São Tomé and Príncipe. Abandoned Cacao Plantations and the Legacy of Chocolate
Most people have never heard of São Tomé Island. Located near Africa’s western coast and just north of the Equator, São Tomé and Príncipe is Africa’s second smallest country by area and among the least visited places on Earth. Separated by 160 kilometers, the country’s two main islands are São Tomé and the much smaller Príncipe. Finding the islands unoccupied when they first arrived in the 16th century, the Portuguese established sugar plantations and later grew coffee and cacao with the help of slaves. After slavery was outlawed in 1875, contract workers were brought to the islands from Angola, Cape Verde, and other Portuguese possessions in Africa. Although technically free, the workers were coerced into signing contracts that were automatically renewed and extended to their children. Cacao production was organized around plantations called roças that operated like small towns with their own churches, schools, hospitals, and stores. After harvest, workers processed cacao beans into cocoa, the principal ingredient used in making chocolate. For a few years during the early 1900s, tiny São Tomé was the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans used to make chocolate in Europe and the Americas.
Today, São Tomé and Príncipe is a stable democracy of about 220,000 people, most living in cities. Although cacao continues to be exported, São Tomé and Príncipe produces less than 2% of the cacao exported by the Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cacao producing nation. Although efforts are underway to diversify its economy, São Tomé and Príncipe has been classified as “developing,” with a third of its residents surviving on less than one U.S. dollar per day.
Our flight from Doula, Cameroon to the airport on São Tomé Island was relatively short. On arrival we couldn’t find a currency exchange office or ATM, so our cab driver took us to a black-market money changer who would trade U.S. dollars for dobras. Constructed in the 16th century, the capital of São Tomé has charming Portuguese colonial buildings painted in pastel colors, many featuring window shutters and inviting balconies. On the city’s north side is Fortress Saint Sebastian, built by the Portuguese to protect the harbor and city from French privateers. The fort has bastions and gun ports on each of its four corners. Walking along the shoreline, we found an assortment of small fishing boats being prepared for the next day’s harvest.
On our second day we arranged for a car and driver to take us to two roças. Roça Agua Izé is a 30-minute drive south of the capital. Covering an area of 26 km2, the plantation was once served by a narrow-gauge railway that brought raw cacao from the fields and moved processed cocoa beans to coastal shipping stations. Today, much of the area has been reclaimed by jungle vegetation. Among still-standing buildings is the plantation’s hospital that features a wide staircase leading to a balcony. Inside, are empty spaces that once served as men’s and women’s wardrooms. In recent years squatters have occupied portions of the former hospital and other abandoned buildings. A few kilometers from Roça Agua Izé, is Boca de Inferno (the Mouth of Hell), a coastal blowhole formed by a platform of lava rock that channels seawater through a narrow gap.
Northwest of the capital is Roça Agostinho Neto. An impressive boulevard leading to its hospital is flanked by processing facilities, residential and administrative buildings, and a Catholic church. Once the country’s most productive plantation, residents of Agostinho Neto continue to produce coffee, copra, and bananas, much of it for local consumption. Passing several abandoned roças, the road brought us within sight of Pico Cão Grande (Great Dog Peak), a 663-meter-high volcanic neck that was once the center of an ancient volcano that last erupted during the Pliocene (about 3.5 million years ago). Geologically, the entirety of São Tomé Island is part of a massive shield volcano that rises more than 3,000 meters above the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
We made a brief stop at a beach on the west side of the island where Gabonese fishing boats lie abandoned in the surf. Our driver explained that the boats were discovered to be operating illegally in local waters. After being intercepted by a São Tomé and Príncipe coast guard boat, the ship’s operators were prevented from leaving until a fine was paid. At Porto Alegre, near the island’s southern-most point, we arranged for a motorboat ride to Ilhéu das Rolas (Rolas Island, aka Turtledove Island). It took about 25 minutes for our boat to cross the channel. Arriving at Rolas Island, we walked a short distance up a hillside trail to a monument marking the Equator. After checking GPS coordinates on my iPhone, I concluded that the monument was at least 200 meters north of the Equator’s actual location (plus or minus five meters). Following our return boat ride, we sat down for a magnificent seafood meal at a restaurant in Porto Alegre before returning to the capital.
If you are interested in learning more about cacao production on São Tomé Island, please see my article: Chocolate and the Ugly Secret of Cacao Production on São Tomé Island (© 2021 American Geographical Society).