Publication Date
2009
Categories
Island in the Bay of Biafra (Gulf of Guinea), measuring 114 km2 in area, presently an integral part of the Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. Covered in luxuriant vegetation, this island was uninhabited when it was discovered by the Portuguese at an unknown date. It was first called island of Saint Anthony, which could indicate that it had been first sighted on January 17, the liturgical feast day of this saint. The year of discovery has traditionally been said to be 1472 (date accepted by Fontoura da Costa), although other historians, such as Luís de Albuquerque, propose later dates (see SÃO TOMÉ, island of). A date beyond 1481 is highly unlikely, given that this was the year in which the "prince" to whom the name pays homage became King John II.
Having been made a captaincy, the island was bestowed by the king of Portugal, on April 7, 1500, to António Carneiro, son-in-law to Pero de Alcáçova, former secretary to King Afonso V and King João II. Carneiro himself would be secretary to King Manuel I after 1504. The captaincy belonged to the descendents of António Carneiro (counts of the island of Príncipe since 1640) until 1753, when it was incorporated into the property of the crown. The donator-captains never resided on the island, but would propose to the king the name of an island governor, to defend and govern the island, and administer their private own property.
In the same year that the island was incorporated into the property of the crown, the Marquis of Pombal named the settlement of Saint Anthony a city, making it the capital of the island of Príncipe and of the entire archipelago, a status it would maintain until 1852. This transference, which was supposedly due to public health issues, was heatedly contested by the island of São Tomé.
Although sugar was produced on the island during the 16th and 17th centuries, until the beginning of the 19th century, Príncipe became mainly a way station in the slave trade and a stop for commercial ships from various countries that circulated between Africa and America. Corsairs attacked the island various times, and it was occupied during short periods by the Dutch, in 1598, and by the French, in 1706 and 1799.
Bibliography:
SÁ-NOGUEIRA, Isabel e Bernardo de, "A ilha do Príncipe no 1º quartel do século XVI: administração e comércio", in Congresso Internacional Bartolomeu Dias e a sua época: actas, Porto, Universidade /CNCDP, 1989, vol. III, pp. 81-103. SERAFIM, Cristina Maria Seuanes, As ilhas de São Tomé no século XVII, Lisboa, Centro de História de Além-Mar, 2000. SOUSA, Filomena Coelho de, A voz dos poderes: gestão da ordem na ilha do Príncipe, 1753-1778, Lisboa, photocopy, 2002 [Master's dissertation on the History of the Discoveries and the Portuguese Expansion presented at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa]. TOMÁS, Lúcia M. L., As ilhas de S. Tomé na primeira metade do século XVIII, Lisboa, photocopy, 2001 [Master's dissertation on the History of the Discoveries and the Portuguese Expansion presented at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa].
Translated by: Rosa Neves Simas
Having been made a captaincy, the island was bestowed by the king of Portugal, on April 7, 1500, to António Carneiro, son-in-law to Pero de Alcáçova, former secretary to King Afonso V and King João II. Carneiro himself would be secretary to King Manuel I after 1504. The captaincy belonged to the descendents of António Carneiro (counts of the island of Príncipe since 1640) until 1753, when it was incorporated into the property of the crown. The donator-captains never resided on the island, but would propose to the king the name of an island governor, to defend and govern the island, and administer their private own property.
In the same year that the island was incorporated into the property of the crown, the Marquis of Pombal named the settlement of Saint Anthony a city, making it the capital of the island of Príncipe and of the entire archipelago, a status it would maintain until 1852. This transference, which was supposedly due to public health issues, was heatedly contested by the island of São Tomé.
Although sugar was produced on the island during the 16th and 17th centuries, until the beginning of the 19th century, Príncipe became mainly a way station in the slave trade and a stop for commercial ships from various countries that circulated between Africa and America. Corsairs attacked the island various times, and it was occupied during short periods by the Dutch, in 1598, and by the French, in 1706 and 1799.
Bibliography:
SÁ-NOGUEIRA, Isabel e Bernardo de, "A ilha do Príncipe no 1º quartel do século XVI: administração e comércio", in Congresso Internacional Bartolomeu Dias e a sua época: actas, Porto, Universidade /CNCDP, 1989, vol. III, pp. 81-103. SERAFIM, Cristina Maria Seuanes, As ilhas de São Tomé no século XVII, Lisboa, Centro de História de Além-Mar, 2000. SOUSA, Filomena Coelho de, A voz dos poderes: gestão da ordem na ilha do Príncipe, 1753-1778, Lisboa, photocopy, 2002 [Master's dissertation on the History of the Discoveries and the Portuguese Expansion presented at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa]. TOMÁS, Lúcia M. L., As ilhas de S. Tomé na primeira metade do século XVIII, Lisboa, photocopy, 2001 [Master's dissertation on the History of the Discoveries and the Portuguese Expansion presented at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa].
Translated by: Rosa Neves Simas