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#Post#: 26327--------------------------------------------------
São Tomé and Príncipe
By: 90sRetroFan Date: May 8, 2024, 3:06 am
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HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Tom%C3%A9_and_Pr%C3%ADncipe#History
[quote]The dates of European arrival are sometimes given as 21
December (St Thomas's Day) 1471, for São Tomé; and 17 January
(St Antony's Day) 1472, for Príncipe, though other sources cite
different years around that time. Príncipe was initially named
Santo Antão ("Saint Anthony"), changing its name in 1502 to Ilha
do Príncipe ("Prince's Island"), in reference to the Prince of
Portugal to whom duties on the island's sugar crop were paid.
The first successful settlement of São Tomé was established in
1493 by Álvaro Caminha, who received the land as a grant from
the crown.[12] Príncipe was settled in 1500 under a similar
arrangement.
...
By 1515, São Tomé and Príncipe had become slave depots for the
coastal slave trade centered at Elmina.[15]
The cultivation of sugar was a labour-intensive process and the
Portuguese began to enslave large numbers of Africans 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.[16] When the local
landowner Álvaro Borges died in 1504, his cleared land and
domesticated animals were sold for only 13,000 réis, about the
price of three slaves.[17]
...
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.[20]
Slaves in São Tomé were bought from the Slave Coast of West
Africa, the Niger Delta, the island of Fernando Po, and later
from the Kongo and Angola.[21] In the 16th century, the enslaved
were imported from and exported to Portugal, Elmina, the Kingdom
of Kongo, Angola, and the Spanish Americas. In 1510, reportedly
10,000 to 12,000 slaves were imported by Portugal.[22] In 1516,
São Tomé received 4,072 slaves with the purpose of
re-exportation.[22] From 1519 to 1540, the island was the center
of the slave trade between Elmina and the Niger Delta.[23]
Throughout the early to mid-sixteenth century, São Tomé traded
in slaves intermittently with Angola and the Kingdom of
Kongo.[24] In 1525 São Tomé began trafficking slaves to the
Spanish Americas, mainly to the Caribbean and Brazil.[25] From
1532 to 1536, São Tomé sent an annual average of 342 slaves to
the Antilles.[26] Prior to 1580, the island accounted for 75
percent of Brazil's imports, mainly slaves.[26] The slave trade
remained a cornerstone of São Tomé's economy until after 1600.
...
slaves frequently ran away to the inhospitable mountain forests
of the island's interior.[30] Between 1514 and 1527, five
percent of slaves that were imported to São Tomé escaped, often
to starve,[30][31] though 1531–1535 saw major food shortages
even in the plantations.[31] Eventually, the Maroon people
developed settlements in the interior known as macambos.[31]
Slave rebellions
The first signs of slave rebellion began in the 1530s, when the
maroon gangs organized to attack plantations, some of which were
abandoned.[31]
...
The greatest slave revolt occurred in July 1595, when the
government was weakened by disputes between the bishop and the
governor. A native slave named Amador recruited 5000 slaves to
raid and destroy plantations, sugar mills, and settler
houses.[32] Amador's rebellion made three raids on the town and
destroyed 60 of the island's 85 sugar mills, but they were
defeated by the militia after three weeks.
...
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.[/quote]
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batep%C3%A1_massacre
[quote]The Batepá massacre occurred on 3 February 1953 in
colonial São Tomé when hundreds of native creoles known as
forros were massacred by the colonial administration and
Portuguese landowners.
...
The massacres
Gorgulho informed colonists and the administration that a
communist rebellion was in the offing and he issued a call for
all white colonists to take up arms to protect themselves and
white women.[10] Militias were quickly formed and some Cape
Verdians responded to the call-to-arms. In addition, planters
mobilized Angolan and Mozambican workers. Over the next few days
the militias and colonial government killed hundreds of
forros.[1] Twenty-eight people were suffocated in a cell by the
local police, the Corpo de Polícia Indígena (CPI, Indigenous
Police Corps); on one estate, twenty people were burned to
death.[10] The authorities subjected prisoners to torture using
electricity and scores of prisoners died as a result of torture,
beatings, and forced labor.[1] The authorities dumped many
bodies into the sea. "Throw this shit into the sea to avoid
troubles," Gorgulho is quoted as advising.[11]
Aftermath
On March 4 members of the Portuguese International and State
Defense Police arrived to conduct an investigation into the
alleged communist conspiracy. They quickly concluded there was
no such conspiracy and, in April, Sarmento Rodrigues, the
Minister of Overseas Territories, ordered Gorgulho to return to
Lisbon.[12] He was promoted to the rank of general and praised
by the Minister of the Army, General Abranches Pinto, for his
actions. Seven forros were tried and convicted for the killing
of two police officers.[12][/quote]
NEVER FORGIVE. NEVER FORGET.
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