Cape Verde: Crioulo Colony To

Independent Nation Richard A. Lobban

Jr.
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/cape-verde-crioulo-colony-to-independent-nation-rich
ard-a-lobban-jr/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Insight Guides Pocket Cape Verde 1st Edition Insight

Guides

https://textbookfull.com/product/insight-guides-pocket-cape-
verde-1st-edition-insight-guides/

A Colony in a Nation 1st Edition Chris Hayes

https://textbookfull.com/product/a-colony-in-a-nation-1st-
edition-chris-hayes/

No Fist Is Big Enough to Hide the Sky The Liberation of

Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde 1963 74 Basil Davidson

https://textbookfull.com/product/no-fist-is-big-enough-to-hide-
the-sky-the-liberation-of-guinea-bissau-and-cape-
verde-1963-74-basil-davidson/

Juniper MX Series A Comprehensive Guide to Trio

Technologies on the MX 2nd Edition Douglas Richard
Hanks Jr.

https://textbookfull.com/product/juniper-mx-series-a-
comprehensive-guide-to-trio-technologies-on-the-mx-2nd-edition-
douglas-richard-hanks-jr/
World Whisky A Nation by Nation Guide to the Best
Distillery Secrets Dk

https://textbookfull.com/product/world-whisky-a-nation-by-nation-
guide-to-the-best-distillery-secrets-dk/

Belonging to the Steer Brothers Cape Falls 2 1st

Edition Sam Crescent

https://textbookfull.com/product/belonging-to-the-steer-brothers-
cape-falls-2-1st-edition-sam-crescent/

Program Evaluation for Social Workers: Foundations of

Evidence-Based Programs Richard M. Grinnell Jr

https://textbookfull.com/product/program-evaluation-for-social-
workers-foundations-of-evidence-based-programs-richard-m-
grinnell-jr/

The Rough Guide to Cape Town Winelands Garden Route 6th

Edition Rough Guides

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-rough-guide-to-cape-town-
winelands-garden-route-6th-edition-rough-guides/

Producer to Producer A Step by Step Guide to Low Budget

Independent Film Producing 2nd Edition Maureen Ryan

https://textbookfull.com/product/producer-to-producer-a-step-by-
step-guide-to-low-budget-independent-film-producing-2nd-edition-
maureen-ryan/
 ISBN 0-8133-3562-0

,!7IA8B3-d fgcj!:t;K;k;K;k
Routledge
www.routledge.com

6.00 x 9.00 .467 6.00 x 9.00

,!7IA8B3-ddfgcj!
Cape Verde
 NATIONS OF THE MODERN WORLD: AFRICA

Larry W. Bowman, Series Editor

Cape Verde: Crioulo Colony to Independent Nation,

Richard A. Lobban, Jr.

Madagascar: Conflicts of Authority in the Great Island,

Philip M. Allen

Kenya: The Quest for Prosperity, Second Edition,

Norman Miller and Rodger Yeager

Zaire: Continuity and Political Change in an Oppressive State,

Winsome ). Leslie

Gabon: Beyond the Colonial Legacy, James F. Barnes

Guinea-Bissau: Power, Conflict, and Renewal in a West African Nation,

joshua B. Forrest

Namibia: The Nation After Independence,

Donald L. Sparks and December Green

Zimbabwe: The Terrain of Contradictory Development,

Christine Sylvester

Mauritius: Democracy and Development in the Indian Ocean,

Larry W. Bowman

Niger: Personal Rule and Survival in the Sahel, Robert B. Charlick

Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability,
Ibrahim K. Sundiata

Mali: A Search for Direction, Pascal )ames Imperato

Tanzania: An African Experiment, Second Edition, Rodger Yeager

Sao Tome mzd Principe: From Plantation Colony to Microstate,

Tony Hodges and Malyn Newitt

Zambia: Between Two Worlds, Marcia M. Burdette

Mozambique: From Colonialism to Revolution, 1900-1982,

Allen Isaacman and Barbara Isaacman
CAPE VERDE
Crioulo Colony
to Independent Nation

RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.

~~ ~~o~!~~~~;oup
New York London
 To the loving memory of my father,
who passed away while this was being written,
and to my mother, whose wisdom and guidance
will always be appreciated

Nations of the Modern World: Africa

First published 1995 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright© 1995 Taylor & Francis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identi-
fication and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in -Publication Data

Lobban, Richard.
Cape Verde: Crioulo colony to independent nation I Richard A.
Lobban, )r.
p. em. - (Nations of the modern world. Africa)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-8451-6 ISBN 0-8133-3562-0
1. Cape Verde-History. I. Title. II. Series.
DT67l.C25L62 1995
966.58-dc20 94-45834
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-8133-3562-9 (pbk)

 Contents

List of Tables and Illustrations 1x

Preface and Acknowledgments x1

1 INTRODUCTION

Geographic Location 4
am~ 5
Linkages to the Wider World 6

2 THE HISTORICAL SETTING 10

The Earliest Times 10

The Golden Age of Portuguese Maritime Exploration 13
The Discovery and Settlement of Cape Verde 16
Struggle to Control the African Coast 18
Feudalism and Slavery 22
The Slave Trade 23
The Brazil-Cape Verde Connection 29
The Final Collapse of Slavery in Cape Verde 38
Cape Verde: The Colonial Inheritance 40

3 SOCIETY AND CULTURE 47

The Demography of Cape Verde 47

Sex Ratios 48
Life Expectancy, Mortality, Fertility, and Natural Increase 48
Urbanization so
Class and Social Structure so
Race and Racism in Cape Verde 53
Race and Racism: Victims and Victimizers 57
Other Social Groups in Cape Verdean and Guinean Society 60
Bad ius 61
Drought and Famine 62

VII
viii Contents

Maritime Trades 64
Religion in Cape Verde 65
The Origins of Crioulo Culture 67
Crioulo Cultural Markers 75
Women in Cape Verde 82
Cultural Conclusions 85

4 RADICALS, SOLDIERS, AND DEMOCRATS:

POLITICS IN CAPE VERDE 87

The Struggle for Independence 87

The War of National Liberation, 1963 to 1974 92
Politics Under the PAIGC, 1975 to 1990 100
Toward One Party, Two States, 1975 to 1980 102
One Party, One State, 1980 to 1990 113
Two Parties, One State, 1990- 116

5 PEASANTS, SOCIALISTS, AND CAPITALISTS:

ECONOMICS IN CAPE VERDE 125

From Subsistence to Consumption 126

The Economics of Island Ecology 128
The Macroeconomic Structure 129
The Microeconomic Structure 134
Other Contributors to the Economy 141
The MpD Strategies for Economic Development, 1991- 143

6 CONCLUSION: CAPE VERDE ATTHE END

OFTHETWENTIETH CENTURY 145

Cultural Identity as "Currency" 146

Cape Verdean Politics: From Populism to Pluralism 148
Realistic Social and Economic Development 149

List ofAcronyms 153

Notes 156
Selected Bibliography 170
About the Book and Author 177
Index 178
 Tables and Illustrations

TABLES

2.1 Ethnic Origins of African Slaves in the New World, 1526-1550 25

2.2 Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Slave Ships to Cape Verde 26
2.3 Number of Spanish Slave Ships Departing Cape Verde and
Guinea, 1551-1640 27
2.4 Ethnic Origins of Africans in the Slave Trade, 1856 32
2.5 Number of Slaves in Cape Verde with Known Origins, 1856 33
2.6 Inventory of Registered Slaves by Gender and Owners, 1856 33
2.7 Age Profile of the 1856 Slave Population 34
2.8 Slave Price Ranges by Age 35
3.1 Population of Cape Verde, Census Years 1550-1990 48
3.2 Population oflndividual Cape Verde Islands, 1580-1990 49
3.3 Population ofTwo Urban Centers in Cape Verde, 1983-1990 51
3.4 Percentage of "Racial" Composition of Cape Verde 55
3.5 Cape Verdean Interisland Slave Commerce, 1856 72
4.1 Results of 1991 Elections 119
5.1 Cape Verdean Exports of Goods and Services 127
5.2 Cape Verdean Imports of Goods and Services 128
5.3 Gross Production by Economic Sector 130
5.4 Ten Main Contributors to the Cape Verdean GNP 131
5.5 Cape Verde Island Commerce in 1988 132
5.6 Agricultural Production 135
5.7 Number of Head of Major Livestock 137
5.8 Recent Values of Fish Catches 138
5.9 Fish Exports, 1982-1988 139
5.10 Origin ofTourists to Cape Verde, 1986-1988 141

