Cape Verdean Sao Tomese
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Cape Verdean São Tomean are São Toméan residents whose ancestry originated in Cape Verde.
São Tomé was discovered in the 1470s by Portuguese explorers and subsequently became a slave port. When slavery was abolished in 1875, contract labor from Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and other parts of the Portuguese empire were recruited. These laborers were called "serviçais." Thus, most Cape Verdean nationals immigrated to São Tomé as serviçais. The children of these contract laborers who were born in the the island nation are called "tongas." On the island of Príncipe, serviçais and tongas have settled permanently on government-allotted land. After independence in 1975, most of these Cape Verdeans returned to Cape Verde.
There are an estimated 199,579 people residing in São Tomé and Príncipe.[1] About 95 percent live on the São Tomé island. Cape Verdeans and their descendants compose more than half of the population of Príncipe.[2] Most of the Cape Verdeans in this island nation live in poverty.
A notable Cape Verdean Sao Tomean is Fernando "Cobo" Pereira, of Cape Verdean and Angolarean descent, who lead a coup in the country.
