São Tomé’s Plantation Estates Become World Heritage
SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE · HERITAGE
Key Facts
—The decision: UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, meeting for its 48th session in Busan, inscribed six roças of São Tomé and Príncipe over the weekend of 25–26 July.
—The six: Monte Café, Água Izé, Diogo Vaz and São João on São Tomé island; Sundy and Belo Monte on Príncipe.
—Why: UNESCO says the estates illustrate a large-scale colonial agro-industrial system built on migration and forced labour, from the late 19th century to the mid-20th, designed to keep raw materials flowing after slavery was abolished.
—The scale: Roças cover almost the whole of the archipelago’s territory. About two hundred exist, six were nominated, and many of the rest are decaying or abandoned.
—A first: The archipelago had nothing on the World Heritage List. In January 2023, UNESCO counted it among only three African countries with nothing even on a tentative list.
—How it got here: The tentative list was assembled through a UNESCO capacity-building programme for African countries with no inscribed site, funded by Japan, after an African World Heritage Fund workshop in October 2022.
The São Tomé roças — six former cocoa and coffee estates whose wealth was built on contract labour — are now UNESCO World Heritage, the first sites the archipelago has ever had on the list. The inscription was announced at the committee’s 48th session in Busan.
Which São Tomé roças are on the list
Six estates were inscribed: Monte Café, Água Izé, Diogo Vaz and São João on the island of São Tomé, with Sundy and Belo Monte on Príncipe. Portuguese and São Toméan outlets reported the decision on 26 July, and Africanews carried it on 28 July.
Each is a complex rather than a building, combining farmland, processing works, housing and social infrastructure on one site. Água Izé carries the name of the Portuguese baron who brought cocoa to São Tomé in the 19th century.
Two of the six have already found second lives. Diogo Vaz now makes organic chocolate, and the Príncipe estates anchor that island’s eco-tourism.
A state inside the state
The roças were run like small territories. Each had its own church, hospital, morgue, bakery and workshops, and a bell that rang the curfew and the morning muster in the yard.
The hierarchy was built into the architecture. Contract labourers — the contratados, brought from Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde after slavery was abolished — lived in the sanzalas, while the Portuguese owners lived in the casas grandes.
Movement was controlled by paper. A worker could not visit another estate without a written pass from his employer, to be presented on arrival.
What the system produced culturally outlived it. Forms such as the puíta and the tafua arrived from Angola with the workers and became São Toméan.
What UNESCO chose to name
The citation does not soften the history. The roças, UNESCO says, illustrate the functioning of a large-scale colonial agro-industrial system based on migration and forced labour, from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th, designed to sustain raw-material production after the abolition of slavery.
That is an unusual thing for a country to nominate and for a committee to endorse. The listing commemorates an extraction system rather than a golden age.
“Our gratitude for the inscription of the roças of São Tomé and Príncipe, of the colonial and forced-migration system, on the World Heritage list,” said Isabel de Abreu, the minister of education and culture, in Busan.
From no tentative list to a first inscription
The gap this closes is wide. In January 2023, UNESCO noted that São Tomé and Príncipe was one of only three African countries with no sites even on its tentative list, the queue from which nominations are drawn.
The list was built with outside help. A UNESCO capacity-building programme for ten African countries without any inscribed property, funded by the government of Japan, and an African World Heritage Fund workshop in October 2022 produced two candidates: the roças and the national parks.
The archipelago already held a different distinction. Its entire territory is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
The Brazilian mirror
The same Busan session inscribed the Amazon theatres of Manaus and Belém, built on Brazil’s rubber wealth. The pairing is more than a coincidence of the calendar.
Both listings recognise the architecture of a commodity boom that ran on coerced or imported labour, on opposite sides of the same ocean. Cocoa itself travelled to São Tomé from Brazil in the 19th century, and from these islands on to the West African mainland.
For readers who know the Brazilian plantation landscape, the roça is the recognisable form. The big house, the workers’ rows, the processing yard, and a church that belonged to the owner.
Heritage as an income, and as a bill
Inscription brings standing rather than a budget. Téla Nón reports that many of the archipelago’s roughly two hundred estates are deteriorating or abandoned, which is precisely why only six were put forward.
The government’s argument is that protection can pay for itself. Tourism built on the estates is presented as a route to economic transformation for a country of around 200,000 people in the Gulf of Guinea, independent from Portugal since 1975.
There is an irony the islands play with openly. Visitors to Roça São João pay to pick cocoa and work the land, becoming, as the estate’s proprietor João Carlos Silva has observed, the contratados of today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which São Tomé roças were inscribed by UNESCO?
Six estates were inscribed: Monte Café, Água Izé, Diogo Vaz and São João on São Tomé island, and Sundy and Belo Monte on Príncipe. The decision was taken at the committee’s 48th session in Busan.
Why did UNESCO list the roças?
UNESCO says the estates illustrate a large-scale colonial agro-industrial system based on migration and forced labour, from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. It was designed to sustain raw-material production after slavery was abolished.
Is this São Tomé and Príncipe’s first World Heritage site?
Yes. As recently as January 2023, UNESCO counted the archipelago among only three African countries with no sites even on a tentative list.
Does a World Heritage listing come with money?
Inscription confers status, not an automatic budget. Many of the archipelago’s roughly two hundred roças are deteriorating or abandoned, which is why only six were nominated.
What was a roça?
A roça was a plantation complex combining farmland, processing works, housing and social infrastructure, run like a small state with its own church, hospital and workshops. Contract labourers from Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde lived in the sanzalas.
Connected Coverage
The inscription follows the continental push we covered in Africa’s campaign for new World Heritage sites, and it landed in the same session that recognised the Amazon theatres of Manaus and Belém. The islands’ other bid for outside money, its US$90,000 passport, shows how small an economy is doing the funding.
LatAm Markets: Live Signals → — real-time movers, turnover leaders and FX across Latin America.
Read More from The Rio Times