The power dynamics of São Tomé in…
1540 CE to 1551 CE
Due to the minimal amounts of voluntary colonists, who actively avoid inhabiting São Tomé because of the presence of disease and food shortages, the crown deports convicts to the island and encourages interracial relationships to secure the settlement.
Slavery is also not permanent, as demonstrated through the 1515 royal decree granting the manumission to African wives of white settlers and their mixed-race children.
Then in 1517, another royal decree had freed the male slaves who had originally arrived on the island with the first colonists.
After 1520, a royal charter had allowed for property-owning, married, free mulattos to hold public offices.
This is followed by a royal decree in 1546 that equates these qualified mulattos with the white settlers.
Consequently, free mulattos and black citizens enjoy opportunities for upward mobility and participate in local politics and economy.
Compounded with the participation of deported convicts and white settlers in government, frequent disputes occur in the governance of São Tomé, which consists of town councils, a governor, and a bishop.
These quarrels mean that São Tomé is constantly politically unstable.
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