Middle Africa · STP
São Tomé and Príncipe
The story · 8 chapters
How it was drawn
Two uninhabited islands found by Portuguese sailors around 1470, worked as sugar and then cocoa colonies by enslaved and forced labour, fought over by the Dutch and independent since 1975.
Play the story Take the first lessonThrough the ages
Rivals in history
The kingdoms, empires and states São Tomé and Príncipe fought or stood against, from the first to today.
- Kingdom of Kongo1500 to 1570
São Tomé's planters and merchants dominate the slave trade from Kongo, often against the wishes of its king. In 1526 Afonso I of Kongo writes to the king of Portugal to protest that traders are seizing his free subjects.
- Dutch Republic1599 to 1600
At war with Spain, which then also rules Portugal, a Dutch fleet under Pieter van der Does captures the town of São Tomé in 1599. Fever kills many of the Dutch, including their admiral, and they soon leave.
- Dutch West India Company1641 to 1648
The Dutch West India Company seizes São Tomé in 1641 to secure slaves for its Brazilian and Caribbean trade. It holds the island until 1648, when Portugal recovers it along with Luanda.
- Portugal, Estado Novo1953 to 1975
Salazar's dictatorship rules the islands as a plantation colony, kills hundreds in the 1953 Batepá massacre and suppresses the nationalist movement until the Carnation Revolution of 1974 opens the way to independence.
Today
São Tomé and Príncipe now
Portugal discovered and colonized the uninhabited Sao Tome and Principe islands in the late 15th century, setting up a sugar-based economy that gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century -- all grown with African slave labor, a form of which lingered into the 20th century. While independence was achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted until the late 1980s.
- Capital
- São Tomé
- Government
- semi-presidential republic
- Head of government
- Américo Ramos
- Head of state
- Carlos Vila Nova
- Languages
- Portuguese
- Area
- 960 km²
Through time
Then and now
- Population230,9002023 · 60,900 in 1950
- Life expectancy69.7 years2023 · 39.1 years in 1950
- GDP per person$3,7512022 · $1,278 in 1950
- Living in cities69%2025 · 13% in 1950
- Literacy87%2019 · 18% in 1950
- Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
- Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
- War deathsNone2025
Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.
Relations
Close partners and tensions
Close partners
- Portugal
- France
- United States
- Brazil
Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 24 October 2026.