In the 16th and 17th century Portuguese travel writing, the inhabitants of Guinea of Cape Verde, or Greater Senegambia, were clearly differentiated by "nations". This differentiation organized the authors discourse and was based in the record of identity markers, among which dressing, warfare, religion, language and particular customs, These and other markers mixed questionnaires of European origin with Western African forms of identity perception, to begin with the appropriation of names of local origin as identifiers of the "nações". The interpretation of the category of "nation" has historiographical implications, which are discussed, concerning the validity of the concepts of ethnic group and ethnic identity.
Guinea of Cape Verde; "nations"; ethnical identity
