Currency of Cape Verde 5000 Escudos banknote 2000
Bank of Cape Verde - Banco de Cabo Verde
The front of the 5000-escudo note depicts a Cape Verdean woman carrying rocks on her head. It is understood that this image may refer to the role that Cape Verdean women played in the creation of roads in the country. After independence, the government employed many women for roles usually undertaken by men, due to the absence of men working overseas. The face of the woman is also used as the watermark on the note.
The same portrait, in "intaglio," is printed on a background consisting of a lithographic micro-text which is not visible to the naked eye.
In the portrait’s background, there’s a hologram which includes the inscriptions “5000” and “BCV,” as well as the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Cape Verde, which can be viewed by focusing light over the note.
Also in the front of the note, there’s a 13 mm-thick vertical polychromatic band, which is brown, green and red. On this band, consisting of a tile composition, there’s the inscription “5000”.
The back of the note depicts the Royal Fort in the ‘Old City’ and the caption indicates this in Portuguese, i.e. PORTALEZA REAL – CIDADE VELHA. The Cidade Velha, or ‘Old City’, refers to the settlement of Ribeira Grande on the southern coast of Santiago, the largest island in Cape Verde. This is the location of the first Portuguese settlement in Africa, established shortly after 1460. Ribeira Grande was attacked numerous times, including by Sir Francis Drake in 1585, before the capital was shifted to Praia in 1769. As well as the fort, the ‘Old City’ contains the ruins of a cathedral built in 1693. The illustration on the banknote shows the main gate of the fort, while to the left and right of the illustration are patterns based on glazed tiles from the cathedral.
The security features on this note are similar to those on the 2000-escudo note. There is a gold-foil hologram on the front of the note, a windowed security thread with the text ‘BCV 5000’ worked into a pattern, a perfect registration device of a cannon, a strip of gold reflective ink on the back of the note that contains ‘5000’ and a cannon, and numerous fluorescent features, including the national emblem on the back of the notes. Peculiar to this note is patch of gold ink on the front of the note that contains an image of a lamp-post, but which also contains a latent image of ‘5000’. (The lamp-post is also depicted over the hologram as part of the printing.)
The 5000-escudo note was issued in 2000. Measuring 148 x 74 mm, the multi-coloured note is predominantly chestnut brown. The date on the note is 5 July 2000, which is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Cape Verde’s independence. Again in a vertical format, the note is designed along similar lines to the 2000-escudo note that was issued a year earlier. This note is printed by De La Rue and their imprint can be found on the back of the note. The signatories on this note are Olavo Avelino Garcia Correia, the Governor of the Bank of Cape Verde, and Vasco Marta, an Administrador.
The watermark, which was worked out from the woman’s portrait on the front of the note, is 33 mm in height and is located in more or less the center of the bands.
77 mm from the bottom of the back of the note, there is the "Security Thread" which is a 4 mm thick "Starwide FACET" thread.
Cape Verde Banknotes - Cape Verde Paper Money
1992-2002 Issue
The changes wrought by the first government of the Movement for Democracy party (MpD) saw many changes to the symbols of Cape Verde. Not only were the flag and the national emblem changed, but a new series of banknotes was commissioned. While Amilcar Cabral was still recognized as a national hero, his portrait no longer appeared on the notes introduced under the new regime, although his image is retained in the watermark.
Again printed by De La Rue, the notes of the new series were apparently released in 1992, although the specific date of their release is not known. This series initially contained three denominations—200, 500, and 1000 escudos—but a further two denominations followed several years later. The two new denominations are the 2000 and 5000 escudo notes, with the denomination of 2500 escudos being discontinued.
The notes released in 1992 have many common features, being the same size and colour as the notes they replaced, although they no longer have a common illustration on the front. The perfect registration device of the cob of corn is continued from the previous series, as is the watermark of Amilcar Cabral, the clear security thread with ‘BCV’ micro-printed on it, the micro-printing of ‘BANCODECABOVERDE’, and the fluorescent features on the front and back of the notes. The latent image on each note is now simply the denomination of the note and the signatures are of José Tomás Wahnon Veiga, the Minister of Finance and Planning, and Oswaldo Miguel Sequeira, the Governor of the Bank of Cape Verde.
