Total area: 4,030 km2
land area: 4,030 km2

Comparative area: slightly larger than Rhode Island

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 965 km

Maritime claims: (measured from claimed archipelagic baselines);

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: temperate; warm, dry, summer precipitation very erratic

Terrain: steep, rugged, rocky, volcanic

Natural resources: salt, basalt rock, pozzolana, limestone, kaolin, fish

Land use: 9% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 6% meadows and pastures; NEGL% forest and woodland; 85% other; includes 1% irrigated

Environment: subject to prolonged droughts; harmattan wind can obscure visibility; volcanically and seismically active; deforestation; overgrazing

Note: strategic location 500 km from African coast near major north-south sea routes; important communications station; important sea and air refueling site

NOTE: The information regarding Cape Verde on this page is re-published from the 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cape Verde Geography 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cape Verde Geography 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.