Architecture, labour and the journey of cacao on an equatorial island.
The terreiro was a processing yard and a centre of plantation control. Select a stage or explore an architectural hotspot.
The site is a composite interpretation drawing on the plantation architecture of Água Izé and other São Toméan roças, not an exact reconstruction of a particular surviving building. Several mechanisms are interactive illustrations rather than surveyed historical hardware.
These plantations were built under Portuguese colonialism using coercive labour and forced migration. The built environment cannot be separated from the experiences of workers and their descendants.