São Tomé deserves an equal, if distinct renown—or infamy, one that has so far largely eluded it. This 330-square-mile island would be the last stop in the Eastern Hemisphere for sugar cultivation. The practice arrived after a long and halting westward migration, which began in prehistory in New Guinea and moved to India and then to the Near East. Finally, with the Crusades, it took hold in the extremities of southern Europe. With the progress of Iberian navigation, sugar cultivation expanded into the Atlantic world, notably the Canaries and Madeira.
