• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / World / Which Islands Are The Driest In The World?

Which Islands Are The Driest In The World?

July 24, 2020 by Karen Hill

Cape Verde is a cape in Africa. Cape Verde is also the name of a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles from the Cape Verde in Africa. Consisting of ten islands and five islets, this nation has an area of just 1,557 square miles, smaller than the state of Delaware!

The Cape Verde Islands were discovered in 1460 by Portuguese seamen. Uninhabited when discovered, the islands in the 1980s had a population of about 314,000 people. Portuguese is the official language, but each island has a dialect of its own! Cape Verde became an independent nation in 1975.

The islands of Cape Verde are volcanic in origin, and seven of the larger islands are mountainous. One peak in the Cape Verde Islands is more than 9,000 feet high, higher than any mountain in Portugal or anywhere else in the once vast Portuguese Empire!

Lying at the same latitude as the Sahara Desert, the Cape Verde Islands are hot and dry. Drought is always a problem, even though the nation is surrounded by water.

Cape Verde is very poor, with no railroads, no television, and few telephones. Much of the nation’s income comes from the refueling of ships and planes that stop over on their way elsewhere.

Related Facts

  • Which Country Do the Galápagos Islands Belong To and How Many People Live On the Galapagos Islands?
  • Which Is the Driest Continent In The World?
  • Which Continent Is the Highest, the Driest, and the Coldest in the World and How Cold Is Antarctica?
  • How Did the Virgin Islands Become Part of the United States and Why Did the U.S. Purchase the Islands?
  • Why Are the Galapagos Islands So Unique and How Did Charles Darwin Help Make the Galapagos Islands Famous?
  • How Many Islands Make Up the Country of Japan and What Are the Four Largest Islands In the Archipelago?

Filed Under: World

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Country Has the World’s Largest Average Family?
Next Post: What’s the Difference Between The Gambia River and The Gambia? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2021 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy