Sao Tome and Principe Geography - 2005

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