Welcome to São Tomé, the capital and largest city of the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, in Central Africa. Its name is Portuguese for Saint Thomas, and founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. The island lies about 40 kilometres north of the equator and was uninhabited before the Portuguese arrived. They came looking for land to grow sugarcane, and in the 16th century São Tomé was the main centre of sugar production, until Brazil overtook it. That wealth was built on the forced labour of enslaved people. Let's begin our tour.
São Sebastião Museum
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsAt the south-eastern end of Ana Chaves Bay stands the Fortress of São Sebastião. The Portuguese built it in 1566 to protect the port and the city from pirate attacks. In 1866 a lighthouse was added inside the fortress, and it was rebuilt in 1928. Today the old walls house a museum, and as you walk through its rooms you will find religious art and objects from the colonial era, all within one of the oldest buildings in the city.
Our Lady of Grace Cathedral
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOn the People's Square, close to the Presidential Palace, rises the Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace, the seat of the Catholic diocese of São Tomé and Príncipe. The first church here was begun at the end of the 15th century and became the seat of a diocese in 1534. It was rebuilt in the 1570s during the reign of King Sebastian of Portugal, and later, in 1814, it was rebuilt again at the initiative of the local people. The façade you see today, in a neo-Romanesque style, dates from a remodelling in 1956.
Parque Natural Obô de São Tomé
Photo: Yakoo1986 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsNow we head into the green heart of the island, the Obô Natural Park. Established in 2006, it covers 195 square kilometres, including the central mountains with Pico de São Tomé and Pico Cão Grande. Conservationists around the world know it for its dense virgin rainforests, and the park stretches from lowland and mountain forest to mangroves and savanna. Look closely and you may notice abandoned plantations within the secondary rainforest, which locals call capoeira.
Pico Cão Grande
Photo: Philippe Bourachot · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsRising like a giant needle from the rainforest is Pico Cão Grande, Portuguese for Great Dog Peak. This volcanic plug formed when magma solidified in the vent of an active volcano, roughly three and a half million years ago. Its summit stands 663 metres above sea level, about 370 metres above the surrounding land. Climbing it is very difficult, thanks to moss on the damp rock and the presence of snakes. A Portuguese team tried first in 1975, but the first successful ascent came only in 1991, by a Japanese team.
Ilhéu das Cabras
Photo: Moises.on from Brasília, Brasil · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLook out to sea, about 2 kilometres off the north-east coast, and you will spot Ilhéu das Cabras, an uninhabited islet in the Gulf of Guinea. It is made up of two hills, each about 90 metres high, and on the north-eastern summit stands a lighthouse built in 1890. The islet has been known to mapmakers for a long time: it appears as Mooro Caebres on a Dutch map from 1665.
Lomakuume
