Territorial development in the Cape Verde archipelago under the Estado Novo dictatorship (1953–1974)

Abstract

Despite Portugal’s neutrality in the Second World War (1939–1945), the subsequent new world order meant that the Portuguese Government felt obliged to revise its overseas policies. A new regional awareness could be seen in the Six-Year National Development Plans launched by Estado Novo from 1953 until the revolution of 1974. The territory and its strategic potential were emphasized in the context of national policies of overseas urbanization. Interventions in Cape Verde are visible particularly in the First Development Plan, which was based on equipping the province’s public facilities. The methodology of intervention involved setting up missions aimed at planning a set of specific public works which were essential to the development of existing settlements. A sharp increase in the development of the territory through the work of specialized brigades took place in the Third Development Plan, when a set of public works on road, hydraulic and electricity networks was undertaken. The planning of infrastructures that was undertaken in these years was essential to the development of the archipelagoand the resulting regional and urban land-use planning of the various islands.