Talk:São Tomé

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I would like to see the official language (Portuguese) listed in the article and the main industry (Tourism (~60%) and agriculture (sugar cane/coffee)) https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-biggest-industries-in-sao-tome-and-principe.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FCC8:6306:A300:B1B8:70BC:15AD:56EF (talk) 12:09, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

The "São Tomé" article contains an HTML comment with a rather subjective view. -User:Wikiborg, 2004-06-02 09:10 +0200

I removed the section about Jewish children being shipped and eaten by lizards, etc. It was added in September 2005: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=S%C3%A3o_Tom%C3%A9&oldid=22945477 by http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&target=66.69.234.52 Other contributions from this IP seem to be vandalism, and so I am treating this addition as such by removingit.

Twilight 21:24, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

The lizard part is nonsense, of course, but the Portuguese DID ship several hundred Jewish boys to the island as part of a plan to depopulate the Portuguese Jewish population. My only reference is "Into Africa", Marq de Villiers, ISBN 0 297 81786 8 --211.124.60.168 (talk) 11:54, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

A few other web sources, that will need independent verification: http://www.mindspring.com/~jaypsand/mozambique.htm http://www.kulanu.org/balearic/balearic.html -(404) - —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.124.60.168 (talk) 11:59, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the lizards are a bit over the top, BUT, Charles Mann, in his "1493" ISBN 0 307 26572 2, pg 295, discusses this very topic. While discussing the beginnings of plantation slavery, malaria, yellow fever and the other gifts of Europe to the New World and globally, he states in regard to Sao Tome "... notable among the latter some two thousand Jewish children who had been taken forcibly from their parents. Sugar planters, sugar processors, criminals and children--all died in droves. After six years, only six hundred children remained." His citation is for Gourou, Pierre, "Une Ile Equatoriale : Sâo Tomé de F. Tenreiro" Annales de Geographie 72:360-64. I found a pdf extract but my french is nonexistant. I came here looking for more detail and hope that someone can pursue the topic for inclusion. Gnach (talk) 21:44, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

uhm

São Tomé (population 53,300 in 2003) is the capital city of São Tomé and Príncipe and is by far the nation's largest town.

I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE. .

What are you failing to understand about that? 70.117.146.245 (talk) 12:51, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Judging from the number of people in town and in the country, it looks like it is the only town. Rather obvious that it is the largest. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.201.89.249 (talk) 09:42, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

City or Country

This article is supposed to be about the city of São Tomé, but the vast majority of the content is about the nation of São Tomé and Príncipe - history, demographics etc. It should need pretty much complete rewriting to be actually about the city it's meant to be, instead of just a rehash of the country page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by EJBH (talk • contribs) 22:28, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I think I've removed all the info about the country. Graham87 12:41, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Geographic location

The article misses the most important point about the country's location -- it's off the coast of Africa.

One might guess that from the line about "proximity to the African kingdom." I discovered it by clicking the latitude link.

Why don't we come out and say it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.83.182.43 (talk) 20:24, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Map?

It would be great if someone could add a map to this article; there is no indication of where in the world this island sits! MeegsC (talk) 13:31, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

Incorrect title

The title should be spelled correctly in English, not Portuguese, as is the current title. I thought I would mention this glaring oversight here before embarking on changing it. No doubt some editors will have a different opinion. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 07:29, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Jewish children from Iberian peninsula

The citation for the 2,000 Jewish children brought to the island from the Iberian peninsula points to a text which does not provide the additional information in this article - that the children were all under eight years old and that it was in 1497.

This is the relevant text in Appendix C of the book cited: "The Portuguese did establish a sugar plantation colony two hundred miles off the coast of West Africa on the island of São Tomé in 1506. But the bond-laborers were imported from the African continent (supplemented by two thousand Jewish children taken from their parents in Portugal)."

Other relevant primary sources: 1. Samuel Usque's Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel, (translation by David Raphael, The Expulsion 1492 Chronicles) "When the luckless hour arrived for this barbarity to be inflicted, mothers scratched their faces in grief as their babies, less than three years old, were taken from their arms. Honored elders tore their beards when the fruit of their bodies was snatched before their eyes. The fated children raised their piercing cries to heaven as they were mercilessly torn from their beloved parents at such a tender age. Several women threw themselves at the king’s feet, begging for permission to accompany their children; but not even this moved the king’s pity. One mother, distraught by this horrible unexampled cruelty, lifted her baby in her arms, and paying no heed to its cries, threw herself from the ship into the heaving sea, and drowned, embracing her only child." 2. Rui de Pina's Chronica d’El Rei Dom João II, completed sometime before 1504 (translation by David Raphael): "In this year of 1493 ... the king gave to Alvaro de Caminha the captaincy of the island of São Tomé of right and inheritance; and as for the Castilian Jews who had not left his kingdom within the assigned date, he ordered that, according to the condition upon their entry, all the boys and young men and girls of the Jews be taken into captivity. After having them all turned into Christians, he sent them to the said island with Alvaro de Caminha, so that by being secluded, they would have reasons for being better Christians, and [the king] would have in this reason for the island to be better populated, which, as a result, culminated in great growth." 3. Isaac Abarbanel / Abravanel's commentary on Exodus 7:28: "The king of Portugal forced many children of the Spanish exiles to adopt his faith. He sent them to [the island] fourteen years ago, all of them children without any blemish, boys and girls, more than 2,000 souls. They have already multiplied there, and most of the island is inhabited by them. The island is not far from the equator."

Dainybernstein (talk) 01:15, 20 June 2024 (UTC)