Cape Verde is a sociedade mestiça (as described in Portuguese), which means that it is home to mixed race people. The archipelago was uninhabited when the Portuguese discovered it in 1456. African slaves were brought to work on plantations, and as a result Cape Verdeans are mulattoes (mestiços in Portuguese), who have mixed black and white origins. A genetic study revealed that the ancestry of the population is predominantly European in the male line and West African in the female line.
