Earliest European Christian church in the tropics excavated in Cabo Verde

University of Cambridge has reported this week that a team of archaeologists from the university have unearthed the earliest known European Christian church in the tropics. Dating from ca1470, the church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição was built by Portguese in Cidade Velha, the former capital of Cabo Verde, and the country's only world heritagesite.

Excavation site (photo credit: University of Cambridge)

Thanks to its role as a trans-shipment point between Africa and the Americas for the Portuguese slave trade, Cidade Velha became the second richest country in the Portuguese empire. And fascinatingly the archaeologists found a burial site under the church where more than 1,000 people were buried before 1525, including both Africans and Europeans.

I look forward to learning more about the archaeology of this site in the months and years to come.