January 20 – National Heroes' Day in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau

nPostednon January 20, 2016

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Onnthis date in 1973, a hero to two nations was assassinated.

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nAmílcarnLopes da Costa Cabral was born in Guinea-Bissau, but his parents werenfrom Cape Verde.

nBoth of these places were African colonies ruled bynPortugal.

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nWhilenCabral was going to college in Lisbon, Portugal, he started studentnmovements dedicated to opposing Portugal’s colonial rule in Africa.nHe believed fervently that the colonies should be liberated,nindependent.

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nCabralnreturned to Africa in the 1950s, when he was in his early 30s, and henbecame an important figure in the struggle for independence in bothnCape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. He led a guerrilla movement against thenPortuguese. Guerrilla warfare is an “irregular” sort of warfarenwith small bands of armed civilians or other not-quite-militarynpersonnel doing ambushes, sabotage, raids, hit-and-run attacks innorder to fight a large, powerful enemy. Guerrilla tactics are commonnin order to attack a colonizing or occupying force.

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nCabral’snmovement is considered one of the most successful wars ofnindependence in modern African history. This is because:
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nCabraln set up training that included effective communication skills, and hen emphasized getting Guinean tribal chiefs to support the independencen movement.

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nCabraln had studied agriculture (to be specific, agronomy), and he was ablen to teach his troops better farming techniques that they in turnn could teach to people. That way, the soldiers could not only grown their own food and live off the land, allowing them to last a longn time, they could help the non-soldiers and win their support for then movement.

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nCabraln set up a trade-and-barter system that made staple goods (the mostn important things that people need, such as flour, yams, and eggs)n available to people at lower cost than those goods were sold inn Portuguese-owned stores.

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nCabraln also set up roaming hospitals and triage stations to give medicaln care to his troops, but ALSO to the people whose support he wantedn and needed.
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The flag of Guinea-Bissau (above)
and Cape Verde (below).

nCabralnhas been influential among other freedom fighters, particularlynAfricans. Unfortunately, he was killed in 1973, eight months beforenGuinea Bissau declared independence, and before Cape Verde’s 1975nindependence. Some people think that Cabral was assassinated bynfeuding ethnic groups but possibly with “Lisbon’s complicity.”nThat means that Portuguese rulers may have known about a plot againstnCabral but didn’t do anything to stop it.

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nWhatndo you know about these nations?

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nDecidenif each item below tells about Cape Verde or Guinea-Bissau.

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nMaden up of 10 volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean.

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nLocatedn in West Africa, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

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nAn very poor nation, depending mostly on agriculture.

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nOnen of the most developed countries in Africa, with an economy based onn services and tourism.

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nNotedn for being politically unstable, with no elected president yetn serving a full five-year term!

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nAn stable representative democracy, one of the most democratic nationsn in Africa.

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nFeaturesn an active volcano, extensive salt flats, and ocean cliffs formed byn “catastrophic debris landslides.”

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nCoveredn by mangrove swamps.

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nCapitaln is Bissau.

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nCapitaln is Praia. n

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nHerenare some pictures of the two nations:

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nANSWERS:n1-nCape Verde; 2 – Guinea-Bissau; 3 – Guinea-Bissau; 4 – Cape Verde; 5 -nGuinea-Bissau; 6 – Cape Verde; 7- Cape Verde; 8 – Guinea-Bissau; 9 -nGuinea-Bissau; 10 – Cape Verde; 11 – Guinea-Bissau; 12 – Cape Verde; n13 – Cape Verde; 14 – Guinea-Bissau.

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nAlsonon this date: