Sao Tome and Principe Geography - 2024

Location

Central Africa, islands in the Gulf of Guinea, just north of the Equator, west of Gabon

Geographic coordinates

1 00 N, 7 00 E

Map references

Africa

Area

total: 964 sq km

land: 964 sq km

water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative

more than five times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries

total: 0 km

Coastline

209 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 12 nm

exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

measured from claimed archipelagic baselines

Climate

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

Terrain

volcanic, mountainous

Elevation

highest point: Pico de Sao Tome 2,024 m

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m

Natural resources

fish, hydropower

Land use

agricultural land: 50.7% (2018 est.)

arable land: 9.1% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 40.6% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 1% (2018 est.)

forest: 28.1% (2018 est.)

other: 21.2% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land

100 sq km (2012)

Population distribution

Sao Tome, the capital city, has roughly a quarter of the nation's population; Santo Antonio is the largest town on Principe; the northern areas of both islands have the highest population densities as shown in this

Natural hazards

flooding

Geography - note

the second-smallest African country (after the Seychelles); the two main islands form part of a chain of extinct volcanoes and both are mountainous