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Sao Tome Principe)
São Tomé and Príncipe (English pronunciation IPA: [saʊ̯ tʰəˈmeɪ̯ ənd ˈpʰɹɪnsɪpɪ], Portuguese pronunciation IPA: [sɐ̃ũ tu'mɛ i 'pɾı̃sɨpɨ]), officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about 140 kilometres apart and about 250 and 225 kilometres, respectively, off the northwestern coast of Gabon. Both islands are part of an extinct volcanic mountain range. São Tomé, the sizable southern island, is situated just north of the equator. It was named in honor of Saint Thomas by Portuguese explorers who happened to arrive at the island on his feast day.
São Tomé and Príncipe is the second-smallest African country in terms of population (the Seychelles being the smallest). It is the smallest country in the world that is not a former British overseas territory, a former United States trusteeship, or one of the European microstates. It is also the smallest Portuguese-speaking country.
History
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The islands of São Tomé and Príncipe were uninhabited before the arrival of the Portuguese sometime around 1470. The islands were discovered by João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar and bore his name[clarify]
until the 20th century. Portuguese navigators explored the islands and
decided that they would be good locations for bases to trade with the
mainland.
The dates of discovery are sometimes given as December 21 (St
Thomas's Day), 1471 for São Tomé, and January 17 (St Anthony's Day),
1472 for Principe,[1] though other sources give different nearby years. Principe was initially named Santo Antão ("Saint Anthony"), changing its name in 1502 to Ilha do Principe ("Prince's Island"), in reference to the Prince of Portugal to whom duties on the island's sugar crop were paid.
The first successful settlement of São Tomé was established in 1493 by Álvaro Caminha,
who received the land as a grant from the crown. Príncipe was settled
in 1500 under a similar arrangement. Attracting settlers proved
difficult, however, and most of the earliest inhabitants were
"undesirables" sent from Portugal, mostly Jews. In time these settlers found the volcanic soil of the region suitable for agriculture, especially the growing of sugar.
The cultivation of sugar was a labour-intensive process and the Portuguese began to import large numbers of slaves from the mainland. By the mid-1500s the Portuguese settlers had turned the islands into Africa's foremost exporter of sugar. São Tomé and Príncipe were taken over and administered by the Portuguese crown in 1522 and 1573, respectively.
However, superior sugar colonies in the western hemisphere
began to hurt the islands. The large slave population also proved
difficult to control, with Portugal unable to invest many resources in
the effort. Sugar cultivation thus declined over the next 100 years,
and by the mid-17th century, the economy of São Tomé had changed. It
was now primarily a transit point for ships engaged in the slave trade between the West and continental Africa.
In the early 19th century, 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 (roças), owned by
Portuguese companies or absentee landlords, occupied almost all of the
good farmland. By 1908, São Tomé had become the world's largest
producer of cocoa, which remains the country's most important crop.
The roças 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 20th century, 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 "Batepá 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 São Toméans had
formed the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe
(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, São Tomé and Príncipe achieved independence on
July 12, 1975, choosing as the first president the MLSTP Secretary General Manuel Pinto da Costa.
In 1990, São Tomé 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 São Tomé's second multi-party presidential election in
1996. The Party of Democratic Convergence (PCD) overtook 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 São Tomé fully functions
under a multi-party 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 were held in March 2002. For the next four
years, a series of short-lived opposition-led governments were formed.
The army seized power for one week in July 2003, complaining of
corruption and that forthcoming oil revenues would not be divided
fairly. An accord was negotiated under which President de Menezes was
returned to office.
The cohabitation
period ended in March 2006, when a pro-presidential coalition won
enough seats in National Assembly elections to form and head a new
government.
In the 30 July 2006 presidential election, Fradique de Menezes easily won a second five-year term in office, defeating two other candidates Patrice Trovoada (son of former President Miguel Trovoada) and independent Nilo Guimarães. Local elections, the first since 1992, took place on 27 August 2006 and were dominated by members of the ruling coalition.
Politics
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São Tomé has functioned under a multiparty system since 1990. The
president of the republic is elected to a 5-year term by direct
universal suffrage and a
secret ballot, and must gain an outright majority to be elected. The
president may hold up to two consecutive terms. The prime minister is
named by the president, and the fourteen members of cabinet are chosen
by the prime minister.
The National Assembly,
the supreme organ of the state and the highest legislative body, is
made up of 55 members, who are elected for a 4-year term and meet
semiannually. Justice is administered at the highest level by the
Supreme Court. The judiciary is independent under the current
constitution.
With regards to human rights, there exists the freedom of speech and the freedom to form opposition political parties.
Provinces and districts
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São Tomé and Príncipe is divided into 2 provinces: Príncipe, São Tomé.
The provinces are further divided into seven districts, six on São Tomé and one on Príncipe (with Príncipe having self-government since April 29, 1995).
Geography
Map of São Tomé and Príncipe
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The islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, situated in the equatorial
Atlantic about 300 and 250 kilometers (200 and 150 miles),
respectively, off the northwest coast of Gabon, constitute Africa's
smallest country. Both are part of the Cameroon volcanic mountain line, which also includes the islands of Annobón to the southwest, Bioko to the northeast (both part of Equatorial Guinea), and Mount Cameroon on the African west coast.
