Cape Verde
As Africa's westernmost point, Cape Verde ('the Green Cape' a.k.a. Cap-Vert (French), Kap Weert (Dutch) or Bopp bu Nëtëx (iWolof) is effectively a land bridge connecting what were once volcanic offshore islands to the African mainland. Exposure to southwesterly winds delivers significant rainfall, which accounts for the contrast between the cape and the undulating sand dunes to the north noted by the Portuguese navigator Dinis Dias when he reached the cape in 1444 or 1445.
The peninsula itself is roughly triangular, with sides around fourteen kilometres long. Twin volcanic cones shelter a natural harbour in the lee of the triangle's third side, which runs roughly north-south.
The Cape Verde islands, 570 kilometres further west, take their name from the cape.
Senegal's capital, Dakar founded by French colonial authorities in 1857, occupies part of the peninsula's southern tip.
