São Tomé and Príncipe is formally the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coastline of Central Africa. It consists of 2 archipelagos around the two primary islands of São Tomé as well as Príncipe, concerning 150 km (93.21 mi) apart as well as about 250 and 225 kilometres (155 and also 140 mi) off the north-western shore of Gabon. With a population of 201,800 (2018 main estimate), São Tomé and Príncipe is the second-smallest as well as second-least populated African sovereign state after Seychelles.

The islands were unoccupied up until their discovery by Portuguese travelers in the 15th century. Slowly conquered and also worked out throughout the 16th century, they jointly functioned as a crucial industrial as well as profession centre for the Atlantic slave trade.

The rich volcanic soil and also closeness to the equator made São Tomé and also Príncipe ideal for sugar farming, adhered to later by cash crops such as coffee and cacao; the financially rewarding hacienda economic climate was greatly reliant upon African servants. Cycles of social unrest and financial instability throughout the 19th and 20th centuries finished in serene independence in 1975. São Tomé and also Príncipe has considering that continued to be among Africa’s most secure and also autonomous nations.

Individuals of São Tomé and Príncipe are predominantly of African and also mestiço descent, with the majority of exercising Roman Catholicism. The heritage of Portuguese policy is likewise visible in the country’s culture, customs, and music, which fuse European and African influences. São Tomé and also Príncipe is an establishing member state of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.