Diogo Gomes | San Tiago Island | Cape Verde
The cast iron monument of
the Portuguese navigator Diogo Gomes was built in 1956 - during the
Portuguese colonial occupation - on the plateau of the capital of the
country. Diogo Gomes was a Portuguese slave trader. Sent by Henry
the Navigated, Gomes participated in the invasion of 1445, led
by the slave trader Lançarote de Freitas, on the island of Arguin,
off the coast of Mauritania. This island was a Portuguese trading
post. A fortress of slave trade and “export” , from where around
800 slaves were sent per year to Portugal (Lagos). Cape
Verde protesters demanded that Diogo Gomes statue to be replaced by
one of Amilcal Cabral, who was the architect of Cape Verde
Independence
