ResourcesOverview
The islands of Sao Tome and Principe, situated in the equatorial Atlantic about 300 and 250 kilometers (200 and 150 miles), respectively, off the northerwest coast of Gabon, constitute one of Africa's smallest countries. Both are part of an extinct volcanic mountain range, which also ../../includes the island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea to the north and Mount Cameroon on the African west coast. Sao Tome is 48 kilometers (30 mi.) long and 32 kilometers (20 mi.) wide and the more mountainous of the two islands. Its peaks reach 2,024 meters (6,640 ft.). Principe is about 16 kilometers (10 mi.) long and 6 kilometers (4 mi.) wide. Both islands are crossed by swift streams radiating down the mountains through lush forest and cropland to the sea.
At sea level, the climate is tropical--hot and humid with average yearly temperatures of about 27 degrees C (80 degrees F) and little daily variation. At the interior's higher altitudes, the average yearly temperature is 20 degrees C (68 degrees F), and nights are generally cool. Annual rainfall varies from 500 centimeters (200 in.) on the southwestern slopes to 100 centimeters (40 in.) in the northern lowlands. The rainy season runs from October to May.
Discovered and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century, the islands' sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century - all grown with plantation slave labor, a form of which lingered into the 20th century. Although independence was achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted until the late 1980s. The first free elections were held in 1991.
Geography
Location: Western Africa; islands straddling the equator in the Gulf of Guinea west of Gabon. Area: 1,001 sq. km. (386 sq. mi.); about the size of metropolitan Indianapolis, or one-third the size of Rhode Island.
Cities: Capital--Sao Tome. Other cities--Trindade, Santana, Porto Alegre, Santo Antonio.
Terrain: Two small, volcanic islands.
Climate: Tropical, with wet and dry seasons, influenced by the mountainous topography.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Sao Tomean(s).
Population (2001): 136,938.
Annual growth rate: 1.5%.(2001)
Ethnic groups: Mixed African, Portuguese-African.
Religions: Christian (Roman Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, Seventh Day Adventist) 90%.
Language: Portuguese (official).
Education: Literacy(2000 UNDP est.)--79.3%. Years compulsory--to secondary level.
Health: Life expectancy--65 yrs. Infant mortality rate (1999 est)--53/1,000.
Labor force (by household, 2000 UNDP est.): Agriculture--15.3%; Industry, commerce, services--36.5%; government--11.5%.
Economy
GDP (1999 est): $45 million.
Annual GDP growth rate (1999 est): 2.5%.
Per capita GDP (1999 est.): $320.
Consumer price inflation: 16.3% (1999 est.)
Natural resources: Agricultural products, fish.
Agriculture (17% of GDP, 1999): Products--cocoa, coconuts, copra, palm kernels, cinnamon, pepper, coffee, bananas, beans, poultry. Cultivated land--484 sq. kilometers.
Industry (5.5% of GDP, 1999): Types--light construction, shirts, soap, beer, fisheries, shrimp processing, palm oil.
Trade: Exports (1999)--$4.1 million: 95% cocoa, copra, palm kernels, coffee. Major markets-- Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, China. Imports (1999)--$21.4 million: food, fuel, machinery and electrical equipment. Major suppliers--Portugal (43%), France (16%), UK (14%). Total external debt (1999): $253.8 million.
Exchange rate (May 2001): 8,850 dobras=US$1.
Fiscal year: Calendar year.
Profile
Of Sao Tome and Principe's total population, about 131,000 live on Sao Tome and 6,000 on Principe. All are descended from various ethnic groups that have migrated to the islands since 1485. Six groups are identifiable: Mestico, or mixed-blood, descendants of African slaves brought to the islands during the early years of settlement from Benin, Gabon, Congo, and Angola (these people also are known as filhos da terra or "sons of the land"; Angolares, reputedly descendants of Angolan slaves who survived a 1540 shipwreck and now earn their livelihood fishing; Forros, descendants of freed slaves when slavery was abolished; Servicais, contract laborers from Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde, living temporarily on the islands; Tongas, children of servicais born on the islands; and Europeans, primarily Portuguese.