On the back of each note is the new national emblem. The central device consists of a circle, containing a representation of water (three stripes) and a triangle overlaid with a torch, and with a plumb-bob at the apex of the circle. This emblem is surrounded by ten stars (five left and five right), the leaves of a plant (bottom left and right), and three links of a chain (bottom). Arching over the triangle within the circle is ‘Republic of Cape Verde’ in Portuguese. The stars represent the main islands of Cape Verde; the plumb-bob is symbolic of rectitude and virtue; the torch and triangle represent unity and freedom.
Again printed by De La Rue, the notes of the new series were apparently released in 1992, although the specific date of their release is not known. This series initially contained three denominations—200, 500, and 1000 escudos—but a further two denominations followed several years later. The two new denominations are the 2000 and 5000 escudo notes, with the denomination of 2500 escudos being discontinued.
The notes released in 1992 have many common features, being the same size and colour as the notes they replaced, although they no longer have a common illustration on the front. The perfect registration device of the cob of corn is continued from the previous series, as is the watermark of Amilcar Cabral, the clear security thread with ‘BCV’ micro-printed on it, the micro-printing of ‘BANCODECABOVERDE’, and the fluorescent features on the front and back of the notes. The latent image on each note is now simply the denomination of the note and the signatures are of José Tomás Wahnon Veiga, the Minister of Finance and Planning, and Oswaldo Miguel Sequeira, the Governor of the Bank of Cape Verde.
On the back of each note is the new national emblem. The central device consists of a circle, containing a representation of water (three stripes) and a triangle overlaid with a torch, and with a plumb-bob at the apex of the circle. This emblem is surrounded by ten stars (five left and five right), the leaves of a plant (bottom left and right), and three links of a chain (bottom). Arching over the triangle within the circle is ‘Republic of Cape Verde’ in Portuguese. The stars represent the main islands of Cape Verde; the plumb-bob is symbolic of rectitude and virtue; the torch and triangle represent unity and freedom.
Cidade Velha (Portuguese for "old city", in Cape Verdean Creole: Sidadi, also as Sidadi Velha or Sidadi Bedja) is a town in the southern part of the island of Santiago, Cape Verde. It is situated on the south coast, 10 kilometres (6 miles) west of the capital Praia. A former capital of Cape Verde, it is the oldest settlement in Cape Verde. Once called Ribeira Grande, its name was changed to Cidade Velha so to avoid confusion with Ribeira Grande on Santo Antão island. It is the seat of the Ribeira Grande de Santiago municipality.
Located off Africa's northwest coast, this town was the first European colonial settlement in the tropics. Some of the meticulously planned original design of the site is still intact, including a royal fortress, two towering churches and a 16th-century town square. Today, Cidade Velha is an Atlantic shipping stop and center for Creole culture. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
After the island was discovered, the city was named Ribeira Grande (Portuguese for large river) by António da Noli, in 1462. The settlement was built in a valley inside a large stream named Ribeira Grande, vegetation is dominant. The abundance of water and resources for agriculture made it suitable. After the discovery of the Americas, the settlement became an important port for trading slaves from Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone to Brazil and the Caribbean, which made Cidade Velha the second richest city in the Portuguese realm.
Cidade Velha's port was a stopping place for two great navigators: Vasco da Gama, in 1497, on his way to India, and Christopher Columbus, in 1498, while on his third voyage to the Americas. Later in 1522, it was the stopping place for the later explorer Ferdinand Magellan who served under Spain on his way to circumnavigate the world.
Cidade Velha has the oldest colonial church in the world - Nossa Senhora do Rosário church, which was constructed in 1493 - 1495.
The location of the archipelago had a great strategic importance, located on the maritime routes with the Americas and the south of Africa. It supplied ships with water and fresh food and ship repairs. The island also served for bringing agricultural and animal species, European and African to the Pan-American continent and the Pan-American ones to Europe and Africa.
Requested by John III of Portugal to Pope Clement VII in 1532 and had a Papal bull pro excellenti in 1533, it became the seat of Africa's first diocese known as the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde. During the Drake's raid, it was probably in Ribeira Brava. After the Cassard expedition, the seat may have moved to Ribeira Brava on the island of São Nicolau, today the seat is in Praia.
