Principe Island

Principe, (Ilha do Príncipe, Prince’s Island in Portuguese) is the smallest of the two main islands that form today’s Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. Located in the Gulf of Guinea, it is one of the smallest countries in the world.

At the time this issue of L’Illustration was printed, it was still a Portuguese possession. It provided the French establishments on the west coast of Africa, and more particularly Gorée, with coal. It is around a heap of coal that the little group of people in the picture is getting busy.

The caption reads in the original French: Dépôt de charbon sur l’île du Prince.