In the 1970s, there were two significant population movements--the exodus of most of the 4,000 Portuguese residents and the influx of several hundred Sao Tomean refugees from Angola. The islanders have been absorbed largely into a common Luso-African culture. Almost all belong to the Roman Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, or Seventh-day Adventist Churches, which in turn retain close ties with churches in Portugal.
History
The islands were first discovered by Portuguese navigators between 1469 and 1472. The first successful settlement of Sao Tome was established in 1493 by Avaro Caminha, who received the land as a grant from the Portuguese crown. Principe was settled in 1500 under a similar arrangement. By the mid-1500s, with the help of slave labor, the Portuguese settlers had turned the islands into Africa's foremost exporter of sugar. Sao Tome and Principe were taken over and administered by the Portuguese crown in 1522 and 1573, respectively.
Sugar cultivation declined over the next 100 years, and by the mid-1600s, Sao Tome was little more than a port of call for bunkering ships. In the early 1800s, two new cash crops, coffee and cocoa, were introduced. The rich volcanic soils proved well suited to the new cash crop industry, and soon extensive plantations (rocas), owned by Portuguese companies or absentee landlords, occupied almost all of the good farmland. By 1908, Sao Tome had become the world's largest producer of cocoa, still the country's most important crop.
The rocas system, which gave the plantation managers a high degree of authority, led to abuses against the African farm workers. Although Portugal officially abolished slavery in 1876, the practice of forced paid labor continued. In the early 1900s, an internationally publicized controversy arose over charges that Angolan contract workers were being subjected to forced labor and unsatisfactory working conditions. Sporadic labor unrest and dissatisfaction continued well into the 20th century, culminating in an outbreak of riots in 1953 in which several hundred African laborers were killed in a clash with their Portuguese rulers. This "Batepa Massacre" remains a major event in the colonial history of the islands, and its anniversary is officially observed by the government.
By the late 1950s, when other emerging nations across the African Continent were demanding independence, a small group of Sao Tomeans had formed the Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP), which eventually established its base in nearby Gabon. Picking up momentum in the 1960s, events moved quickly after the overthrow of the Caetano dictatorship in Portugal in April 1974. The new Portuguese regime was committed to the dissolution of its overseas colonies; in November 1974, their representatives met with the MLSTP in Algiers and worked out an agreement for the transfer of sovereignty. After a period of transitional government, Sao Tome and Principe achieved independence on July 12, 1975, choosing as its first president the MLSTP Secretary General Manuel Pinto da Costa.
In 1990, Sao Tome became one of the first African countries to embrace democratic reform and changes to the constitution--the legalization of opposition political parties--led to elections in 1991 that were nonviolent, free, and transparent. Miguel Trovoada, a former prime minister who had been in exile since 1986, returned as an independent candidate and was elected president. Trovoada was re-elected in Sao Tome's second multiparty presidential election in 1996. The Party of Democratic Convergence (PCD) toppled the MLSTP to take a majority of seats in the National Assembly, with the MLSTP becoming an important and vocal minority party. Municipal elections followed in late 1992, in which the MLSTP came back to win a majority of seats on five of seven regional councils. In early legislative elections in October 1994, the MLSTP won a plurality of seats in the Assembly. It regained an outright majority of seats in the November 1998 elections. The Government of Sao Tome fully functions under a multiparty system. Presidential elections were held in July 2001. The candidate backed by the Independent Democratic Action Party, Fradique de Menezes, was elected in the first round and inaugurated on September 3. Parliamentary elections are expected to be held again by November 2002.
Information provided by CIA Worldfactbook, US Department of State, Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). ReefBase: Oliver, J. and M. Noordeloos. Editors. 2002, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center,
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