Transnational Issues Togo
Disputes - international: Benin accuses Togo of moving boundary markers and stationing troops in its territory
Illicit drugs: transit hub for Nigerian heroin and cocaine traffickers
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
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Sao Tome and Principe
Introduction Sao Tome and Principe
Background: Discovered and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century, the islands' sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century - all grown with plantation slave labor, a form of which lingered into the 20th century. Although independence was achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted until the late 1980s. The first free elections were held in 1991.
Geography Sao Tome and Principe
Location: Western Africa, islands in the Gulf of Guinea, straddling the Equator, west of Gabon