Map

Map

Sao Tomean Geography



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: 6.25% permanent crops: 48.96% other: 44.79% (2001)

Irrigated land: 100 sq km (1998 est.)

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 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