MAPS

Upper Guinea Coast and Cape Verde Islands 2

Cape Verde Islands 4
Ilha de Sao Tiago 7
Historical map of Cape Verde Islands and African coast, ca. 1570 19

ix
X Tables and Illustrations

PHOTOGRAPHS
Village of Cova de Joana, Brava Island 5
Cape Verdean pano, used in dress, dance, and the slave trade 8
Hon6rio Barreto, first Cape Verdean governor of Guinea-Bissau 37
Small Catholic church, built in 1855, Sal Island 39
Hebrew headstone in Varzea Cemetery, Sao Tiago Island 56
Hunting for sea turtles (sixteenth-century print) 65
Church group photo, ca. 1930, Brava Island 66
Mountain home, Santo An tao Island 77
Political slogan in Bissau: "One People, One Country" 103
Portuguese Troops in Praia, Sao Tiago, 1975 104
Voting poster, PAIGC referendum, Sao Vicente, 1975 107
Jorge Barbosa Preparatory School, Sao Vicente Island, 1992 121
Town and harbor at Mindelo, Sao Vicente Island 140
Salt works, Sal Island, 1992 142
Faces of the future, Sao Tiago 151
 Preface and Acknowledgments

THrs BOOK REPRESENTS a long evolutionary process that began in 1964 in Dares
Salaam, Tanzania, when I built and taught in a school for refugees from southern
and Portuguese Africa. My involvement in the struggle against Portuguese colo-
nialism was inspired by Eduardo Mondlane, a neighbor and the founder of the
Frente de Libertac~o de Mozambique (FRELIMO), the liberation movement in
Mozambique. Later, while working as a staff journalist for Southern Africa Maga-
zine (published in New York) in the early 1970s, I covered the nationalist war in
Guinea-Bissau firsthand by crossing that nation on foot and by dugout canoe. For
this unique opportunity I thank the Partido Africano da Independencia da Guine
e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) for providing a military guard for my travel in contested
areas in Guinea-Bissau during 1973. Likewise, I am grateful to the respective
PAIGC governments for the practical support they provided for my travels in
Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde in 1975 and to the Movimento para Democracia
(MpD) government of Cape Verde for allowing me to consult archives and librar-
ies and speak with government officials, members of the opposition Partido
Africano da Independencia de Cabo Verde (PAICV), and other citizens of the in-
dependent Republic of Cape Verde in 1992. In the field of African studies, such
freedoms are not granted automatically.
This book has also evolved over more than two decades of writing and teaching
about Cape Verde and West Africa at Rhode Island College, which houses the
widely recognized and often visited Cape Verdean Studies Special Collection. In
many ways over many years, I am especially grateful for the collegial interaction,
support and encouragement, and intellectual stimulation provided by Deirdre
Meintel, Marilyn Halter, Marlene Lopes, and Waltraud Coli. Deirdre has pio-
neered in the complex anthropology of colonial Cape Verde. Marilyn and I
coauthored a historical reference book on the islands, and her outlook has con-
tributed substantially to the present work. Marlene and I are now writing the third
edition of that work, and as the reference librarian of the Cape Verdean Studies
Special Collection, she has endlessly shared ideas, information, and citations with
me. Waltraud and I have coauthored a history of Cape Verdeans in Rhode Island, a
project that grew out of her master's thesis on Cape Verdean ethnicity at Rhode Is-
land College.

xi
xii Preface and Acknowledgments

I have gained much from the fruitful collaboration of each of these friends and
colleagues. It would be difficult to acknowledge all the ways in which they have as-
sisted me, but I believe this book is the result of a collective intellectual effort for
which I credit my friends; however, I accept the blame for all remaining errors.
The names of those in and around the Cape Verdean-American community
who offered valuable assistance are too many to be noted in full, but several indi-
viduals deserve special recognition. I am especially grateful to Claire Andrade-
Watkins, Ron Barboza, Matt Barros, David Baxter, Sam Beck, Vanessa Brito, Joe
Cardosa, Mindy Carvalho, Tony Da Moura, Francisco Fernandes, Virginia
Goncalves, Katherine Hagedorn, Susan Hurley-Glowa, Oling Jackson, Danny
Lima, Jose Lopes, Luis Lopes, Thomas Lopes, Fatima Monteiro, Eva Nelson, Al-
bert Pereira, Maria Rodrigues, Joao Rosario, Yvonne Smart, and Joao Soares.
Within the formally recognized Cape Verdean Sub-Committee of the Rhode Is-
land Heritage Commission there has been a solid base of encouragement and sup-
port. Two bibliographer-librarians also deserve special recognition: Paul Cyr at
the New Bedford (Massachusetts) Public Library and Gretchen Walsh at the Afri-
can Studies Center at Boston University. Appreciation is also extended to Robert
Tidwell, who provided critical advice in computer processing and tolerated my
endless questions. The original maps in this book were professionally drafted by
cartographer Richard E. Grant, to whom I offer much gratitude.
In Cape Verde, appreciation goes to many as well: For their special assistance in
the recent or distant past, I thank Jose Maria Almeida, Jose Araujo, Humberto
Cardosa, Francisco Fernandes, John Grabowski, Ross Jaax, Terry McNamara,
Lineu Miranda, Antonio Neves, Henrique and Pedro Pires, Joao Pires and his
family, Helena Ruivo, and Joe Sconce.
My knowledge of the ethnomusicology of Cape Verde was significantly ad-
vanced by my association with Peter Manuel, Susan Hurley-Glowa, and Katherine
Hagedorn. Nelson Kasfir at Dartmouth College has been very helpful in sharpen-
ing my focus on the development of democracy and political systems in Africa.
Very important financial assistance for the research done in 1992 was provided
by the West Africa Research Association at the Smithsonian Institution. Without
this, the critical update of information about Cape Verde would simply not have
been possible. To this was added generous financial support from the Rhode Is-
land College Faculty Research Fund. I am most grateful for their help in under-
writing the considerable travel costs incurred in research in the remote Cape
Verdean archipelago. This allowed me to study some of the important transfor-
mations that have emerged in the period of plural democracy in Cape Verde. At
Westview Press, Senior Editor Barbara Ellington, Assistant Editor Kathleen
McClung, and Series Editor Larry Bowman have also provided constructive ad-
vice. Editorial scrutiny by Marianne Fluehr is very gratefully acknowledged.
 Preface and Acknowledgments xiii

Thanks also to Carolyn and Josina Fluehr-Lobban for putting up with me dur-
ing the many months that passed while working on this project. A very special
thank-you goes to Nichola Fluehr-Lobban, my eleven-year-old daughter and "re-
search assistant" who accompanied me during my five-week stay in Cape Verde in
the summer of 1992.

Richard A. Lobban, Jr.

Pawtuxet Village, Rhode Island
 1

INTRODUCTION

THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS are not well known to the world at large. There are
only nine significant islands in this West African and Atlantic archipelago, and
their combined population is only one-third of a million. Yet these islands are re-
markably complex in their history and composition. Indeed, such a simple matter
as conceptualizing their location is more difficult than one might expect. 1
Although the islands may have been visited before the Portuguese arrived,
Cape Verdean history essentially starts with the settlers from Portugal and their
slaves in the 1460s. From that point forward, for more than five centuries, the is-
lands' history was characterized by Portuguese colonialism and a synthesis of the
Crioulo culture. Throughout this period, the Portuguese regarded Cape Verde as
an integral part of metropolitan Portugal; its position was much like that of the
state of Hawaii in relation to the mainland United States. The islands have also
been at the center of major oceanic crossroads. Today, they are home to Portu-
guese, Nigerians, Guineans, Senegalese, and other West Africans. The diverse
Cape Verdean population also includes descendants of Spaniards, English, Ital-
ians, Brazilians, Sephardic Jews, Lebanese, Dutch, Germans, Americans, and even
Japanese and Chinese. Much of the islands' genetic ancestry can be traced to Afri-
can groups who spoke the Fula, Mandinka, and various Senegambian languages.
The "purely" Portuguese have always been in the minority, but it is largely from
them that the dominant language, culture, and politics have been derived. To
characterize Cape Verde as a society descended from slaves is correct to a degree,
but it is also a society descended from slavers, free citizens, and refugees.
Like most modern populations, the fundamental essence of the Cape Verdean
people reflects enduring patterns of connection to all continents across the
oceans. In this respect, Cape Verde is like a miniature version of any multiethnic
modern state. To focus on Cape Verde, one must use a wide-angle lens to see the
critical linkages to Europe, West Africa, and the New World and find all the points
 N

