Meaning of Pictures on Cabpe Verdean Escudo Banknotes

The 200 escudo banknote came into circulation in 2015 and is a tribute to the Cabo Verdean doctor and writer Henrique Teixeira de Sousa (1919-2006) and his native island, represented by an image of the Fogo volcano, where his work in favour of minimal public health structures was remarkable. A writer who was mindful of the values of Cabo Verdeanity, Teixeira de Sousa published some of the most renowned works in Cabo Verdean literature, including Contra Mar e Vento, Ilhéu de Contenda and Capitão de Mar e Terra.

The 500 escudo banknote honours one of the most prestigious figures in modern Cabo Verdean poetry, Jorge Barbosa (1902-1971), and his native island, Santiago. One of the founders of the literary movement Claridade, which marks a phase of Cabo Verde’s aesthetic and linguistic contemporaneity, based on the cultural, social and political emancipation of Cabo Verdean society, is more aware of its daily life realities. Jorge Barbosa’s poetry reflects the archipelago’s problems and the Cabo Verdean people’s social drama, including drought, hunger, emigration, isolation and insularity. 

The 1000 escudo banknote honours one of the most emblematic Cabo Verdean songwriters and musicians, Codé Di Dona (1940-2010), whose real name is Gregório Vaz, and exalts the musical genre known as Funaná. Considered one of the essential figures of Funaná, Codé Di Dona interpreted the deepest feelings of the Cabo Verdean soul through his songs, such as “Fomi 47,” “Praia Maria,” and “Pomba,” among others. Codé di Dona was also an excellent player of the accordion, one of Funaná’s paradigmatic instruments, along with the ferrinho, which is represented in the note. 

The 2000 escudos note aims to highlight one of the greatest exponents of Cabo Verdean musical culture, Cesária Évora (1941-2011), who was able to sing about the experiences and feelings of her people so well, making the world aware of their joys and sorrows. 

The 5000 escudo banknote honors one of the most respected Cabo Verdean politicians, Aristides Maria Pereira (1923-2011), a figure who distinguished himself in the struggle for the liberation of the Cabo Verde islands from colonial domination and was the first President of the Republic of Cabo Verde. The note is a tribute to his native Boa Vista, through an image of the island’s landscape, featuring in the foreground the chimney of a pottery-making factory that was buried by sand from the Sahara Desert.