In the mid-16th century, the city had 500 buildings which were built from stone. It had other religious buildings including the church of Saint Roch (São Roque), Saint Peter's (São Pedro), Monte Alverne, Our Lady of Conception (Nossa Senhora da Conceição) and the chapel of Saint Lucy (Santa Luzia). Also located in the lower part was the church and hospital of Santa Casa de Misericórdia, in the upper part had the hospice and house of Companhia de Jesus.
The Sé Cathedral started construction in 1556 under Francisco da Cruz, the third bishop. It was a temple with large dimensions, located 25 meters above sea level, dominated the city with its presence. Its construction works were delayed, it was completed over a century later by the bishop Vitoriano Portuense in the 1693.
The fort Real de São Filipe overlooks the town. It was constructed in 1590 to defend the Portuguese colony from the attacks of the Frenchmen and English, in particular in 1585 when it was attacked and plundered by Francis Drake. However, it was sacked by French pirates as part of the Cassard expedition in 1712, much of its inhabitants including the bishop fled to the island interior. The capital was moved to Praia in 1770 as Ribeira Grande seemed dangerous to remain, much of the population may have moved there.
In the mid 17th century, it had the convent of Saint Francis, located uphill, it laid in ruins, it is restored today and is a church.
In its earlier maps, the city were mentioned in the 1683 atlas as St. Jago, later it was mentioned both as S. Jago and Ribeira Grande in the 1747 French/Dutch map by Jacques Nicolas Bellin.
Around the early 19th century, fewer ships were docked and stationed at its port due to its high harbour fees, more ships docked and visited at Praia Harbor at the time, the least factor for the move of the colonial capital in 1770. It became the second most used and is now the leastly used main port of the island but more active than the small harbours of Rincão and Ribeira da Barca.
Its civil, religious and military buildings laid in decay and ruin. A part of the population likely dominated at the plantations to the north especially its trapiche and sugar mills and Ribeira Grande reduced to the rank of the village and the village center was in that area, it was the main activity of the island's southwest along with nearby Salineiro. The population did not grew again by the shores until the mid-20th century as inhabitants came from the interior to reinhabit a part of the city, new simple buildings were built. Later on, to avoid confusion with Ribeira Grande in Santo Antão, another rum producing area, the name was changed to Cidade Velha, and the stream name became Ribeira Grande de Santiago, the village was again a city. Its notable buildings were started to be restored, the fort in 1968 and later the pillory.
In 2000, under the coordination of the architect Álvaro Siza, it begun a preparation work of a dossier for candidacy to become a UNESCO's World Heritage Site, the dossier was presented on January 31, 2008.
Cidade Velha separate from Praia in 2005 and became the municipal seat of the new Ribeira Grande de Santiago municipality.
Ribeira Grande
Ribeira Grande is the largest town of the Ribeira Grande Municipality on the island of Santo Antão, Cape Verde and has recently become a city. It is situated near the outflow of the river Ribeira Grande into the Atlantic Ocean along with Ribeira da Torre, in the northeastern part of the island. Ribeira Grande serves as an intersection with roads connecting to Ponta do Sol, to the Cova Caldera near Pico da Cruz (Estrada da Corda) and Fontainhas with the north of the land and Paúl and Porto Novo along with the rest of the island (Estrada de Litoral) which opened in 2009.
Subdivisions
Neighborhoods include Tarrafal de Ribeira Grande, Rua d'Agua (or Rua da Agua), Rua d'Horta (Rua da Horta) and Penha de França.
About the city
The settlement was founded as "Ribeyra Grande" around the mid 17th century by people from the islands of Santiago and Fogo and some people from northern Portugal. The settlement was elevated to a town in 1732. The Middle Portuguese spelling remained in use until 1911 during the 1911 Orthography Reform made by Portugal which removed the y and became replaced with an i, it changed to its current form of Ribeira Grande. In Cape Verdean Creole and its variant, it continued to be used until when Brazil changed theirs in 1931. The Santo Antão Creole spelling is "Rbèra Grande".
Its earlier buildings are built with Portuguese colonial architecture. The church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário is the parish church. The city also features a mini-mart and some lojas It also has a BCA bank and a post office.
The city also celebrated its festival known as Sete Sóis Sete Luas.
Notable people includes chemist Roberto Duarte Silva, poet Manuel de Novas, and José Luís de Jesus, former foreign minister and president of ITLOS (International Tribune of the Law of the Sea).