q
". \;=

I CAPE VERDE 16°N ---1-------r

ISLANDS

oO ~~am
--'\_\
ocrJ-~ Dakar

ATLANTIC
7-~
p~ )~
~·-

UPPER GUINEA COAST -12°N 1'i

AND
CAPE VERDE ISLANDS
0 Capital
MILES
v 100 200 300

KILOMETERS
100 200 300
.,,
.
----~----------+--------8°N--+----------+--~~

26°W 22°W 18"W ww

 Introduction 3

of origin, articulation, and destination of the Cape Verdean people. A view of Eu-
rope, especially Portugal, is required to detect the roots of the political and eco-
nomic power that dominated Cape Verde for the vast part of its history. 2 The ties
to West Africa must be explored as well, not only because so many thousands of
Cape Verdean ancestors came from the Upper Guinea coast but also because Cape
Verde was the official, formal, and effective command post on the Guinea coast
for the Portuguese until the late nineteenth century. Moreover, most grants to
Portuguese or Brazilian trading monopolies in Cape Verde simulaneously in-
cluded the "Rivers of Guinea." 3
For simplicity, I use the term Guinea-Bissau ("Rivers of Guinea") to refer to to-
day's Republic of Guinea-Bissau, which was known as Portuguese Guinea in colo-
nial times. By using this term, I also distinguish this nation from neighboring
Guinea-Conakry. However, for the longest part of the history of Cape Verde, the
colonial administration included both the islands and steadily diminishing por-
tions of the Upper Guinea coast. The last remaining part of Portuguese territory
in this region was in Guinea-Bissau.
In the following chapters, I will describe the many ways in which the histories,
peoples, and policies of these two lands are linked. Even the war of national inde-
pendence, waged from 1963 to 1974 in Guinea-Bissau, had as its central goal the
joint liberation and administration of the two lands. The strategy of the national-
ist movement and political party-the Partido Africano da Independencia da
Guine e Cabo Verde (PAIGC)-was to struggle for independence in the forests of
Guinea and pressure the Portuguese in Lisbon to release their historical hold on
the Cape Verde Islands. The connections between these regions are also revealed
in the fact that some of the leading Portuguese military officers who were defeated
in Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique were the same men who toppled colonial
fascism in Lisbon and negotiated the independence of Cape Verde some months
later. The majority of the top revolutionary leaders in Guinea were of Cape
Verdean origin, including Amilcar Cabral, Luis Cabral, Aristides Pereira, and Pe-
dro Pires, all of whom fought in the forests of Guinea-Bissau. Pereira was the first
president of Cape Verde, and Pires was the first prime minister of the ruling
party-the Partido Africano da Independencia de Cabo Verde (PAICV)-from
1975 to 1991.
To understand Cape Verde (or Armenia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Palestine,
or Scotland), one must also study its diaspora communities: The connections to
the economy and power relations of the wider world are essential. In all these
cases, the majority of the people claiming a common nationality do not live in the
very nation that is the focus of their sentimental and even political allegiance. In
the case of Cape Verde, linkages to the port towns of Europe, to Sao Tome, to the
coast of West Africa, to Brazil and the Antilles, and especially to New England are
vital to the nation's history.
4 Introduction

~antaluzia Do
Sal

25"W
~ 24"W

CAPE VERDE ISLANDS

0 CAPrTAL

MILES

10 20 30 40 50
KILOMETERS
20 40 60

0
Maio

0
Brava

Geographic Location

Despite the term Verde ("green") in its name, Cape Verde (or Cabo Verde, in Por-
tuguese) was named not for its verdant plant growth or agriculture but for its jux-
taposition to Cap Vert (a French name) on the African coast-a point that had
been reached by the Portuguese almost twenty years before the islands themselves
were discovered. Although some think that the islands were named for their
greenness, the fifteenth-century diaries of Christopher Columbus specifically
noted the dry and barren Cape Verdean landscape; he considered the land's name
amrsnomer.
The Cape Verdean archipelago lies within a grid from 283 to 448 miles (452.8 to
716.8 km) off the coast of Senegal, or from 14°48' to 1T12' north latitude and
22°41' to 25°22' west longitude. Such data seem straightforward and clear today.
But early Portuguese navigators believed the islands were "just downstream" in
the Canary current, and even in twentieth-century Portuguese books, the islands
are conceptualized as being located 1,900 miles (3,040 km) south-southwest of
Lisbon. In the eighteenth century, when the interests of Brazilian slavers essen-
 Introduction 5

Village ofCova de Joana, Brava Island (Photo by Waltraud Berger Coli)

tially ruled Cape Verde, the archipelago's location could be reasonably defined as
1,500 miles (2,400 km) north-northeast of Brazil. The point here is that the loca-
tion of Cape Verde was conceptualized primarily by outsiders, according to the in-
terests they had in the islands, and even some modern Cape Verdeans are as likely
to focus on its location relative to Europe or New England rather than to the
nearby African coast. Many of the complex issues of Cape Verdean ethnicity and
identity relate to this sense of location. Clearly, the question of location involves
more than longitude and latitude; it is also a matter of attitude and self-con-
sciousness.

Climate

One might imagine that an African republic of oceanic islands would be lush and
moist, but the Cape Verdean archipelago is better understood as a western exten-
sion of the Sahara Desert. In fact, the islands are extremely dry and have long been
troubled by cycles of prolonged drought. The two-season weather cycle of this re-
gion is caused by the north-south movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence
Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ is associated with hot, dry winters north of the zone and
hot, wet summer weather to the south of the zone. The clashing weather fronts of
the ITCZ in the region of Cape Verde also spawn hurricanes that regularly tor-
6 Introduction

ment the Caribbean and the east coast of the United States in the late summer
months. 4
The ITCZ usually reaches only the southernmost Cape Verde Islands. In some
years, it falls short of them, and there is simply no rain in the archipelago; in other
years, this ITCZ front moves farther north, and the drought cycle is broken. His-
torically, drought cycles in Cape Verde have caused great hardships-including
famine and many deaths-and led to endless waves of emigration. Seldom is the
rainfall adequate for extensive, self-sufficient agriculture, particularly because
much of the terrain is rocky and steep. With adequate rainfall, water conservation,
and careful irrigation, there is some potential for agriculture, and in recent de-
cades, widespread improvements have been made in this respect. Still, Cape
Verdeans must import much of their food supply, thereby consuming precious
foreign cash reserves.
There is also a microclimatic variation on islands with higher elevations (the
highest is 9,281 feet, or 2,821.4 m). At such elevations, the moisture of passing
clouds can condense at lower temperatures by the process of orographic, or
pluvogenic, cooling, which can cause rain at higher elevations. In turn, this gives
rise to some small but permanent springs and streams. But the flatter islands are
notorious for their very low levels of annual rainfall. Yearly variation in tempera-
ture is not great: It is seldom cooler than 68"F (22"C) or hotter than 80"F (2TC).
Altogether, there are twenty-one islands and islets in Cape Verde, but only nine
are regularly inhabited. These include Santo Antao, Sao Vicente (with its port of
Mindelo ), Sao Nicolau, Sal (with its international airport), Boa Vista, Maio, Sao
Tiago (with the capital, Praia), Fogo, and Brava. The islands together only cover
1,557 square miles (4,033 square kilometers)-just a little more territory than
Rhode Island. The terrain is overwhelmingly rocky and volcanic, and there is very
little topsoil, given the drought conditions and severe wind and water erosion. At
best, only 1.65 percent of the land is arable, and much of this has been abused by
absentee landowners and worn down by overgrazing (especially by sheep and
goats).
The general appearance of the islands resembles a lunar landscape, with tower-
ing rocky peaks on some islands and gravelly, sandy soils. The land is deeply
eroded, and there are extensive areas of very sparse settlement. Some of these vol-
canic islands, such as Sal, are almost flat; others are mountainous. Fogo, for exam-
ple, rises to a majestic cone and has experienced numerous eruptions in historical
times.

Linkages to the Wider World

The Cape Verde Islands have been both isolated from yet remarkably connected to
the major events of world history. Their remote location, hundreds of miles from
the nearest continent, has naturally made them vulnerable to neglect, oversight,
 Introduction 7

ILHA DE SAO TIAGO

15"w--
oo··

Legend
Capital
*
• Cities
0
Kilometers
10 20 30
Major Roads
Other Roads
©reg

and abuse. But the islands were also integrally linked to wider events, such as the
golden age of Portuguese discovery, the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama,
the pirate attacks by Francis Drake, and the provision of coal and fuel for the Brit-
ish empire. Cape Verde was critical in the slave trade, and it was visited by such
famed U.S. ships as Old Ironsides. The islands also hosted the American Africa
Squadron, used by the U.S. Navy for anti-slave trade patrols, and they figured in
Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution. In the liberation war fought
against Portuguese colonial rule in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde played a much
more significant role than one might expect. Clearly, this was due to the strategic
location of the archipelago: Sailors, slavers, colonialists, scientists, flyers, and
others enjoyed the security of the islands and also found their location convenient
for long-range travel to the farthest corners of the globe.
Following the struggles led by Amilcar Cabral, one of Africa's great twentieth-
century revolutionary thinkers and a Cape Verdean, this island republic gained its
independence in 1975. The theories and practices of Cabral are widely considered
8 Introduction

