Batepá massacre

The Batepá massacre occurred on 3 February 1953 in São Tomé when Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles. The background of the bloody events was the shortage of labor on the plantations and fears of the islanders to become forced to work on the estates. The Creoles had always refused manual field work on the estates, since they considered it slave labor. More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence. The event is seen as the beginning of nationalist sentiment in São Tomé and Príncipe. The government officially observes its anniversary as a national holiday. The Portuguese farmers used paid workers from Portugal's territories of Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde to work for them in São Tomé, because the people of São Tomé and Príncipe did not accept to work for the Portuguese.

Massacre de Batepá