Cape Verde (officially Cabo Verde) is a volcanic archipelago located in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, roughly 600–850 km off the west coast of Africa, and is part of the Macaronesia ecoregion. Discovered by Portuguese and Genoese navigators around 1456, the previously uninhabited islands were settled by the Portuguese in 1462, making them one of Europe's first tropical colonies and a key hub for the transatlantic slave trade in the 16th and 17th centuries. After gaining independence in 1975, the country transformed into one of Africa's most stable and democratic nations, with a service-oriented economy focused on tourism and foreign investment. With a population of about 530,000, its people primarily descend from West Africans and early Portuguese settlers, while a large diaspora in the US and Portugal vastly outnumbers the island residents. The official language is Portuguese, but the widely spoken Cape Verdean Creole is the recognized national language, and the capital Praia on Santiago island is the largest city. In 2013, the nation officially requested that it be referred to solely as "Cabo Verde" in all languages, dropping the anglicized "Cape Verde."