Cape Verdean pano, used in dress, dance, and the slave trade (Photo by Waltraud Berger
Coli)

to equal those of Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Fidel Castro, and Ho Chi
Minh. 5 Most recently, Cape Verde has witnessed the birth of plural democracy,
which resulted in a peaceful transition from the former ruling party-the
PAICV-to the opposition party that now governs-the Movimento para
Democracia (MpD). Cape Verde is regarded as a model democracy in West Africa,
a region where one-party states, military rule, and civil war are not uncommon.
During the 1992 elections in Angola, Cape Verdeans were specially selected by the
Organization of African Unity ( OAU) to play a supervisory role, and in the same
year, Cape Verdean diplomats served on the United Nations Security Council.
The most enduring resource and export of Cape Verde has been its people.
Cape Verdeans have long been a people on the move-traders on the Guinea
coast, colonial administrators for Portugal, revolutionaries in the national libera-
tion of Africa, sailors and whalers on U.S. schooners and barks, laborers in the
cranberry bogs of Cape Cod or the cocoa plantations of Sao Tome and Principe,
and merchant mariners around the world. Remittances sent home by Cape
Verdeans living and working in the nation's long-lasting diaspora have been vital
in sustaining the islands' population. 6
The natural resources in the archipelago also include the products of the sea-
diverse species of fish, turtles, and whales. And providing supplies and repairs for
passing ships has been an important part of the economy for centuries. Promi-
 Introduction 9

nent among traditional Cape Verdean crafts are the handwoven panos, cotton
cloths that served as a basic unit of currency in slave and coastal trade. Cape
Verdean livestock, especially horses, had a similar function, and other domestic
animals were used for ship supply and hide production. The islands' other natural
resources-salt, cotton, puzzolane, coffee, bananas, indigo, and urzella-had
varying importance over the years. Tourism in this land of sun and sand, where
there is little crime and no terrorism, will certainly be important in future devel-
opment.
This book provides a more detailed account of the historical features of the is-
lands, from discovery and settlement to the slave trade and independence. The
growth of Cape Verdean culture is also investigated. In the chapters that follow, I
will describe the evolution of contemporary Cape Verde and look closely at the
unique problems and solutions of this area's economic and political development.
 2

THE HISTORICAL
SElTING

THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS were uninhabited when they were first reached by the
Portuguese in the 1450s. However, given the very close cultural ties between the is-
lands and both Portugal and West Africa, it is worthwhile to consider the long his-
tory of these latter areas. The early European settlers and their African slaves im-
ported diverse cultural values, genetic bonds, and various musical and linguistic
traditions to the islands. Indeed, the process of becoming and being Cape Verdean
fundamentally reflects these earlier origins and the geographic context.

The Earliest Times

From an anthropological perspective, the search for roots can begin with anti-
quity. All human beings find their hominid ancestry leading back to eastern and
southern Africa's savannas millions of years ago. The poorly developed ancient ar-
chaeology of the West African savanna has not produced early hominid fossils,
but it is not unreasonable to assume that our ancestors ranged there as well. Saha-
ran rock paintings show hunters and gatherers in a much wetter Sahara before
5000 B.C.
Perhaps as early as 3000 to 4000 B.c., agriculture based on rain-fed cultivation
of millet and sorghum emerged in the West African savanna, especially along the
fertile banks of the Senegal and Niger Rivers. Livestock-herding ancestors of the
Saharan Berbers were probably present by 3000 B.c., judging from their images in
other rock paintings and from their relatives in North Africa.
Small-scale but permanently settled village society in the savanna emerged in
about the second millennium B.c., with livestock, hides, handicrafts, pottery, and
some agricultural surplus. Meanwhile, the forested regions of coastal West Africa

10
 The Historical Setting 11

were likely inhabited by relatively dispersed hunting and fishing peoples. Begin-
ning in the first millennium B.c., some of the Sahelian or savanna grassland crops,
such as millet, sorghum, watermelon, and sesame, were spreading into the forest
regions. By the end of that millennium, crops in the forested areas also included
the more important southeast Asian crops, such as wet rice, yams, bananas, man-
gos, and sugarcane; these had arrived in East Africa by ship and through trade and
were later dispersed by West African farmers. With the development of iron
smelting and the manufacture of farm tools and weapons, these foods could be
more effectively cultivated, resulting in an explosive spread of savanna peoples
into the forests in the centuries after Christ. There, they assimilated, enslaved, or
were absorbed by the original coastal inhabitants. Consequently, the cul-
turolingustic groups of the Upper Guinea coast became notably diversified and
dispersed. 1
As early as the seventh century B.c., Phoenician navigators sailing from either
Carthage or the Red Sea were likely the first non-Africans to circumnavigate the
African continent. 2 Fragmentary reports suggest that they were also the first to
sight the Cape Verde Islands or Hesperides, where they noted a smoking volcanic
island that could well correspond to Fogo. 3
Beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, the Phoenician voyagers established archaeo-
logically documented trade settlements on the Atlantic coasts of Africa and Portu-
gal. In Portugal, the Phoenicians had settlements in the Algarve, Tagus, and
Alentejo areas and exposed the ancient Portuguese to the technology they would
later use to explore the oceans. 4 Parts of Sahelian West Africa were brought into
contact with the Mediterranean world through the famed "silent barter trade." (In
this trading system, an individual left his or her goods in an appointed place, then,
after other goods of equal value were deposited there, the individuals would
gather those goods and depart.) Apparently, the Phoenicians acquired ivory, ele-
phants, hides, gold, and slaves.
At the brutal end of the Third Punic War in 146 B.c., the Romans replaced the
Phoenicians on land and sea; now Rome's ships sailed the Mediterranean and At-
lantic, and one Roman report spoke of sailors reaching West Africa and beyond. 5
Romans were rather insecure about travel to the West African savanna, even with
newly introduced camels, but some Sahelian products reached Roman North Af-
rica through Jewish intermediaries. In the south, the salt trade was conducted on a
modest scale. 6
Roman rule of Portugal and Spain had deep and enduring effects on culture
and language; this is obvious in urban layouts, aquaducts, and place-names. At
first, Christianity was opposed by the Roman Empire, but official conversion in
A.D. 312 brought this religion to the Iberian Peninsula, where it has remained
dominant. However, in the subsequent collapse of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476,
the entire region from North Africa to Western Europe fell into such disarray that
Berbers and Africans in the savanna and Suevi, Visigoth, and Jewish peoples in
12 The Historical Setting

Iberia found both insecurity and a risky but tempting opportunity. 7 In Sahelian
West Africa, religions blended a traditional animism, the worship of ancestors,
and a syncretic use of certain Hebrew and Christian icons. The trading states of
Tekrur and Ghana were located at this ecological and cultural nexus between the
savanna and the desert. The ancient West African and West European ancestors of
modern Cape Verdeans were already positioning themselves.
Into the great power vacuum in the mid-seventh century swept Arab armies,
bearing the new messianic religion of Islam. They advanced rapidly across North
Africa and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar in A.D. 711. Upon entering Europe, the
Moors began some seven centuries of occupation on the Iberian Peninsula and
advanced deep into France until they were halted at the Battle of Poi tiers in A.D.
732. For many centuries to come, crusading Europeans sought to reverse and
avenge these Moorish conquests.
Strengthened by their religious purpose and military success, the North African
Muslims also turned their attention southward across the vast Sahara. Ghana was
first noted on an Arab map of A.D. 770 by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al-Fazari,
who stimulated interest in this "land of gold." The Almoravids, or Islamized Ber-
bers and Arabs, who were already occupying Portugal then sought to spread Islam
to Sahelian African states-whose people sought gold and slaves from the hilly,
forested lands still farther southwest. 8 The conversion fervor brought the first
Muslim emperor to the Malian throne in A.D. 1050. In 1076, Muslim forces com-
pleted their conquest of Ghana, thereby controlling the entire Maghreb as well as
most oflberia. 9
The process of Islamizing Europe and Africa prompted two very different reac-
tions. In Spain and Portugal, the final result was Christian revivalism, the Cru-
sades, and more centuries of religious rivalry. By the late eleventh century, the
Spaniards had already driven the Moors from northern Spain, and the Portuguese
were similarly mobilized. Christian resistance to Islam and the religious revival
movement would subsequently add to the political justification for fifteenth-cen-
tury Portuguese exploration and expansion.
In Africa, by contrast, Islam deepened its roots. Even when the Almoravid con-
trol of ancient Ghana collapsed in A.D. 1135, Islam survived and became more en-
trenched. Muslims were also active in the Atlantic; eleventh-century Moorish sail-
ors reportedly reached Sal Island in Cape Verde for salt supplies. The Muslim
scholar 'Abd Allah Muhammad Al-Idrisi cites Arab travelers from Lisbon who
went to the Canary Islands in the first half of the twelfth century and met Arabic-
speakers there. 10 Two Chinese writers from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
even claim that Arabs sailed west across the Atlantic from Casablanca for 100 days
to reach a land called "Mu-lan-pi;' which may have been the New World.U The
wide circulation of such information suggests the Portuguese were aware of the
Canaries and perhaps even of Cape Verde.
 The Historical Setting 13

