Place · site

Tarrafal camp

Also known as Tarrafal concentration camp

The Tarrafal camp was a prison camp on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde, opened in 1936 by Portugal's Estado Novo for political prisoners. Harsh conditions and disease killed dozens of inmates, earning it the name camp of slow death. Closed in 1954, it was reopened in 1961 for nationalists from the African colonies and finally closed in 1974. It is now a museum.

Tarrafal camp — Image: Gagum · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Estado Novo (Portugal)

See also

Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tarrafal camp. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tarrafal-camp
MLA: “Tarrafal camp.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tarrafal-camp. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Tarrafal camp.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tarrafal-camp.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tarrafal camp’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tarrafal-camp (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