Sao Tome and Principe Geography Profile 2008

Location

Western Africa, islands in the Gulf of Guinea, straddling the Equator, west of Gabon

Geographic coordinates

1 00 N, 7 00 E

Map references

Africa

Area

total: 1,001 sq km
land: 1,001 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative

more than five times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries

0 km

Coastline

209 km

Maritime claims

measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate

tropical; hot, humid; one rainy season (October to May)

Terrain

volcanic, mountainous

Elevation extremes

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pico de Sao Tome 2,024 m

Natural resources

fish, hydropower

Land use

arable land: 8.33%
permanent crops: 48.96%
other: 42.71% (2005)

Irrigated land

100 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards

NA

Environment - current issues

deforestation; soil erosion and exhaustion

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note

the smallest country in Africa; the two main islands form part of a chain of extinct volcanoes and both are mountainous