Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe Quiz

Answer: Gulf of Guinea, off the west coast of Africa

Sao Tome and Principe is an archipelago nation composed of two main islands and a number of smaller islets. It is located in the Bight of Bonny (also called the Bight of Biafra), which is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean.

The closest continental countries are Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, which are about 250 km (155 mi) from Principe, the more northerly and easterly of the two main islands.

Answer: Basalt

Sao Tome is the peak of a shield volcano that starts over 3,000 m (10,000 ft) below sea level, and is mainly basalt in composition. The archipelago is part of a volcanic range called the Cameroon line that includes the islands of Bioko and Annabon, belonging to Equatorial Guinea, and Mount Cameroon, situated on the mainland in Cameroon.

Answer: Hong Kong, China

The city of Hong Kong has an area of 1104 sq km or 426 sq mi, and is the closest in size of the options given. Cairo is smaller (354 sq km, or 175 sq mi), and both Mexico City (1485 sq km or 573 sq mi) and Anchorage (4396 sq km or 1698 sq mi) are significantly larger than the entire country of Sao Tome and Principe.

Sao Tome is 48 km (30 mi) long and 32 km (20 mi) wide, while Principe is 16 km (10 mi) long and 6 km (4 mi) wide. Along with the small islets that are also part of the country, the total land area is 1,001 sq km, or 386.5 sq mi. The smallest country in Africa at the start of the 21st century is the Seychelles, an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar.

Answer: French

Forro (meaning 'freed slave', and spoken by about 85% of the population), Angolar (spoken mostly in and near the city of Sao Tome) and Principense (spoken mostly on the island of Principe, and nearly extinct) are Creole languages, arising from a fusion of Portuguese with African tribal languages. During colonial times, Sao Tome and Principe was a centre of the slave trade (both imported to work on the Portuguese sugar plantations and in transit to the New World).

The pidgin that developed from the Bantu and Kwa languages spoken by the slaves mingling with Portuguese eventually developed into a fixed creole as it was taught to generations of children who then spoke it as their native language. Angolar and Principiense developed from different tribal languages.

Answer: Tropical

As you might expect for a country situated on the Equator (the capital city, Sao Tome, in the south of the island of Sao Tome, has a latitude of 14 minutes), the climate is hot and humid. There is little seasonal or daily variation in temperature, which stays close to 27 C (81 F), rarely going above 32 C (90 F). In the mountains, the temperatures are cooler, with a daily maximum closer to 20 C (68 F), and nights cooling down significantly.

Like most tropical countries, Sao Tome and Principe has a rainy season (October to May) and a dry season. The annual rainfall averages 500 cm (197 in) on the southwestern slopes of Sao Tome, but much less in other parts of the country.

Answer: Pico de Sao Tome

Pico de Sao Tome is just northwest of the centre of the island of Sao Tome, and has a height of 2,024 m (6,640 ft). It is in the Obo National Park, and can only be accessed on foot through forest walking trails.

Mount Ararat is in Turkey, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and Mount Sinai in Egypt.

Answer: It is on the Equator.

Between 1915 and 1918, Gago Coutinho, an officer in the Portuguese navy as well as a navigator and historian, made observations and measurements that established exactly where the Equator crosses the island of Ilheu das Rolas. Visitors can see a marker when they visit the resort which is the basis of the island's only significant economic activity. Access is by boat from Porto Alegre, on the southern tip of Sao Tome island.

Answer: Rainforest

About 75% of the country's surface is rainforest, either lowland or mountain. Much of this forest is actually regrowth on abandoned plantations. The Obo National Park covers about 30% of the country's surface, and includes examples of all its different environments - lowland and mountain forests, mangroves and a savanna area.

Answer: Sao Tome shrew

As well as the Sao Tome shrew, there are several species of bats, including the Sao Tome free-tailed bat, and cetaceans such as the humpback whale are found offshore. The incorrect options were introduced by human activity.

In contrast to the paucity of mammals, Sao Tome and Principe has well over 100 species of birds, including about 25 that are endemic, at least three of which have no close relatives elsewhere: the Sao Tome short-tail, the Sao Tome grosbeak and Dohrn's Thrush-babbler. The world's largest sunbird and its smallest ibis are found there, although the latter was critically endangered at the start of the 21st century.

Answer: Einstein's Theory of General Relativity

Einstein's Theory of General Relativity predicted that rays of light should be bent by a gravitational field. Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, who had been responsible for explaining Einstein's theories for the English-speaking world, organized an expedition to Principe (one of the few places where the eclipse was total, and his experiment could be conducted) to make measurements during the solar eclipse in 1919. By taking pictures of stars near the sun (in our visual sky), he was able to show that the light rays appeared to have shifted as they passed the Sun, bent by its gravitational field.

The amount of this shift was in agreement with the predictions of General Relativity, and was about twice that predicted by Newtonian gravitation.