  sÃ£o tomÃ© (population 56,166 in 2005) is the capital city of sÃ£o tomÃ© and prÃ­ncipe and is by far that nation's largest town. its name is portuguese for "saint thomas". ==history== sÃ£o tomÃ© was founded by alvaro caminha in 1493. the portuguese came to sÃ£o tomÃ© in search of land to grow sugar. the island was uninhabited before the arrival of the portuguese sometime around 1470. sÃ£o tomÃ© was right on the equator and wet enough to grow sugar in wild abundance. its proximity to the african kingdom of kongo provided an eventual source of slave labourers to work the sugar plantations. sÃ£o tomÃ© is centred on a sixteenth-century cathedral. another early building is fort sÃ£o sebastiÃ£o, built in 1575 and now the sÃ£o tomÃ© national museum. in 1599, the city as well as the islands were taken by the dutch for two days and again in 1641 for a year. it was the capital of the portuguese colony of sÃ£o tomÃ© and prÃ­ncipe and, since sÃ£o tomÃ© and prÃ­ncipe's independence in 1975, capital of the sovereign nation.
1485_establishments Capitals_in_Africa District_and_provincial_capitals_of_SAPSo_TomA(c)_and_PrAncipe Former_Portuguese_colonies Populated_places_established_in_the_1480s