This paper discusses the relationship between health concerns, encouraging the practice of physical activities and the organization of youth movements in Cape Verde during the decades of 1910-1930. This archipelago is a junction of naval routes, by its precocious development of modern behavior and by its peculiar relationship with Portugal, marked by the construction of its own identity (Cape-Verdeanness), whose basic claim lies not in legal autonomy, but in its full recognition as part of the 'glorious Portuguese Empire.' Reports of travelers, archival documents, depositions, books of memoirs and journals were analyzed for this research.