São Tomé and Príncipe - Ethnic groups

Most of the island's permanent residents are Fôrros, descendants of the Portuguese colonists and their African slaves, who came from Gabon and the Guinea coast. Along the southeast coast of São Tomé lives a group called the Angolares, the descendants of Angolan slaves, shipwrecked in the 16th century, who established independent fishing communities. Others include the Mestico, Servicais (contract laborers from Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde), Tongas (children of Servicais born on the islands), and Europeans, primarily Portuguese.