with a major concentration on the New England coast from Providence, Rhode Island, to New Bedford, Massachusetts).
 * In 2008, Portugal’s National Statistics Institute estimated that there were 68,145 Cape Verdeans who legally resided in Portugal. This made up "15.7% of all foreign nationals living legally in the country."

Records of Cape Verdean Emigrants in Their Destination Nations

 * Portugal Emigration and Immigration
 * Brazil Emigration and Immigration
 * United States Emigration and Immigration

For Further Reading
There are additional sources listed in the FamilySearch Catalog: