São Tomé and Príncipe islands were a colony of the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
from its discovery in 1470 until 1975, when independence was granted by
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
.
History
The Portuguese explorers
João de Santarém
João de Santarém (15th century) was a Portuguese explorer who discovered São Tomé (in December 21, 1471), Annobón (in January 1472) and Príncipe (January 17, 1472). Together with Pêro Escobar, he also encountered the town of Sassandra in t ...
and
Pêro Escobar discovered the islands around 1470,
[Francisco, Agostinho, p.24] which they found uninhabited.
[Grivetti, Shapiro, p. 1849] The
São Tomé
São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities.
History
Álvar ...
island was named by the Portuguese in honor of
Saint Thomas, as they discovered the island on his
feast day, while the
Príncipe
Príncipe is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Census; island (Prince's island) was named in honor of
Afonso, Prince of Portugal
Afonso, Hereditary Prince of Portugal (; 18 May 147513 July 1491) was the heir apparent to the throne of Portugal. He was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and died in a horse-riding accident on the banks of the river Tagus.
Heir apparent
Afonso, na ...
, his father's favorite.
The first attempt of settlement in the islands began in 1485, when the Portuguese Crown granted to João de Paiva the São Tomé island. However, this attempt was not successful, because the settlers were unable to produce food in the specific conditions and climate that the islands offered, and because of the tropical diseases that affected the settlers.
It was only in 1493 when King
John II of Portugal
John II ( pt, João II; ; 3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince ( pt, o Príncipe Perfeito, link=no), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for re-establishi ...
nominated
Álvaro Caminha
Álvaro Caminha was appointed by King John II of Portugal in 1492 Captain-major (governor) – apparently the third – of the Portuguese colony of São Tomé and Príncipe which had been discovered 22 years earlier.
He was a knight of the king' ...
as
captain-major
A donatary captain was a Portuguese colonial official to whom the Crown granted jurisdiction, rights, and revenues over some colonial territory. The recipients of these grants were called (donataries), because they had been given the grant as a ( ...
of São Tomé island, that the first successful settlement was established.
Among these Portuguese settlers, there was a significant portion of criminals and orphans, as well as Jewish children taken from their parents to ensure that they were raised as Christians. Settlement of the Príncipe island was initiated in 1500.
In the following years, the Portuguese settlers started to import large numbers of slaves from mainland
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
to cultivate the rich volcanic soil of São Tomé island with highly profitable
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
. By the middle of the 16th century São Tomé generated enormous wealth to Portugal when it became the world's largest producer of sugar.
[Greene, Morgan, p.86] The islands humid climate allowed the quick growth of sugar, but prevented the production of higher quality white sugar.
In the first decade of the 17th century, the competition of
sugar plantations from the Portuguese
colony of Brazil
Colonial Brazil ( pt, Brasil Colonial) comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Dur ...
and the frequent
slave revolt
A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freed ...
s that occurred in the island, begun to slowly hurt the sugar crop cultivation,
This meant the decline of sugar production, and the shifting of the local economy towards the slave trade, who remained mostly in the hands of the local ''
mestiço
Mestiço is a Portuguese term that referred to persons born from a couple in which one was an aboriginal person and the other a European.
Mestiço community in Brazil
in Colonial Brazil, it was initially used to refer to , persons born from ...
'' population.
The geographical location of the islands made them a crucial
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
of the
transatlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
, as they served as an assembly point of the slaves brought from the
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...
and the
Kingdom of Kongo and destined to the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
.
[Huang, Morrissete, p. 970]
The
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
occupied the São Tomé island in 1641, until 1648 when the Portuguese took back the island.
The Dutch, however, did not take Príncipe island.
Most Portuguese settlers married African women. Europeans never numbered more than 1000 at their peak in the 16th century, and by the 18th century, prosperous and influential local Afro-Portuguese ''mulatos'' came to fill important local positions, such as cathedral chapter and the town-hall, into which they had been admitted as early as 1528. Some were indistinguishable from mainland native Africans, who claimed to be ''brancos da terra'', literally, "the lands whites" on account of their ancestry.
