Cape Verde Summer Time (Historical)

UTC offset: +00:00 (historical, summer only)
Standard offset: -01:00 (CVT, current year-round)
IANA identifier: Atlantic/Cape_Verde
Abbreviation: CVST (no longer active)
DST status: Discontinued (last used 1945-46 wartime period)

Cape Verde Summer Time is largely a historical footnote. The islands observed DST briefly during the World War II era (when many territories experimented with clock shifts for energy conservation), advancing from -01:00 to +00:00. The practice was discontinued almost immediately after the war and has never been revived.

At 14-17N latitude, Cape Verde's daylight varies by barely one hour across the year. The longest day (June solstice) brings about 13 hours 10 minutes of daylight; the shortest (December) about 11 hours 10 minutes. This two-hour range is insufficient to justify DST disruption.

Why It Stayed Dead

Cape Verde's economy and lifestyle don't benefit from DST:

• Tourism: The beach resort economy on Sal and Boa Vista runs on holiday schedules, not office hours
• Fishing: Fishermen follow tides and fish behavior, not clock time
• Remittance economy: Most economic activity depends on transfers from diaspora, not local daylight hours
• No heavy industry: No large-scale manufacturing that would benefit from shifted work schedules

The islands' consistent year-round warmth and daylight pattern make DST irrelevant.

Modern Cape Verde (Cabo Verde)

The country rebranded internationally as Cabo Verde in 2013, using the Portuguese name. A stable democracy (since 1991 multiparty elections) with a growing middle-income economy driven by tourism, services, and diaspora connections. Human Development Index above the African average.

Technical Identifiers

• Atlantic/Cape_Verde (IANA canonical)
• CVT (current, Cape Verde Time, UTC-01:00)
• Windows: "Cape Verde Standard Time"
• Historical DST: wartime only (1940s)
• No modern DST

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