| “ | Independência total,
Glorioso canto do povo |
” |
— São Tomé and Príncipeball Begins to sing its Anthem
|
São Tomé and Príncipeball is a countryball in Africa. It was once a colony of 
Portugalball. Gained independence after the Portuguese colonial wars which happened due to the extreme dictatorship and other factors. They are not exporting much, just fish and cocoa. Is of knowing that he will be 4th country to be underwater if the world's global heating doesn't stop. They probably one of the most, if not the most irrelevant country on Earth.
It may be the only real democracy in central Africa.
History[edit | edit source]
Before independence[edit | edit source]
The Island of São Tomé was discovered in around 1470 by 
Kingdom of Portugalball. It was settled and became a colony called 
Portuguese São Tomé e Príncipeball in 1485 because Portuguese navigators decided that they would be good locations for bases to trade with the mainland.
The first successful settlement of São Toméball was established in 1493. Príncipeball was settled in 1500 under a similar arrangement. Attracting settlers proved difficult, however, and most of the earliest inhabitants were "undesirables" sent from Kingdom of Portugalball, mostly 
Jews. In time, these settlers found the volcanic soil of the region suitable for agriculture, especially the growing of sugar.
By 1515, São Tomé and Príncipeball had become slave depots for the coastal slave trade centered at Elmina.
The cultivation of sugar was a labour-intensive process and Kingdom of Portugalball began to enslave large numbers of .png){kind=icon}
8balls from the continent. In the sugar boom's early stages, property on the islands had little value, with farming for local consumption while the economy relied mainly on the transit of slaves, though already many foodstuffs were imported. Around 1506, São Tomé and Príncipeball had more sugarcane fields than Madeiraball.
São Tomé and Príncipeball would only become economically noteworthy with the introduction of a water-powered sugar mill in 1515. Sugar plantations were organized with slave labor, and by the mid-16th century, the Portuguese settlers had turned the islands into Africa's foremost exporter of sugar.
From 1519 to 1540, the island was the center of the slave trade between Elmina and the Niger Delta. Throughout the early to mid sixteenth century, São Tomé traded in slaves intermittently with 
Angolaball and the 
Kingdom of Kongoball. The slave trade remained a cornerstone of São Tomé and Príncipeball's economy until after 1600.
Eventually, competition from sugar-producing colonies in the Western Hemisphere began to hurt the islands. Sugar cultivation thus declined over the next 100 years, and by the mid-17th century, São Tomé and Príncipeball had become primarily a transit point for ships engaged in the slave trade between continental Africa and the Americas.
In the early 19th century, two new cash crops, coffee and cocoa, were introduced. The rich volcanic soil proved well suited to the new crops, and soon extensive plantations owned by Portuguese companies or absentee landlords, occupied almost all of the good farmland. By 1908, São Tomé and Príncipeball had become the world's largest producer of cocoa, which remains the countryball's most important crop.
In the early 20th century, an internationally publicized controversy arose over charges that 
Angolan contract workers were being subjected to forced labour and unsatisfactory working conditions. Sporadic labor unrest and dissatisfaction continued well into the 20th century, culminating in an outbreak of riots in 1953 in which several hundred African laborers were killed in a clash with their Portuguese rulers. The anniversary of this "Batepá Massacre" remains officially observed by the government.
Post-Independence[edit | edit source]
By the late 1950s, when other emerging nations across the African continent demanded their independence, a small group of São Toméans formed the Movement for the 
Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP), which eventually established its base in nearby 
Gabonball. Picking up momentum in the 1960s, events moved quickly after the overthrow of the Caetano dictatorship in Portugalball in April 1974.
The new Portuguese regime was committed to the dissolution of its overseas colonies. After a period of transitional government, São Tomé and Príncipeball achieved independence on 12 July 1975, choosing as the first president the MLSTP Secretary General Manuel Pinto da Costa.
In 1990, São Tomé and Príncipeball became one of the first African countries to undergo democratic reform, and changes to the constitution – the legalization of opposition political parties – led to elections in 1991 that were nonviolent, free, and transparent. Miguel Trovoada, a former prime minister who had been in exile since 1986, returned as an independent candidate and was elected president. Trovoada was re-elected in São Tomé and Príncipeball's second multiparty presidential election in 1996.
The Party of Democratic Convergence won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, with the MLSTP becoming an important and vocal minority party. Municipal elections followed in late 1992, in which the MLSTP won a majority of seats on five of seven regional councils. In early legislative elections in October 1994, the MLSTP won a plurality of seats in the assembly. It regained an outright majority of seats in the November 1998 elections.
Presidential elections were held in July 2001. The candidate backed by the Independent Democratic Action party, Fradique de Menezes, was elected in the first round and inaugurated on 3 September. Parliamentary elections were held in March 2002. For the next four years, a series of short-lived opposition-led governments was formed.
The army seized power for one week in July 2003, complaining of corruption and that forthcoming oil revenues would not be divided fairly. An accord was negotiated under which President de Menezes was returned to office. The cohabitation period ended in March 2006, when a pro-presidential coalition won enough seats in National Assembly elections to form a new government.
In September 2021, the candidate of the center-right opposition Independent Democratic Action (ADI), Carlos Vila Nova, won the presidential election.
Relationships[edit | edit source]
Friends[edit | edit source]
Angolaball - My BFF and sibling.
Portugalball - Adoptive parent. At least didn`t sell me.
Guinea-Bissauball - Sibling with a similar flag.
Cabo Verdeball - An Atlantic island sibling. I somehow admire it for the stability and richness. But I heard that it secretly envies my bountiful nature.
Equatorial Guineaball - Practically only neighbor. Bioko and Annobon are on the same archipelago with me.
Brazilball - HUE!
Enemies[edit | edit source]
Saint Thomas Middle Islandball - Stole my saint!
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Gallery[edit | edit source]
credit from Lord-Zori
By u/globalis
By u/-31415pi-
By u/FelipeRocha678
By u/Valcyor
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