The first slave plantation is discovered in Africa: ruins of a nearly 500-year-old sugar factory and estate on a tiny western island

Archaeologists have uncovered the earliest evidence of plantation slavery – the ruins of a 16th-century sugar mill and estate on a tiny West African island.

Named São Tomé, the island was the world’s largest sugar producer in the 1530s and laid the foundation for the plantation economy across the Atlantic Ocean.

The ruins of the mill and the estate were uncovered by researchers from the University of Cologne. They said the size of the structure reflected the large number of enslaved laborers who worked in the main room where sugar was boiled.

The Portuguese settled in São Tomé in 1470 and became the largest sugar producer in the 1530s by enslaving Africans from the Slave Coast of West Africa, the Niger Delta, Fernando Po Island and later from Congo and Angola.

The ruins of a 16th-century sugar mill and estate on a tiny West African island are believed to be the oldest plantation found

“São Tomé was an important crossroads between Europe and Africa,” the authors shared, “but the lack of research obscures the importance of this archipelago in the history of the Atlantic world and plantation slavery.”

Unlike other Portuguese sugar mills in Europe, which had only used enslaved people for manual labour, the West African site hired slaves for everything from harvesting the sugar cane to the carpentry and stonemasonry needed to build and operate the mills, reports say Live Science.

São Tomé, located 150 miles west of Gabon in the Gulf of Guinea, had a tropical climate, fertile soil, and plentiful fresh water and timber, making it ideal for growing sugar cane.

The first documentation of sugar cane fields on the island dates back to 1506 and production started in 1517.

The first plantation in the US was Shirley in Virginia, which began operations in 1638.

In the room where sugar was boiled, researchers found charred walls

The building is two-storey, rectangular in plan and divided into three areas

Enslaved Africans were brought to São Tomé and built the stone mill and estate that still stands today.

“The craftsmanship of the building is of course the product of enslaved builders,” say the researchers.

São Tomé, located 150 miles west of Gabon in the Gulf of Guinea, had a tropical climate, fertile soil, and plentiful fresh water and timber, making it ideal for growing sugar cane

“Particularly revealing are the building’s windows, which are designed to provide a clear view of work areas so that enslaved workers can be monitored.”

The building is two-storey, rectangular in plan and divided into three areas.

Adjacent to the head wall – a retaining wall that supported the mill run – is a large room, and the back run of the head wall housed the hydraulic mill or mills

The researchers found fire-scorched walls in the adjoining room, suggesting that sugar was cooked there and the top floor was intended for living quarters.

The upper floor has Closets, balconies and windows that allowed surveillance of work areas.

Adjacent to the head wall – a retaining wall that supported the mill run – is a large room, and the back run of the head wall housed the hydraulic mill or mills

“Parts of the building have collapsed and the floors are covered with rubble that may hide other features, but the surviving walls are between 5 and 9 m high,” says the study, published in Antiquity.

“The living quarters on the upper floor are plastered, while the walls of the work area are roughly finished and have graffiti with writings, crosses and other religious symbols.”

‘As was common in contemporary Portuguese residences, the kitchen may have been outside, however neither it nor slave quarters have been found.

The mill operated for around 400 years, but when slavery came across the Atlantic it took the sugar business with it.

The island’s importance waned before the early 17th century due to poor quality sugar, increased Brazilian production, and widespread slave rebellions.

Political instability and the destruction of mills caused large landowners to relocate to Brazil.

The island’s European population shrank while the Creole elite and free blacks increased their political and social power, controlling land tenure and trade, particularly with people destined for Brazilian and Caribbean plantations