How it began
The cloth dates from the 15th century, shortly after the Portuguese reached the uninhabited islands of Cape Verde and began growing cotton and indigo there. The weaving tool was not local: the narrow-strip horizontal loom was brought by enslaved West Africans, especially from the Upper Guinea Coast, today Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. On the islands the patterns developed under the influence of European motifs, producing a cloth specific to Cape Verde. This entry records the Cape Verdean cloth and its patterned form, not the loom, which is West African.
How it works
The loom produces long narrow strips called teadas, usually no wider than 15 to 20 centimeters. Six strips are sewn edge to edge to make one cloth, with the patterns aligned across the seams. A study presented to the Textile Society of America gives average dimensions of about 90 by 200 centimeters. Cotton was dyed with locally grown indigo in shades from pale blue to near black. In the most complex type, pano d'obra, the weaver inserts extra weft threads by hand to float geometric designs on the surface. Simpler types are called pano chã and pano d'adiça.
How it spread
The cloths were valued so highly that they were used as a form of currency on the African coast and traded for gold, ivory and enslaved people. An article in Island Studies Journal likewise describes the cloth as trading currency for acquiring slaves on the West African coast for sale in Brazil. The Portuguese crown tried to monopolize this textile currency.
What lasted
In Cape Verde the cloth became part of daily and ceremonial life. Women wore it wrapped around the hips, including in batuque performance, where it is struck with the hands. It formed part of a bride's dowry, was used to carry infants, and covered the coffins of respected elders. The complexity of the pattern signaled the wealth and status of the wearer.
Where it stands today
The craft declined in the mid-20th century as cheap factory textiles arrived. It has since revived: designers use the patterns in fashion, bags and upholstery, and weaving cooperatives in Santa Catarina on Santiago and the craft and design center in Mindelo preserve the technique. Local cotton growing has largely disappeared, so weavers depend on imported yarn, and one cloth can take several weeks.
