History of São Tomé and Príncipe - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The islands of São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off...

were uninhabited before the arrival of the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

sometime in 1469, 1470, or 1471. After the islands were discovered by Fernão do Pó

Fernão do Pó

Fernão do Pó , also Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó, Fernando Poo was a Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He discovered the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 1472, one of which until the mid 1900s bore a version of his name, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo. The island is...

, Portuguese navigators explored the islands and decided they would be a good location for bases to trade with the mainland.

The first successful settlement of São Tomé was established in 1493 by Álvaro Caminha

Álvaro Caminha

Álvaro Caminha was appointed by King John II of Portugal in 1492 Captain-major – apparently the second – of São Tomé and Príncipe which had been discovered 22 years earlier....

, 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 excellent 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 African mainland. By the mid-16th century, 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

Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...

began to hurt the islands. The large slave population also proved difficult to control with Portugal unable to invest many resources in the effort. As well, the Dutch captured and occupied São Tomé for seven years in 1641, razing over 70 sugar mills. 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 still is 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

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 Angola

Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

n 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

Batepá massacre

The Batepá massacre occurred on 3 February 1953 in São Tomé when Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles. The background of the bloody events was the shortage of labor on the plantations and fears of the islanders to become forced to work on the estates...

" remains a major event in the colonial history of the islands, and its anniversary is officially observed by the government.

By the late 1950s

1950s

The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

, 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

Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe

The Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe/Social Democratic Party or Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe/Partido Social Democrata, in Portuguese, is one of the main political parties in São Tomé and Príncipe...

(MLSTP), which eventually established its base in nearby Gabon. Picking up momentum in the 1960s

1960s

The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

, 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 its first president the MLSTP Secretary General Manuel Pinto da Costa

Manuel Pinto da Costa

Manuel Pinto da Costa is a Santoméan economist and politician who served as the first President of São Tomé and Príncipe from 1975 to 1991. He was again elected as President in August 2011 and took office on 3 September 2011....

.

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

Miguel Trovoada

Miguel dos Anjos da Cunha Lisboa Trovoada was Prime Minister and President of São Tomé and Príncipe. Currently he is the Executive Secretary of the Gulf of Guinea Commission.-Background:...

, 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 multiparty presidential election in 1996. The Party of Democratic Convergence

Democratic Convergence Party

Democratic Convergence Party may refer to:* Democratic Convergence * Democratic Convergence Party * Convergence Démocratique, Haiti* Democratic Convergence Party – Reflection Group, São Tomé and Príncipe...

(PCD) toppled the MLSTP to take a majority of seats in the National Assembly

National Assembly of São Tomé and Príncipe

The unicameral National Assembly of São Tomé and Príncipe is the country's legislative body.The current National Assembly, formed following elections held on 26 March 2006, has a total of 55 members elected in 7 multi-member constituencies using the party-list proportional representation system...

, 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 multiparty system. Presidential elections were held in July 2001. The candidate backed by the Independent Democratic Action

Independent Democratic Action

The Independent Democratic Action is a political party in São Tomé and Príncipe. It was established in 1991 and is a politically centrist party....

party, Fradique de Menezes

Fradique de Menezes

Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes was the President of São Tomé and Príncipe from 2003 to 2011.-Early life:Menezes was born on the then Portuguese colony of São Tomé in 1942, the son of a Portuguese man and a local woman. He attended high school in Portugal...

, 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

Cohabitation (government)

Cohabitation in government occurs in semi-presidential systems, such as France's system, when the President is from a different political party than the majority of the members of parliament. It occurs because such a system forces the president to name a premier that will be acceptable to the...

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

Patrice Trovoada

Patrice Emery Trovoada is a São Toméan politician. He has been Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe since 14 August 2010; previously he was Prime Minister from February 2008 to June 2008.Trovoada was born in Libreville, Gabon...

(son of former President Miguel Trovoada) and independent Nilo Guimarães

Nilo Guimarães

Nilo de Oliveira Guimarães is a São Toméan businessman and politician.Running as an independent candidate in the 30 July 2006 presidential election, he finished last out of three candidates, winning 0.59% of the vote.-References:...

. Local elections, the first since 1992, took place on 27 August 2006 and were dominated by members of the ruling coalition.

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External links