In 1753, because of the frequent attacks by
pirates and
corsairs, the capital of the São Tomé island was transferred to
Santo António
Santo António (Portuguese for Saint Anthony), also known as Santo António do Príncipe, is the main settlement of the island of Príncipe in São Tomé and Príncipe. It lies on the north east coast. It is the capital of the Autonomous Reg ...
on Príncipe, and the islands started being ruled as a single colony, with only one Governor.
It was only in 1852 when the capital was transferred back to São Tomé island.
[McKenna, p.73]
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Portuguese introduced
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
Seeds of ...
and
cocoa in extensive large-scale plantations called ''roças'', thus giving a great boost to the economy. The coffee production cycle ended in the late 19th century, when it was replaced by cocoa as the islands' main production. São Tomé and Príncipe then became a major global cocoa production area for several generations, and in the first decades of the 20th century, it was frequently the world's annual number one cocoa producer.
In 1972, a nationalist political party of
Marxist ideology, the
Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy F ...
(MLSTP), was created by exiles in
Equatorial Guinea with the intent of creating an independent nation. The
Carnation Revolution in 1974 ended the
Estado Novo dictatorship in Portugal and initiated a process of decolonization of the Portuguese colonies in Africa. On 12 July 1975, the new Portuguese regime granted independence to
São Tomé and Príncipe.
Gallery
File:Um comboio de Roca - São Tomé (Edicado do Governo de São Tomé and Príncipe).jpg, A plantation train in 1910.
File:CH-NB - Portugal, San Thomé (São Tomé und Príncipe)- Strassenszene - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-25-021.jpg, A street in São Tomé, in 1941–1942.
File:CH-NB - Portugal, San Thomé (São Tomé und Príncipe)- Strassenszene - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-25-022.jpg, São Tomé, 1941–1942.
File:CH-NB - Portugal, San Thomé (São Tomé und Príncipe)- Strassenszene - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-25-013.jpg, Marketplace in São Tomé, 1941-1942
File:CH-NB - Portugal, San Thomé (São Tomé und Príncipe)- Ansicht der Ortschaft Trindade - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-25-025.jpg, Vila Trindade 1941-1942
File:CH-NB - Portugal, San Thomé (São Tomé und Príncipe)- Landschaft - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-25-007.jpg, São Tomé landscape
Colonial architecture
File:Sao Tome National Museum (20031021910) (2).jpg, Fort São Sebastião.
File:Sao Tome 46 (16247130301).jpg, Supreme Court of São Tomé.
File:Palais présidentiel à São Tomé (6).jpg, Presidential Palace.
File:Sao Tome 3 (16223079256).jpg, Residential home.
File:Sao Tome Liceu Nacional 1 (16061610770).jpg, Highschool.
File:Façade de la Roça São João dos Angolares (São Tomé).jpg, Plantation house of São João dos Angolares
File:Cathédrale de São Tomé (5).jpg, Cathedral of São Tomé
File:Sao Tome Banco Internacional de Sao Tome e Principe (16247128161).jpg, Former ''Misericórdia''
Currency
File:50 escudo São Tome - 1970.png, 1970 coin of 50 escudos from São Tomé.
See also
*
List of governors of Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe
The islands of São Tomé and Príncipe were discovered and claimed by Portugal in the 1470s. A Portuguese colony was established in 1485. Each island was governed as a separate entity until 1753, when they were united as a single crown colo ...
Notes
References
*Jack P. Greene, Philip D. Morgan, ''Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal'' (2008)
*Richard M. Juang, Noelle Morrissette, ''Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History'' (2008)
*Louis E. Grivetti,
Howard-Yana Shapiro, ''Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage'' (2011)
*Albertino Francisco, Nujoma Agostinho, ''Exorcising Devils from the Throne: São Tomé and Príncipe in the Chaos of Democratization'' (2011)
*Amy McKenna, ''The History of Central and Eastern Africa'' (2011)
*Anthony Disney, ''A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire'' (2009)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portuguese Sao Tome and Principe
Former Portuguese colonies
Former colonies in Africa
Portuguese colonisation in Africa
History of São Tomé and Príncipe
States and territories disestablished in 1975
Island countries
1975 disestablishments in Africa