Notes on a Small Island: São Tomé and Príncipe Quiz

Answer: Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea is in the tropical part of the Atlantic Ocean, close to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. It contains the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Bonny in Nigeria. Both the Niger and Volta Rivers drain into the Gulf of Guinea. As well as São Tomé and Príncipe, the Gulf of Guinea also contains various islands belonging to other African countries; Bioko, Annobón, Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico and Corisco all belong to Equatorial Guinea, while Bobowasi Island is a territory of Ghana.

Answer: Portuguese

'São Tomé and Príncipe' is Portuguese for 'St Thomas and Prince'. The islands were uninhabited until they were discovered by the Portuguese explorers João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar in the 15th century. The Portuguese navigators decided that they could use the islands as a trading base, and Álvaro Caminha was appointed Governor of São Tomé by King John II of Portugal in 1492. Caminha was told to 'Christianise' the island. The original settlers were exiles from Portugal, mainly Jews, and despite the remote location of the islands, their fertile soil made them excellent agricultural sites for cultivating sugar. The Portuguese imported slaves from elsewhere in Africa to work on the sugar plantations.

(The dog in the picture is a Portuguese water dog.)

Answer: Cocoa

Cocoa was introduced to São Tomé and Principe by the Portuguese at the beginning of the 19th century. Cocoa plantations were originally owned by Portuguese landowners but following independence, they were taken over by state-owned agricultural businesses. In the 1980s and 1990s, cocoa production experienced a crisis when cocoa prices dropped locally and globally, and cocoa production land was seized in order to pay off debts.

The cocoa plantations used imported contract labourers from Cape Verde. In 1953, forros (local Creoles) protested against the government, fearing that the government would take their lands and give them to Cape Verdians, and force the forros to work as contract labourers on the plantations. The government responded by ordering white colonists to take up arms against what they believed to be a communist rebellion, and plantation owners also mobilised labourers from Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde. Hundreds of forros were tortured and killed in what became known as the Batepá Massacre, after the village of Batepá, where the rebellion began.

Answer: São Tomé

The island of São Tomé is home to the capital of the same name. It was founded in the 15th century, making it one of the oldest capitals of colonial Africa, and is home to Sé Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Graça (Our Lady of Grace Cathedral), built in the 15th century as part of the efforts to 'Christianise' the new colony, and rebuilt in 1814.

The city also houses the Presidential Palace, a Portuguese colonial-style building where the governor of the island lived until the country became independent, one cinema, and São Tomé International Airport. (The picture is of a bank in São Tomé.)

Answer: Parque Natural Obô

Parque Natural Obô is split over both islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, with Parque Natural Obô do Príncipe being the one in the question. Established in 2006, it is home to local bird species such as the Príncipe thrush, the Príncipe kingfisher and the Príncipe starling, as well as various snake, bat and gecko species. Because São Tomé and Príncipe are not connected to mainland Africa, they have various wildlife species that are unique to the islands. The São Tomé part, meanwhile, features an extinct volcano, Pico Cão Grande (Great Dog Peak).

All the other natural parks are in African countries that are former Portuguese colonies. Quiçama Natural Park is in Angola, João Vieira and Poilão Marine Natural Park is in Guinea-Bissau and Parque Natural de Moroços is in Cape Verde.

Answer: Hot and humid

The climate around São Tomé and Príncipe varies - while it is a hot and humid tropical climate at sea level, it gets cooler as you go further inland, especially in the higher areas. The rainy season is between September/October and May, with a brief period between January and February called 'Gravanito', followed by a three-month dry season or 'Gravana'. Because São Tomé and Príncipe are small islands, climate change is a serious concern for them, due to increasing temperatures and sea levels, and saltwater intrusion caused by the latter.

Answer: Ilha dos Tigres

The islet pictured here is Ilhéu Bom Bom, which is north of Príncipe, covered in forest and has a tiny population. It is also a tourist resort and is part of the UNESCO Island of Príncipe Biosphere Reserve. Ilhéu das Rolas is an islet south of São Tomé and is also home to a beach resort, the Pestana Equador; it gets its name from the Equator running through the islet, making it one of the very few resorts in both hemispheres. Tinhosa Grande, an uninhabited islet southwest of Príncipe, is also part of the Island of Príncipe Biosphere Reserve and forms the archipelago known as the Pedras Tinhosas, along with Tinhosa Pequena. The Pedras Tinhosas are home to multiple seabird species.

Ilha dos Tigres is an island off Angola. (Shere Khan is a tiger who appears in Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'.)

Answer: Cameroon line

As the name suggests, the Cameroon line starts with Mount Cameroon, an active volcano in Cameroon, and forms a border between Cameroon and Nigeria. As well as São Tomé and Príncipe, it also includes the islands of Bioko and Annobón, and also contains a couple of seamounts (underwater mountains below sea level, usually formed from extinct volcanoes). The island of São Tomé itself is actually a shield volcano, a type of volcano formed by low viscosity lava with a fairly flat appearance (Mauna Loa in Hawaii is another example).
The picture is of the flag of Cameroon.

Answer: Falcon and African grey parrot

The coat of arms of São Tomé and Príncipe consists of a falcon (thought to be either a peregrine falcon, like the ones in the photo, or a Lanner falcon) on the left and an African grey parrot on the right. They are holding a yellow shield in their talons with a palm tree on it and a blue star above it. The yellow ribbon at the top of the coat of arms has the full name of the state, 'República Democrática de São Tomé and Príncipe', while the one at the bottom has its motto, 'Unidade, Disciplina, Trabalho' ('Unity, Discipline, Work'). The coat of arms was adopted in 1975.

The tree represents cocoa, coffee and copra, the trade crops of the islands, while the blue star represents the republican government. The falcon and parrot are native bird species.

Answer: Pico de São Tomé

Pico de São Tomé is 2024 metres (6640 feet) high and is pictured in the background here, with the Forte de São Sebastião in the capital São Tomé in the foreground. It is one of the features of the São Tomé part of Parque Natural Obô, in the centre massif, and is located in the Lembá District. Surrounded by rainforest, the lower slopes of the mountain are home to coffee and cocoa plantations (the rich volcanic soil makes it excellent farming territory).

The top can either be reached from the village of Ponta Figo, or from the botanic garden at Bom Successo.