The archipelago was formally discovered in 1460, though it is known that Arabs were already seeking salt on the island of Sal before this date. Historians today agree that Alvise Ca da Mosto was the first European to arrive in Cape Verde, or at least the first to document it. This Italian navigator sailed for the Portuguese crown and traveled to the African coast for trade. A storm, however, forced him off course in 1456, bringing him to Cape Verde, though his stay was brief.

Until 1975, Cape Verde remained under Portuguese colonial rule. In the 1960s, a Cape Verdean named Amilcar Cabral, who had Guinean roots, initiated a movement for his country's independence. He organized guerrilla warfare against Portuguese colonization on the African mainland and is often compared to an African Che Guevara. Cabral embraced Marxist ideals and received support from the Cubans and Soviets in his struggle. In 1974, facing the impasse of the conflict and heavy losses in the Guinean jungle, Portuguese military forces overthrew Salazar's regime in the Carnation Revolution. To end these deadly conflicts, they granted independence to several colonized nations.

Amilcar Cabral was assassinated by his own bodyguard shortly before Cape Verde's independence. When independence was proclaimed, members of his movement (the PAICV, to simplify) refused to organize elections, asserting that those who had sacrificed their lives should govern. Thus, from 1975 to 1991, Cape Verde lived under communist dictatorship. This had negative aspects regarding freedoms, but also positive ones, as they prioritized major social projects such as education, health, and the environment. This partly explains why Cape Verde today has some of the best literacy rates and life expectancy in Africa.

In the 1980s, a new opposition party, the MPD (Movement for Democracy), emerged, demanding elections. In 1991, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, communist doctrine came into question, and the PAICV agreed to hold elections. In 1991, the country's first democratic elections took place, and the MPD prevailed. It remained in power through the 1996 elections, and for ten years, it opened the country to foreign investors, privatized certain sectors of the economy, and promoted tourism—something the PAICV had been unwilling to do to preserve Cape Verdean culture.

In 2001, during the third democratic elections, the PAICV returned to power, but with a more flexible and open approach. Since then, it has remained in office.