Although their power in Iberia began to slip in the twelfth century, Moors still
held major towns in southern Spain. In Portugal, the erosion of Moorish control
was accelerated in A.D. 1143 when an independent monarchy was created, led by
the country's first Christian king, Afonso I ( 1112-1185). During the reign of
Afonso III (1248-1279), the Portuguese launched the Reconquista in the name of
Christ. This was further consolidated by King Afonso IV, who ruled from 1325 to
1357Y
Jewish cartographers in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Spain made de-
tailed descriptions of the Moroccan coast and Saharan interior. In 13 75, the Cata-
lan Atlas was published in Majorca, Spain, and is usually attributed to the famed
Jewish cartographer Abraham Cresques; this map shows the locations of theCa-
naries and the Atlantic coast of Morocco. 13
A fascinating tale from the historian of Mali Ibn FadlAllah Al-Umari related
that a great fleet of ships, perhaps under the command of Aboubacar II (son of the
great Mansa Musa), traveled from Malian territory on the Senegambian coast
westward across the Atlantic; however, no independent confirmation of this voy-
age is available. 14 By the late fourteenth century, as the Portuguese sought to learn
more of the huge ocean that washed their shores, their imagination turned sea-
ward. They hoped to either circumvent or combat their Moorish enemies in the
Maghreb-and to begin to discover a new world.
In 1380, far to the south along the coast of Senegal and Gambia, the African
kingdoms of the Wolof and Serer were becoming independent of a weakening
Mali Empire. These kingdoms and Mali had expanded southward to trap decen-
tralized Senegambian people against the coast. There, these Africans would soon
meet the Portuguese who were entering the same region from the ocean.

The Golden Age of Portuguese Maritime Exploration

The expulsion of the Moors in 1139 and the replacement of the Burgundian dy-
nasty of Portugal in 1389 by the House of Avis (Knights of Calatrava) sweetened
Portuguese dreams of maritime expansion. Other motivating factors included the
relatively small size of Portugal and its limited natural resources, especially of
gold-a commodity that was believed to be abundant in Guinea. The search for a
shorter route to Asia that would bypass the Arabs was yet another motivation.
The cultural and demographic resurrection following the plague epidemics may
also have added to the new impetus to look outward. Human curiosity stimulated
by the oral records of earlier Arab mariners and thoughts of great, unseen African
empires-endowed with unimaginable supplies of gold-tempted the Portuguese
adventurers even more.
14 The Historical Setting

From a technical point of view, the long Portuguese association with the Phoe-
nicians and Moors led to substantial maritime innovations and designs, such as
the carracks, the barcas, and the lateen sail of the caravel; navigational advances
included the compass, quadrant, sextant, astrolabe, and pilot books, as well as a
better understanding of astronomy and more precise cartography.
Venetian and Genoan merchants were already conducting their own explora-
tion, as a 1403 Genoan map of North Africa indicates. Similarly, the French trav-
eler Anselme d'Isalquier from Toulouse had pioneered in crossing the Sahara to
reach Gao in 1413. At last, at the start of the fifteenth century, the irresistable im-
pulse for oceanic exploration launched Portuguese ships, to begin the exploration
of the Atlantic coast of northwestern Africa. 15
This great Portuguese plunge into maritime exploration was taken mainly
during the reign of Joao I (1385-1433), especially by his son, Prince Henrique
(Henry). Prince Henry was emboldened to plan attacks against additional Moor-
ish lands following his capture of Ceuta, across from Gibraltar in 1415. His
chronicler, Gomes Eannes de Azurara, wrote a detailed account of this campaign
in his book Key to the Mediterranean. The great epoch of fifteenth-century Portu-
guese exploration along the coast of Africa was now under way. 16
Portuguese, Genoan, and Venetian merchant explorers and, later, settlers sail-
ing from the Algarve region and from Lisbon were contracted to embark on these
new voyages. The maritime history of West Africa at this period typically includes
information on the pilots chartered and supported by Prince Henry the Naviga-
tor, although the prince probably did not sail farther than Ceuta. However, in
1434, sailing for Prince Henry, Captain Gil Eannes reached Cape Bojador in the
former Spanish Sahara, just south of the Canaries. Encouraged by their newfound
reach, the Portuguese tried to seize Tangiers two years later, but they suffered de-
feat in this effort. They resumed their military initiative under the long reign of
Afonso V, from 1438 to 1481. Within this military context, the Portuguese took
their first Muslim slaves or war captives from Morocco and Mauritania in the
early 1440s. The slaves then saw domestic service in Portugal or labored in sugar-
cane plantations in the Madeira and Canary Islands. In this respect, the Portu-
guese were following an established practice for war captives taken by or from
their Muslim foes.
Captain An tao Gon<;:alves, the first Portuguese slave raider and trader of record,
made five voyages south of Cape Bojador from 1441 to 1447. In 1443, he and other
captains serving Prince Henry were granted monopolies for regional trade farther
south. By 1446, the Portuguese reached the coast of Guinea-Bissau. But Captain
Nufio Tristao discovered his trading and slaving missions there were unwelcomed
and opposed, and in about 1447, he was killed on the Upper Guinea coast by in-
habitants resisting his slaving efforts. The same year saw a Genoan traveler, Anto-
nio Malfante, cross the Sahara as far south as Tuat. 17 Another Genoan, Antonio
Usodimare, and the Venetian Alvise Cadamosto sailed their three caravels into the
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 PRESERVATION OF FOODS
All food for preservation should be kept in a clean, cool, dry, dark
place. Reduction in temperature to near freezing, and removal of
moisture and air stop bacterial development.
Drying, cooking, and sealing from the air will preserve some meats
and fruits, while others require such preservatives as sugar, vinegar
and salt. The preservative in vinegar is acetic acid.
All preservatives which are actual foods, such as sugar, salt and
vinegar, are to be recommended, but the use of antiseptic
preservatives, such as salicylic acid, formaldehyd, boracic acid,
alum, sulphur and benzonate of soda, all of which have been used
by many canning merchants, is frought with danger. The United
States Department of Agriculture holds, that by the use of such
preservatives, unscrupulous dealers may use fruits and vegetables
not in good condition.
There can be no doubt that, wherever possible, the best method
for the housewife to preserve food is to do her own drying, canning,
preserving and pickling of fruits and vegetables, which she knows
are fresh, putting up her own preserves, jams, jellies, pickles, syrups,
grape juice, etc.
Since economy in food lies in the least amount of money for the
greatest amount of nutriment, the preparation of simple foods in the
home, with a care that no more is furnished for consumption than the
system requires, is the truest economy in health and in doctor’s bills.
It is not more brands of prepared food which are needed, but
purity of elements in their natural state. A dish of wholesome, clean
oat meal has more nourishment and more fuel value than the
average prepared food.
In the effort to emphasize the importance of pure food in
amount and quality, pure air and pure water must not be
overlooked. Much infection is carried by these two
elements. Pure air, containing a normal amount of oxygen,
is absolutely necessary that the system may digest and
assimilate the foods consumed.
 COOKING
The cooking of food is as important as its selection, because the
manner of cooking makes it easier or more difficult of digestion. The
question of the proper selection and cooking of food is so vital to the
health and resultant happiness of every family, and to the strength
and well being of a nation, that every woman, to whom the cooking
for a family is entrusted, should have special preparation for her
work, and every girl should be given practical and theoretical training
in Dietetics in our public schools. The study is as dignified as the
study of music and art. Indeed it can be made an art in the highest
conception of the term. Surely the education of every girl in the
vocation, in which she sooner or later must engage, either actively or
by directing others, means more than education in music and
drawing. We must all eat two and three times every day; there are
few things which we do so regularly and which are so vital; yet in the
past we have given this subject less study than any common branch
in our schools. When the dignity of the profession of dietetics is
realized, the servant problem will be largely solved.
In cooking any food, heat and moisture are necessary, the time
varying from thirty minutes to several hours, according to different
foods. Baked beans and meats containing much connective tissue,
as boiling and roasting cuts, require the longest time.
The purposes in the cooking of foods are: the development of the
flavor, which makes the food appetizing, thus encouraging the flow of
gastric juice; the sterilization, thereby killing all parasites and micro-
organisms, such as the tape worm in beef, pork, and mutton, and the
trichinae in pork; the conversion of the nutrients into a more
digestible form, by partially or wholly converting the connective
tissue into gelatin.
 The fundamental principle to be observed in the
cooking of meat concerns the retention of the
Cooking of
Meats
juices, since these contain a large part of the
nutrition. The heat develops the flavor, and the
moisture, together with the heat, dissolves the connective tissue and
makes it tender.
A choice piece of meat may be toughened and made difficult of
digestion, or a tough piece may be made tender and easy to digest,
by the manner of cooking.

