Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome and Principe are two islands and a few small islets off the Gulf of Guinea northwest of Gabon.

The Portuguese settled on Sao Tome and Principe in the late 15th Century, establishing it as a prime trading post. Since the islands are part of an extinct volcano range, the soil is very fertile and excellent for growing their main exports of sugar, coffee and cocoa, the latter of which remains the country's key export.

The sugar colonies in Sao Tome and Principe originally used slave labor to work the fields. Despite the abolition of slavery by Portugal in 1876, forced paid labor continued in the islands, which led to several deadly riots in 1953.

Following Portugal's overthrow of the Marcelo Caetano dictatorship in 1974, Sao Tome and Principe gained its independence the next year, and in 1990 became one of the first African Democratic countries.