# Roofing in Cabo Verde

> Cabo Verde is roofed overwhelmingly with flat concrete slabs; its traditional funco round house with palm thatch survives only in a few villages.

- URL: https://roof.wiki/roofing-in-cabo-verde/
- Topic: Roofing Around the World
- Also known as: Cape Verde roofing; roofing in Cape Verde; Cape Verdean roofing
- Regions: Africa
- First published: 2026-11-02 · Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
- Cite as: "Roofing in Cabo Verde." roof.wiki. https://roof.wiki/roofing-in-cabo-verde/

## Key facts

- **Dominant material today:** Concrete, 88.9% (Afrobarometer 2014 file)
- **Traditional roof:** Palm-frond or straw thatch on the round funco
- **Climate driver:** Aridity, trade winds, salt air, volcanic hazard (Fogo)
- **Landmark:** Cidade Velha (described by UNESCO as the first European colonial town built in the tropics)

Cabo Verde, a volcanic archipelago in the Atlantic off Senegal, has a roofing profile unlike the West African mainland. Almost all homes are roofed with concrete, while the traditional thatched round house, the *funco*, survives only in a few villages and museums.

## Climate and hazards

The islands are arid to semi-arid, with a short, irregular rainy season and recurrent drought; drought slowed building in the early 20th century. Wind, salt air and, on Fogo, volcanic eruptions are the main hazards. Eruptions in 1995 and 2014-15 destroyed much of the village of Chã das Caldeiras inside the Fogo crater.

## Roofing history

Cidade Velha (formerly Ribeira Grande), on Santiago, was described by UNESCO as the first European colonial town built in the tropics. It was a major Portuguese port of call in the 16th and 17th centuries and a hub of the Atlantic slave trade; its church dates from 1495. In colonial towns, wealthier families lived in two-storey *sobrados*. Neoclassical buildings, especially in Mindelo, followed from 1822 into the early 20th century. The Pedra de Lume lighthouse on Sal (1853) has a tiled roof.

After independence in 1975, flat-roofed buildings became the norm, similar to modern construction on the African mainland.

## Traditional and vernacular roofs

- **Funco**: a circular house of stone (or, on Fogo, lava brick) with a conical roof thatched with palm fronds or straw, found mainly on Fogo, Santiago and Maio (see Funco). In colonial times it was mainly the house of poorer, Black rural families.
- **Sobrado**: two-storey colonial town house, concentrated for example in São Filipe on Fogo.

## Roofing today

In the 2014 Afrobarometer survey of Cabo Verde, interviewers recorded:

| Main roof material | Share of respondents (2014) |
|---|---|
| Concrete | 88.9% |
| Tiles | 5.8% |
| Asbestos | 1.3% |
| Multiple materials | 1.2% |
| Metal, tin or zinc | 1.1% |
| Thatch or grass | 0.4% |

Afrobarometer surveys interview about 1,200 adults per country; these figures are unweighted counts in the survey sample. The near-absence of metal sheet sets Cabo Verde apart from every mainland country in the region.

## Notable roofs

- **Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande**: early colonial town with churches, a royal fortress and the 16th-century pillory, a World Heritage site.
- **Funco at the Museu Municipal de São Filipe**, Fogo.
- **Chã das Caldeiras**, Fogo: lava-built round houses rebuilt after successive eruptions, with new huts from early 2016.

## Local roofing terms

- **funco**: traditional round thatched house.
- **sobrado** (Portuguese): two-storey colonial town house.
- **laje** (Portuguese): concrete slab.
- **telha** (Portuguese): roof tile.

## Sources and gaps

No national roofing code was identified. No information on domestic roofing manufacturers was found in published sources.

Survey shares are unweighted; national census housing tables (INE Cabo Verde) on roof material are not well documented in published sources.

## Sources

1. Afrobarometer Survey 2014, Round 6, Cabo Verde: roof of respondent's home — IHSN / Afrobarometer. https://catalog.ihsn.org/catalog/8905/variable/F1/V306?name=Q105
2. Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande — UNESCO World Heritage Centre. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1310/
3. Funco (architecture) — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funco_(architecture)
4. Architecture of Cape Verde — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Cape_Verde