Sao Tome are islands located in the Gulf of Guinea off of Western Africa, straddling the Equator west of Gabon.
Geographic Coordinates: 1 00 N, 7 00 E
This volcanic island was "discovered" and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century. <
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.
By the mid-1600s, Sao Tome was little more than a port of call for ships.
The islands' sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the early 1800s. 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.
Plantation managers abused 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.
