São Tomé and Príncipe

São Tomé and Príncipe is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the equatorial coast of Central Africa. Its two main islands lie about 150 km (93 mi) apart, the capital is São Tomé, and the country is a founding member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.

The islands rose from deep water along the Cameroon Line about 30 million years ago and had no people when the Portuguese explorers João de Santarém and Pêro Escobar landed on 21 December 1470. Álvaro Caminha founded the first lasting settlement on São Tomé in 1493, and Príncipe, first called Santo Antão, was settled in 1500 and renamed in 1502 after the Prince of Portugal, who collected duties on its sugar.

The volcanic soil suited sugar, and coffee and cocoa followed in the early 19th century; by 1905 São Tomé was the largest cocoa producer in the world, and cocoa is still the main export crop. The volcanic plug of Pico Cão Grande rises more than 300 m (980 ft) above the forest in the south, and UNESCO made the whole country a biosphere reserve in 2025, first Príncipe in 2012. On 29 May 1919 Sir Arthur Eddington watched a solar eclipse from Príncipe in one of the first tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity.

The country became independent on 12 July 1975 under Manuel Pinto da Costa of the MLSTP and was a one-party state until 1990, when it moved to multiparty democracy. Most people are of African or mixed European and African descent, and Portuguese rule left a strong mark on the music and customs of the islands.