Soups. To make meat soups, the connective tissue, bone and

muscle should be put into cold water, brought slowly to the boiling
point and allowed to simmer for hours. It must be remembered that
the gelatin from this connective tissue does not contain the tissue
building elements of the albuminoids. These are retained in what
meat may be about the bones of the boiling piece and in the blood.
The albumin of meat is largely in the blood and it is the coagulated
blood which forms the scum on soup, if heated above a certain point;
the cook should boil the soup slowly, or much of the nutrition is lost
in the coagulated blood, or skum.

Roasting. The flavor and juice of the meat is best retained by

roasting. If it is put into a hot oven, with a little suet over the top, so
as to sear the meat with hot fat, and no water is put in the pan, it will
retain the juice and the flavor. Water draws out the extractives.
It is important to remember that the smaller the cut to be roasted,
the hotter should be the fire. An intensely hot fire coagulates the
exterior and prevents the drying up of the meat juice. After the
surface is coagulated and seared it should cook slowly.
 Unless the oven is sufficiently hot to sear the surface, the
moisture, or juice, will escape into the roasting pan and the
connective tissue will be toughened. A roast should be cooked in a
covered roaster to retain the moisture.
The roast should be turned as soon as one side is seared and just
sufficient water put into the pan to keep it from burning.
Frequent basting of a roast, with the fat, juice, and water in the
roasting pan, still further sears the surface, so that the juices do not
seep through and keeps the air in the pan moist; the heated moisture
materially assists in gelatinizing the connective tissue,—roasting
pans are now made which are self-basting.

Broiling. The same principle applies to broiling as to roasting. The

meat is put over a very hot flame and turned so as to quickly sear
both sides, to prevent the juice from oozing out. In fact, the best
broiled steaks are turned just as soon as the juice begins to drip, so
as to retain all juice in the meat.
Meat containing much connective tissue is not adapted to broiling,
because it takes too long for this tissue to become gelatinized.
Steak broiled in a skillet, especially round steak which has been
pounded to assist in breaking the connective tissue, is often first
dipped in seasoned flour, which is rubbed well into it. The flour
absorbs the meat juices so that none of them are lost. All meats
broiled in skillets should be put into a very hot skillet and one surface
seared, then should be turned so as to sear the other side. The
skillet should be kept covered so as to retain the moisture.

Boiling. In boiling meat, where the object is to eat the tissue itself,
it should be put into hot water, that the albumin on the surface may
be immediately coagulated and prevent the escape of the nutrients
into the water. It is impossible to make a rich broth and to have a
juicy, highly flavored piece of boiled meat at the same time. Meat is
best roasted or broiled when the meat tissue is to be eaten.
The boiling cuts contain more connective tissue, therefore they
require a much longer time to cook in order to gelatinize this tissue.
They are not as rich in protein as the steaks.
Meat soups, bouillons and broths contain very little nutriment, but
they do contain the extractives, and the flavors increase the flow of
digestive juices and stimulate the appetite. It is for this reason that
soups are served before a meal rather than for a dessert; they insure
a copious flow of gastric juice and saliva to act upon the crackers or
toast eaten with the soup. Many mistake the extractives and flavor
for nourishment, feeling that the soups are an easy method of taking
food, but the best part of the nutriment remains in the meat or
vegetables making the soup.

Pot Roasts. In the case of a pot roast, or roast in a kettle, where it

is desirable to use both the fibre of the meat and the juice, or gravy,
it should be put into a little cold water and raised to about 180
degrees F., where it should be kept for some hours. The juices of the
meat seep out in the gravy. The extractives are simmered down and
are again poured over the meat in the rich gravy.

Frying. This is the least desirable method of cooking. Food

cooked by putting a little grease into a frying pan, such as fried
potatoes, mush, eggs, french toast, and griddle cakes, are more
difficult of digestion than foods cooked by any other means,
particularly where the fat is allowed to smoke. The fat is
superheated; if a lighted match is placed near the smoke it will catch
fire, showing that it is volatilizing, or being reduced to a vapor.
 The extreme heat liberates fatty acids. This acrid fat soaks into the
food and renders it difficult of digestion. It is wise not to employ this
method of cooking.
The objection to frying does not hold so strongly in the case of
vegetables, such as potatoes, if fried slowly in fat, that is not over
heated, or to griddle cakes cooked slowly without smoke, or to foods
immersed in grease (such as saratoga chips, doughnuts, french fried
potatoes, etc.), as the large amount of fat does not permit it to get so
heated. It does apply, however, if the fat is sufficiently heated to
smoke.
The coating of vegetables and cereals with the hot fat prevents the
necessary action of saliva upon the starch globules. As previously
stated, most of the starches are digested in the mouth and the
stomach, while the fats are not emulsified until they reach the
intestines.
The starch globules in cereals and vegetables are in the form of
cells, the covering of these cells being composed largely of
nitrogenous matter. The protein is not acted upon by the saliva, and
the nitrogenous matter is largely digested in the stomach. It is more
easily dissolved if it is broken or softened by cooking, so that the
carbohydrates can come in contact with the saliva, but if encased in
fried fat, the gastric juices cannot digest the protein covering and the
saliva cannot reach the starch until the fat is emulsified in the
intestines. This means that wherever starch globules are surrounded
with fat, the digestive ferments reach these globules with difficulty
and fried foods must be digested mostly in the intestines.
Fats are readily absorbed in their natural condition, but when
subject to extreme heat, as in frying, they are irritants. For this
reason, eggs, poached, boiled or baked are more easily digested
than fried.
Boiling, broiling and roasting are preferable to foods cooked in
fats.
 One safe rule for the cook is, that it is better to
Cooking of cook most foods too much than too little;
Cereals overcooking is uncommon and harmless, while
undercooked foods are common and difficult of
digestion.
In partially cooked cereals, one does not know how much of the
cooking has been done, but it is safe to cook all such foods at least
as long as specified in the directions.
One reason why breakfast foods, such as rolled oats, are partially
cooked, is because they keep longer.
As has been stated, the nutrients of the grain are found inside the
starch-bearing and other cells, and the walls of these cells are made
of crude fiber, on which the digestive juices have little effect. Unless
the cell walls are broken down, the nutrients can not come under the
influence of the digestive juices until the digestive organs have
expended material and energy in trying to get at them. Crushing the
grain in mills, and making it still finer by thorough mastication breaks
many of the cell walls, and the action of the saliva and other
digestive juices also disintegrates them more or less, but the heat of
cooking accomplishes the object much more thoroughly. The
invisible moisture in the cells expands under the action of heat, and
the cell walls burst. The water added in cooking also plays an
important part in softening and rupturing them. Then, too, the
cellulose itself may be changed by heat to more soluble form. Heat
also makes the starch in the cells at least partially soluble, especially
when water is present. The solubility of the protein is probably, as a
rule, somewhat lessened by cooking, especially at higher
temperatures. Long, slow cooking is therefore better, as it breaks
down the crude fiber and changes the starch to soluble form without
materially decreasing the solubility of the protein.
“In experiments made with rolled oats at the Minnesota
Experiment Station, it appeared that cooking (four hours) did not
make the starch much more soluble. However, it so changed the
physical structure of the grains that a given amount of digestive
ferment could render much more of it soluble in a given time than
when it was cooked for only half an hour.
“On the basis of the results obtained, the difficulty commonly
experienced in digesting imperfectly cooked oatmeal was attributed
to the large amounts of glutinous material which surrounds the
starch grains and prevent their disintegration. When thoroughly
cooked the protecting action of the mucilaginous protein is
overcome, and the compound starch granules are sufficiently
disintegrated to allow the digestive juices to act. In other words, the
increased digestibility of the thoroughly cooked cereal is supposed to
be largely due to a physical change in the carbohydrates, which
renders them more susceptible to the action of digestive juices.”

