Scars of Portugal’s Colonial Brutal Past Visible In Sao Tome and Principe

There are some scars that nothing can erode. This is what some of those who lived through Portuguese rule on the twin Islands of Sao Tome and Principe, end up saying. One of them, 83 year-old Paulihno Doupor said, “the Portuguese were very cruel to our parents and it is something that l can never forget.”

“As a child, l saw my parents wake up with a bell in the morning, assemble at the centre of the plantation where they were counted and then assigned their daily tasks by the Portuguese plantation owners. The way they treated these people is not something that one can imagine,” Doupor added.

Another person, a taxi driver in Principe’s capital, Santo Antonio said, “we have become independent and it is not a case of just blaming the colonial master for our ills,” adding that, “what happened on these islands is not well known and it is about time the world got to know how the Portuguese brought our forebears as slaves, set up plantations and made money, without doing anything to improve any part of the island and when the independence agitation started, they just left.”

Historical records say Portugal discovered and colonized the twin Islands of Sao Tome and Principe in the late 15th century. They then adopted the use of slave labour from Cape Verde, Angola and other parts of Africa for use on plantations to grow sugar. The World Factbook says, the islands' sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century using slave labour, which lingered into the 20th century.

Doupor and some of the children of the slaves who were shipped from Angola and Cape Verde are still alive and tell tales various forms of inhuman treatments meted out to their parents who worked on the plantations owned by Portuguese masters. Doupor said, “no system was put in place to get the African slaves trained in anything apart from working on the plantations. Therefore, after they left unceremoniously, there was nothing that our parents could do.”

He said, “the system was so brutal that it did not allow the children to attend school. Later, the owners of the plantations were allowed to have the slave women for their pleasure and this accounts for the mixed race population on the Islands now.”

These accounts just give a bit of how the people feel about the Portuguese rule on the Islands. What has remained for the casual visitor are remnants of the preserved plantation sites, which may bring tears to even any person with a hardened heart.

The good news however is that, even with the pains, the two Islands which have become Africa’s smallest nation, have seen some regeneration, thanks to South Africa’s tech-millionaire and Chairman of the Here Be Dragon (HBD) Group. Mark Shuttleworth.

Shuttleworth has invested millions to improve a country that was to left in ruins by the Portuguese colonial powers and their plantation owners. This is the new Sao Tome and Principe that, scientists around the globe will see when they arrive next year, to mark the centenary anniversary of the British scientist, Stanley Eddington’s confirmation of Einstein's theory of General Relativity to the English-speaking world.

Shuttleworth’s investments have brought hope to many of the Islanders, especially in Principe with a population of 7,000 which is gradually being brought back to life with the construction of Sundy Praia, Bom Bom and Roca hotels which are attracting high notch tourists.

This is what has turned the Island into a preferred tourist destination for most Europeans looking for a taste of nature. General manager of HBD, Manuel Barbosa said, “Shuttleworth’s interest in SaoTome and Principe grew when he saw the Islands looking like a comma from the skies when he traveled as a space tourist.”

Barbosa said, the HBD Group is spearheading the regeneration effort together with the Island’s government, and has launched a two-pronged initiative by using tourism to tackle ecological degradation on land and in the sea.

The HBD group has invested in four hotels, Omali Lodge in Sao Tome and the remaining three in Principe and currently employs about six hundred people, 90 per cent of whom are locals.

Barbosa said, the local community is involved in ridding the island of plastics which harm their livelihoods as farmers and fishermen. Under an initiative, the people are encouraged to collect plastic bottles which they exchange for metal water bottles. In order to make the programme work, water fountains have been provided across the island to encourage people to drink from them instead of buying bottled water.

It is estimated that, fifty tonnes of plastic have been collected within two years since HBD has set up a recycling plant to turn the plastic into blocks for the construction sector. Going side by side with the attempts to reduce the use of plastics is a marine conservation initiative which is also aimed at eliminating plastics from the Island’s coast.

Barbosa said, fishermen who previously hunted sea turtles are now conservationists as they guide tourists to watch turtles and whales in their natural habitat. HBD is also taking steps to protect the Island’s bird species which include, parrots, the weaver bird and the king fisher.

One area that HBD seems to be targeting most is economic empowerment for women and have accordingly, helped them to form co-operatives through which they are using glass bottles to produce jewelry. They also produce hand-made chocolate, coconut oil, muesli, a variety of jams, beauty products and toiletries.

HBD’s chief executive, Chris Taxis said, the company expects to open a factory on the island to produce chocolates for their hotels with a long term plan to export limited amounts to specialist locations within and beyond Africa.

The cocoa value chain, Taxis said, had been divided into three parts- cocoa powder which needs special conditions to maintain their quality, with a current value of €3 per kilogramme, then cocoa nibs which are very minimally processed and derived from the cocoa bean sold between €25 and €35 per kilo and popular in Europe as a supplement to salads and pastas. Then chocolates which come at between €85 and €125 per kilo were also in high demand.

The company is also looking beyond its borders and Taxis said the company was looking at Ghana for a start, adding that, “we are committed to something that has synergy and so I’m very interested in how we could do something with Ghana and learn from Ghana which has already established, at a time when we are fledgling and small in the scheme of things.”

Taxis said, “Accra is a fantastic market for us because of the short distance between us, there is a lot of interest in Cocoa, the market is already sophisticated there, enough to be interested in some of the products we want to develop.”

People like Doupor see the involvement of HBD as opening up the Islands for tourists and at the same time providing jobs for their children who will otherwise have nothing to do because of poverty. “They are doing a good job,” he added.