Geography of Sao Tome and Principe
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 fairly mountainous |