Pastry. Pastry owes its harmful character to the interference of fat

as shown on page 198, with the proper solution of the starch,—at
least such pastry as requires the mixing of flour with fat; the coating
of these granules with fat prevents them from coming in contact with
liquids; the cells cannot absorb water, swell and burst so that they
may dissolve. The fat does not furnish sufficient water for this and so
coats the starch granules as to prevent the absorption of water in
mixing, or of the saliva in mastication. This coating of fat is not
relieved until late in the process of digestion, or until the food
reaches the intestines. This same objection applies to rich gravies,
unless the flour be dissolved in water and heated before being mixed
with the fats. The objection, therefore, is to such pastry as is made
by mixing flour with fat, as in pie crust; it does not apply to most
puddings.
Heat, in cooking, causes a combustion of the carbonic acid gas
and the effort of this gas to escape, as well as the steam occasioned
by the water in the food, causes the bubbles. When beaten eggs are
used, the albuminoids in the bubbles expand the walls, which stiffen
with the heat and cause the substances containing eggs to be
porous.
 Since the root vegetables contain a large
Cooking of proportion of carbohydrates, they should be well
Vegetables cooked, in order that the cells may be fully
dissolved, and the crude fibre broken.
Vegetables are best cooked in soft water, as lime or magnesia, the
chemical ingredients which make water “hard”, make the vegetables
less soluble.
Vegetables and fruits become contaminated with the eggs of
numerous parasites from the fertilizers used; hence they should be
thoroughly washed.
The objection to frying meats are equally strong in regard to
vegetables. The coating of vegetables with the hot fat retards
digestion, as shown on page 198.

“In different countries opinions differ markedly

Cooking of Fruit regarding the relative wholesomeness of raw and
cooked fruit. The Germans use comparatively little
raw fruit and consider it far less wholesome than cooked fruit. On the
other hand, in the United States raw fruit of good quality is
considered extremely wholesome, and is used in very large
quantities, being as much relished as cooked fruit, if indeed it is not
preferred to it. It has been suggested that the European prejudice
against raw fruit may be an unconscious protest against unsanitary
methods of marketing or handling and the recognition of cooking as
a practical method of preventing the spread of disease by fruit,
accidentally soiled with fertilizers in the fields or with street dust.
“As in the case with all vegetable foods, the heat of cooking
breaks down the carbohydrate walls of the cells which make up the
fruit flesh, either because the moisture or other cell contents expand
and rupture the walls or because the cell wall is itself softened or
dissolved. Texture, appearance, and flavor of fruit are materially
modified by cooking, and, if thorough, it insures sterilization, as in the
case of all other foods. The change in texture often has a practical
advantage, since it implies the softening of the fruit flesh so that it is
more palatable and may be more readily acted upon by the digestive
juices. This is obviously of more importance with the fruits like the
quince, which is so hard that it is unpalatable raw, than it is with soft
fruits like strawberries. When fruits are cooked without the addition of
water or other material, as is often the case in baking apples, there is
a loss of weight, owing to the evaporation of water, and the juice as it
runs out carries some carbohydrates and other soluble constituents
with it, but under ordinary household conditions this does not imply
waste, as the juice which cooks out from fruits is usually eaten as
well as the pulp. Cooking in water extracts so little of the nutritive
material present that such removal of nutrition is of no practical
importance.
“The idea is quite generally held that cooking fruit changes its acid
content, acid being sometimes increased and sometimes decreased
by the cooking process. Kelhofer showed that when gooseberries
were cooked with sugar, the acid content was not materially
changed, these results being in accord with his conclusions reached
in earlier studies with other fruits. The sweeter taste of the cooked
product he believed to be simply due to the fact that sugar masks the
flavor of the acid.
“It is often noted that cooked fruits, such as plums, seem much
sourer than the raw fruit, and it has been suggested that either the
acid was increased or the sugar was decreased by the cooking
process. This problem was studied by Sutherst, and, in his opinion,
the increased acid flavor is due to the fact that cooked fruit
(gooseberries, currants, plums, etc.) usually contains the skin, which
is commonly rejected if the fruit is eaten raw. The skin is more acid
than the simpler carbohydrates united to form a complex
carbohydrate. In some fruits, like the apple, where the jelly-yielding
material must be extracted with hot water, the pectin is apparently
united with cellulose as a part of the solid pulp. As shown by the
investigations of Bigelow and Gore at the Bureau of Chemistry, 40
per cent of the solid material of apple pulp may be thus extracted
with hot water, and consists of two carbohydrates, one of which is
closely related to gum arabic. That such carbohydrates as these
should yield a jelly is not surprising when we remember that they are
similar to starch in their chemical nature, and, as every one knows,
starch, though insoluble in cold water, yields when cooked with hot
water a large proportion of paste, which jellies on cooling.
“When fruits are used for making pies, puddings, etc., the nutritive
value of the dish is, of course, increased by the addition of flour,
sugar, etc., and the dish as a whole may constitute a better balanced
food than the fruit alone.”[8]

