The islands were uninhabited when Portuguese mariners discovered them during their voyages in search of a sea route around Africa. The first Portuguese governor, appointed in 1462, was based at Ribeira Grande on Sao Tiago, the largest of the islands. A Creole population resulted from intermingling between the Portuguese and the imported slaves from Western Africa. The Cape Verde islands remained obscure until 1975 when they achieved independence from Portugal underPresident Aristides Pereira of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAICV). Pereira turned the islands into a one-party state with a centrally controlled economy. Under pressure from the Movement for the Democracy (MPD) led by Carlos Veiga, Cape Verde was eventually transformed into a multi-party democracy in 1990. The following year, the MPD won and Veiga took over as prime minister. A former supreme court judge, Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, won the presidential election. The MPD was returned to power with a larger majority in the general elections held in December 1995, but in March 2001 Pedro Pires was inaugurated as president after beating his rival, Carlos Veiga, by just 17 votes to succeed Monteiro.
The islands were uninhabited when Portuguese mariners discovered them during their voyages in search of a sea route around Africa. The first Portuguese governor, appointed in 1462, was based at Ribeira Grande on Sao Tiago, the largest of the islands. A Creole population resulted from intermingling between the Portuguese and the imported slaves from Western Africa. The Cape Verde islands remained obscure until 1975 when they achieved independence from Portugal underPresident Aristides Pereira of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAICV). Pereira turned the islands into a one-party state with a centrally controlled economy. Under pressure from the Movement for the Democracy (MPD) led by Carlos Veiga, Cape Verde was eventually transformed into a multi-party democracy in 1990. The following year, the MPD won and Veiga took over as prime minister. A former supreme court judge, Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, won the presidential election. The MPD was returned to power with a larger majority in the general elections held in December 1995, but in March 2001 Pedro Pires was inaugurated as president after beating his rival, Carlos Veiga, by just 17 votes to succeed Monteiro.