The São Tomé and Príncipe rainforest
São Tomé is 50 kilometers (31 miles) long and 32 kilometers
(20 miles) wide and the more mountainous of the two islands. Its peaks
reach 2,024 meters (6,640 ft). Príncipe is about 30 kilometers
(19 miles) long and 6 kilometers (4 miles) wide. Swift streams
radiating down the mountains through lush forest and cropland to the
sea cross both islands.
At sea level, the climate is tropical—hot and humid with average
yearly temperatures of about 27°C (80°F) and little daily variation.
The temperature rarely rises beyond 32°C. At the interior's higher
altitudes, the average yearly temperature is 20°C (68°F), and nights
are generally cool. Annual rainfall varies from 5 m (200 inches) on the southwestern slopes to 1 m (40 in) in the northern lowlands. The rainy season runs from October to May.
The equator lies immediately south of São Tomé Island, passing through or near the islet named Ilhéu das Rolas.
Economy
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Since the 1800s, the economy of São Tomé and Príncipe has been based
on plantation agriculture. At the time of independence,
Portuguese-owned plantations occupied 90% of the cultivated area. After
independence, control of these plantations passed to various
state-owned agricultural enterprises. The main crop on São Tomé is
cocoa, representing about 95% of exports. Other export crops include
copra, palm kernels, and coffee.
Domestic food-crop production is inadequate to meet local
consumption, so the country imports some of its food. Efforts have been
made by the government in recent years to expand food production, and
several projects have been undertaken, largely financed by foreign
donors.
Fisherman landing their catch in São Tomé
Other than agriculture, the main economic activities are fishing and
a small industrial sector engaged in processing local agricultural
products and producing a few basic consumer goods. The scenic islands
have potential for tourism, and the government is attempting to improve
its rudimentary tourist industry infrastructure. The government sector
accounts for about 11% of employment.
Following independence, the country had a centrally directed economy
with most means of production owned and controlled by the state. The
original constitution guaranteed a “mixed economy,” with privately
owned cooperatives combined with publicly owned property and means of
production. In the 1980s and 1990s, the economy of São Tomé encountered
major difficulties. Economic growth stagnated, and cocoa exports
dropped in both value and volume, creating large balance-of-payments
deficits. Efforts to redistribute plantation land resulted in decreased
cocoa production. At the same time, the international price of cocoa
slumped.
In response to its economic downturn, the government undertook a
series of far-reaching economic reforms. In 1987, the government
implemented an International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment
program, and invited greater private participation in management of the
parastatals, as well as in the agricultural, commercial, banking, and
tourism sectors. The focus of economic reform since the early 1990s has
been widespread privatization, especially of the state-run agricultural
and industrial sectors.
The São Toméan Government has traditionally obtained foreign
assistance from various donors, including the UN Development Programme,
the World Bank, the European Union (EU), Portugal, Taiwan, and the
African Development Bank. In April 2000, in association with the
central bank, the Banco National São Tomé e Príncipe,
the IMF approved a poverty reduction and growth facility for São Tomé
aimed at reducing inflation to 3% for 2001, raising ideal growth to 4%,
and reducing the fiscal deficit. In late 2000, São Tomé qualified for
significant debt reduction under the IMF-World Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The reduction is currently being reevaluated by the IMF, due to the attempted coup d’etat
in July 2003 and subsequent emergency spending. Following the truce,
the IMF decided to send a mission to São Tomé to evaluate the
macroeconomic state of the country. This evaluation is ongoing,
reportedly pending oil legislation to determine how the government will
manage incoming oil revenues.
Portugal remains one of São Tomé's major trading partners,
particularly as a source of imports. Food, manufactured articles,
machinery, and transportation equipment are imported primarily from the
EU.
Petroleum exploration
In 2001, São Tomé and Nigeria reached agreement on joint exploration
for petroleum in waters claimed by the two countries of the Niger Delta geologic province.
After a lengthy series of negotiations, in April 2003 the joint
development zone (JDZ) was opened for bids by international oil firms.
The JDZ was divided into 9 blocks; the winning bids for block one, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, and the Norwegian firm, Equity Energy,
were announced in April 2004, with São Tomé to take in 40% of the
$123 million bid, and Nigeria the other 60%. Bids on other blocks were
still under consideration in October 2004. São Tomé stands to gain
significant revenue both from the bidding process and from follow-on
production, should reserves in the area match expectations.
Demographics
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Of São Tomé and Príncipe's total population, about 137,500 live on
São Tomé and 6,000 on Príncipe. All are descended from various ethnic
groups that have migrated to the islands since 1485. Seven groups are
identifiable:
- Mestiços, or mixed-blood, descendants of Portuguese
colonists and African slaves brought to the islands during the early
years of settlement from Benin, Gabon, and Congo (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;
- Serviçais, contract laborers from Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde, living temporarily on the islands;
- Tongas, children of serviçais born on the islands; and
- Europeans, primarily Portuguese.
- Asians, mostly Chinese minority, including Macanese people of mixed Portuguese and Chinese ancestry from Macau.
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 São Toméan 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, with a small but growing Muslim population.
Although a small country, São Tomé and Príncipe has four national languages: Portuguese (the official language, spoken by 95% of the pop
Classical
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