FOOTNOTES:
[8] C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D.—In charge of Nutritive
Investigations of the United States Experiment Station.
 DIETS
As previously stated, the object of foods is to supply the needs of
the body in building new tissue in the growing child; in repairing
tissue which the catabolic activity of the body is constantly tearing
down and eliminating; and in supplying heat and energy. This heat
and energy is not alone for muscular activity in exercise or
movement; it must be borne in mind that the body is a busy work-
shop, or chemical laboratory, and heat and energy are needed in the
constant metabolism of tearing down and rebuilding tissue and in the
work of digestion and elimination.
In this chapter, a few points given in the preceding pages are
repeated for emphasis. The proteins, represented in purest form in
lean meat, build tissue and the carbonaceous foods, starches,
sugars and fats, supply the heat and energy. An excess of proteins,
that is more than is needed for building and repair, is also used for
heat and energy; the waste products of the nitrogenous foods are
broken down into carbon dioxid, sulphates, phosphates, and other
nitrogenous compounds and excreted through the kidneys, skin, and
the bile, while the waste product of carbonaceous foods is carbon
dioxid alone and is excreted mostly through the lungs.
Since the foods richest in protein are the most expensive, those
who wish to keep down the cost of living, should provide, at most, no
more protein than the system requires. The expensive meat may be
eliminated and proteins be supplied by eggs, milk, legumes, nuts
and cereals.
The most fundamental thing is to decide upon the amount of
protein—two to four ounces, nearly a quarter of a pound a day—and
then select a dietary which shall provide this and also supply heat
and energy sufficient for the day. If the diet is to include meat, a
goodly proportion of protein will be furnished in the lean meat. This
will vary greatly with the different cuts of meat as shown on Table IV,
page 128. If, as often happens, one does not care for fats, then the
starches and sugars must provide the heat. If one craves sweets,
less starches and fats are needed.
The normally healthy individual is more liable to supply too much
protein than too little, even though he abstain from meat. Yet, as will
be shown later, our strongest races, who have lent most to the
progress of the world, live upon a mixed diet.
If the diet is to include meat, it will consist of less bulk, because
the protein is more condensed; for the same reason, if it includes
animal products of eggs and milk and a fair proportion of legumes, it
will be less bulky than a vegetable diet. This point is important for
busy people, who eat their meals in a hurry and proceed at once to
active, mental work. Those who engage in physical labor are much
more likely to take a complete rest for a half hour, to an hour, after
eating. The thinkers seldom rest, at least after a midday meal, and
those who worry seldom relax the mental force during any waking
hours.
Where the system shows an excess of uric acid, the chances are
that the individual has not been living on a diet with too large a
proportion of protein, but that he has been eating more than he
requires of all kinds of foodstuffs. His system thus becomes
weakened and he does not breathe deeply nor exercise sufficiently
to oxidize and throw off the waste. Let it be recalled here that the
theory that rheumatism is caused by an excess of uric acid is
disputed by the highest authorities. It is accompanied by uric acid,
but not supposed to be caused by it.
Every housewife, to intelligently select the daily menus for her
family, needs a thorough knowledge of dietetics. She must
understand the chemistry of food that she may know food values.
The difficulty which confronts the housewife, is to provide one meal
suited to the needs, tastes, or idiosyncracies of various members of
her household. Peculiarities of taste, unless these peculiarities have
been intelligently acquired, may result in digestive disturbances. As
an illustration: one may cultivate a dislike for meat, milk, or eggs, as
is often the case, and the proteins for the family being largely
supplied by these, the individual is eating too much of starches and
sugars and not sufficient protein,—legumes, nuts, etc., not being
provided for one member. Such an one’s blood becomes
impoverished and she becomes anaemic.
The relief lies in cultivating a taste for blood building foods. Foods
which are forced down, with a mind arrayed against them, do not
digest as readily, because the displeasure does not incite the flow of
gastric juices. One fortunate provision of nature lies in the ability to
cultivate a taste for any food. Likes and dislikes are largely mental.
There are certain foods which continuously disagree and they should
be avoided; but many abstain from wholesome food because it has
disagreed a few times. It may be that it was not the particular food
but the weakness of the stomach at this time. Any food fails of
prompt digestion when the nerves controlling the stomach are weak.
Many foods disagree at certain times because of the particular
conditions regulating the secretion of digestive juices. Where this
condition has continued for some time it becomes chronic and a
special diet is required, together with special exercises to bring a
better blood supply to stomach and intestines and to regulate the
nerves controlling them.
Dr. W. S. Hall estimates that the average man at light work
requires, each day,
106.8 grams of protein[9]
57.97 grams of fat
398.84 grams of carbohydrates
These elements, in proper proportions, may be gained through
many food combinations. He gives the following:
Bread 1 lb.
Lean Meat ½ lb.
Oysters ½ lb.
Cocoa 1 oz.
Milk 4 oz.
Sugar 1 oz.
Butter ½ oz.
 A medium sized man at out of door work, fully oxidizes all waste of
the system and he requires a higher protein diet,—125 grams. In
such event he does not require so much starch and sugar. If on the
other hand he were to take but 106.8 grams of protein, as above, he
would require more carbohydrates. One working, or exercising in the
fresh air, breathes more deeply and oxidizes and eliminates more
waste, hence he has a better appetite, which is simply the call of
nature for a re-supply of the waste.
In active work, one also liberates more heat, thus more fat,
starches, and sugar are required for the re-supply. If one has an
excess of starch (glycogen) stored in the liver, or an excess of fat
about the tissues, this excess is called upon to supply the heat and
energy when the fats and carbohydrates daily consumed are not
sufficient for the day’s demand. This is the principle of reduction of
flesh.
It is interesting to note that habits of combining foods are
unconsciously based upon dietetic principles. Meats rich in protein
are served with potatoes, or with rice, both of which are rich in
starch. Bread, containing little fat, is served with butter. Beans,
containing little fat, are cooked with pork. Starchy foods of all kinds
are served with butter or cream. Macaroni, which is rich in starch,
makes a well balanced food cooked with cheese.
Pork and beans,
bread and butter,
bread and milk,
chicken and rice,
macaroni and cheese,
poached eggs on toast, and
custards, form balanced dishes.
A knowledge of such combinations is important when one must
eat a hasty luncheon and wishes to supply the demands of the body
in the least time, giving the least thought to the selection; but hasty
luncheons, with the mind concentrated upon other things, are to be
strongly condemned. The mind must be relaxed and directed to
pleasant themes during a meal or the nerves to the vital organs will
be held too tense to permit a free secretion of digestive juices.
Chronic indigestion is sure to result from this practice. Dinner, or the
hearty meal at night, rather than at noon, is preferable for the
business or professional man or woman, because the cares of the
day are over and the brain force relaxes. The vital forces are not
detracted from the work of digestion.
Experiments in the quantity of food actually required for body
needs, made by Prof. R. H. Chittenden of the Sheffield Scientific
School, Yale University, have established, beyond doubt, the fact
that the average individual consumes very much more food than the
system requires. In fact, most tables of food requirements, in
previous books on dietetics, have been heavy.
Prof. Chittenden especially established the fact that the average
person consumes more protein than is necessary to maintain a
nitrogenous balance. It was formerly held that the average daily
metabolism and excretion of nitrogen through the kidneys was 16
grams, or about 100 grams of protein or albuminoid food. Prof.
Chittenden’s tests, covering a period of six months, show an average
daily excretion of 5.86 grams of nitrogen, or a little less than one-
third of that formerly accepted as necessary; 5.86 grams of nitrogen
corresponds to 36.62 grams of protein or albuminoid food.
Prof. Chittenden’s experiments of the foodstuffs actually required
by three groups of men, one group of United States soldiers, a group
from the Yale College athletic team, and a group of college
professors, all showed that the men retained full strength, with a
higher degree of physical and mental efficiency, when the body was
not supplied with more protein than was liberated by metabolic
activity, and when the quantity of carbonaceous food was regulated
to the actual requirement to retain body heat and furnish energy.
It may be well to call attention here to the fact that the food
elements, called upon for work, are not from those foods just
consumed or digested, but from those eaten a day or two previous,
which have been assimilated in the muscular tissues.
In selecting a diet, the individual must be considered as to age,
sex and physical condition, also whether active in indoor or outdoor
work, and whether he or she breathes deeply, so as to take plenty of
fresh air into the lungs.
The following tables, published through the courtesy of Dr. W. S.
Hall, give the rations for different conditions.
TABLE XI.
Rations for Different Conditions.
Proteins Carbohydrates
Energy in
Conditions Low High Fats Low High
Calories
Man at light indoor work 60 100 60 390 450 2764
Man at light outdoor work 60 100 100 400 460 2940
Man at moderate outdoor work 75 125 125 450 500 3475
Man at hard outdoor work 100 150 150 500 550 4000
Man at very hard outdoor winter
125 180 200 600 650 4592
work
U. S. Army rations 64 106 280 460 540 4896-5032
U. S. Navy rations 143 292 557 5545
Football team (old regime) 181 292 557 5697
College football team (new) 125 125 125 500 3675

TABLE XII.
Rations Varied for Sex and Age.
Proteins Carbohydrates
Variations of Sex and Age Low High Fats Low High Energy in Calories
Children, two to six 36 70 40 250 325 1520-1956
Children, six to fifteen 50 75 45 325 350 1923-2123
Women, with light exercise 50 80 80 300 330 2272
Women, at moderate work 60 92 80 400 432 2720
Aged women 50 80 50 270 300 1870
Aged men 50 100 400 300 350 2258

The unit of measurement for the calories of energy is the amount

of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of energy
to 1° centigrade.
In estimating the number of calories of energy given off by the
different foods, Dr. Hall represents
 1 gram of carbohydrates as 4.0 calories
” ” ” fats ” 9.4 ”
” ” ” proteins ” 4.0 ”
To determine the relative energy which a food represents, it is only
necessary to multiply the number of grams of protein in that food by
4, the fat by 9.4 and the carbohydrates by 4, and add the results.
Thus according to the food required for the average man at light
work given on page 211.
106.8 grams of proteins × 4 = 427.20 calories of energy
57.97 ” ” fat × 9.4 = 544.94 ” ” ”
398.84 ” ” carbohydrates × 4 = 1595.36 ” ” ”
= the calories of energy required
2567.51
for the average man at light work.

Dr. Chittenden’s experiments show that a man leading a very

active life, and above the average in body weight, can maintain his
body in equilibrium indefinitely with a daily intake of 36 to 40 grams
of protein, or albuminoid food, and with a total fuel value of 1600
calories. Authorities, however differ upon the amount of food
required.
Dr. Hall suggests 106 grams of protein
Ranke suggests 100 grams of protein
Hultgren and Landergren suggests 134 grams of protein
Schmidt suggests 105 grams of protein
Forster and Moleschott suggests 130 grams of protein
Atwater suggests 125 grams of protein

In order to bring oneself to as limited a diet as Prof. Chittenden’s

men followed, however, it would be necessary to have all food
weighed so as to be sure of the correct proportions; otherwise the
actual needs would not be supplied and the body would suffer. A
wise provision of nature enables the body to throw off an excess of
food above the body needs without injury, within limitations; but, as
stated, there is no doubt that the average person exceeds these
limits, exhausting the digestive organs and loading the system with
more than it can eliminate; the capacity for mental work is restricted,
and the whole system suffers.
 Prof. Chittenden’s experiments have been a wonderful revelation
to dietitians and scientists. They have demonstrated beyond doubt
that the average person eats much more than the system requires
and thus overworks the digestive organs.
From the fact that only from two to four ounces
Mixed Diet of nitrogenous food is required to rebuild daily
versus a tissue waste, it is apparent that this amount can
Vegetable Diet readily be supplied from the vegetable kingdom,
since nuts, legumes, and cereals are rich in
proteins; yet there is a question whether a purely vegetable diet is
productive of the highest physical and mental development. Natives
of tropical climates live upon vegetables, fruits, and nuts, and it may
be purely accidental or be due to climatic or other conditions, that
these nations have not been those who have made the greatest
progress in the world. Neither have the Eskimos, who live almost
entirely upon meat, attained the highest development. The greatest
progress and development, both as nations and as individuals, have
been made by inhabitants of temperate climates, who have lived
upon a mixed diet of meat, eggs, milk, grains, vegetables, fruits, and
nuts. They have shown more creative force, which means reserve
strength.
The Eskimo has demonstrated, however, that an entire meat diet
supplies all physical needs; the meat tissue providing growth and
repair and the fat supplying all of the carbonaceous elements. The
fat, as previously stated, yields more heat than starches and sugars,
and Nature provides this heat for climates where most warmth is
required. It may be the natural reason why natives of warm climates
have formed the habit of using vegetables and grains for their heat
and energy rather than meat. It is also a natural reason why man, in
temperate climates, eats more meat in winter than in summer.
An unperverted, natural instinct will always be found to have a
sound physiological basis. For example,—if, by reason of some
digestive disturbance, one has become emaciated, all of the fat
having been consumed, and the cause of the disturbance is
removed by an operation or otherwise, one is seized with an almost
insatiable desire for fat, often eating large chunks of the fat of meat