mountains in the south and west.
Rain forests cover nearly half of the
land. Many rare birds and reptiles,
including sea turtles, live in the country.
The islands’ population is a mixture of
peoples descended from three main
groups: Portuguese settlers, Africans
brought to the islands to work as slaves,
and workers from Angola, Cape Verde,
and Mozambique. Portuguese is the
national language. Most people are
Roman Catholics.
Sao Tome and Principe’s economy
depends on agriculture and fishing.
Cocoa is the most important farm product.
Other crops include coconuts, coffee,
cinnamon, bananas, and vegetables.
The country also produces palm oil,
clothing, and wood. In the early 21st
century Sao Tome and Principe hoped
to start making money from petroleum
(oil) that was discovered in the Gulf of
Guinea.
No one lived on the islands until Portuguese
settlers arrived in the late 1400s.
The Portuguese soon claimed the islands
as a colony. Sao Tome and Principe
gained independence from Portugal in
1975. The country held its first free
elections in 1991.
..More to explore
Africa • Sao Tome
Buildings from colonial times still stand in
the capital of Sao Tome and Principe.
Facts About
SAO TOME AND
PRINCIPE
Population
(2008 estimate)
160,000
Area
386 sq mi (1,001
sq km)
Capital
Sao Tome
Form of
government
Republic
Major cities
Sao Tome, Neves,
Santana,
Trindade, Santo
Antonio
36 Sao Tome and Principe BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Sarajevo
Population
(2005
estimate), city,
380,000;
(2004
estimate), urban
area, 602,500
Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, a country in southeastern
Europe. It is the country’s largest city
and cultural center.
Sarajevo is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s
centers of industry and banking.
However, a civil war in the 1990s hurt
the city’s economy. In the early 21st
century many city residents did not have
jobs.
People have lived in the Sarajevo area for
many thousands of years. Sarajevo
became part of the Turkish Ottoman
Empire in the 1400s. The Turks made
the city a center of Muslim culture.
In 1878 Austria-Hungary took over
Sarajevo. In the early 1900s Bosnia and
Herzegovina became part of the new
country of Yugoslavia.
In 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina tried
to break away from Yugoslavia. A civil
war broke out between the Serb, Croat,
and Bosniac (Muslim) ethnic groups.
Thousands of people in Sarajevo were
killed. Much of the city was destroyed.
The war ended in 1995. Bosnia and
Herzegovina became an independent
country with Sarajevo as its capital. By
the early 21st century much of the city
had been rebuilt.
..More to explore
Bosnia and Herzegovina • Yugoslavia
Sarcee
The Sarcee are Native Americans of
Canada. Their name is sometimes
spelled Sarsi. The Sarcee call themselves
Tsuu T’ina. They live near the city of
Calgary, Alberta. They may once have
been part of the Beaver people, who
lived to the north.
The Sarcee were Plains Indians. Like
other Plains tribes, they hunted bison
(buffalo) on horseback on the Great
Plains. The Sarcee ate bison meat. They
used bison hides to make tepees and
clothing. They also gathered wild plants
for food.
White traders arrived in Sarcee lands in
the late 1700s. By that time the Sarcee
lived in what are now southern Alberta
Mountains near Sarajevo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, were the setting for some of
the events of the 1984 Winter Olympics.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Sarcee 37
and northern Montana. The traders
brought guns to the tribes of the area.
Then the Sarcee started fighting more
often with other tribes. The greatest
enemies of the Sarcee were the Cree and
the Assiniboin. The Sarcee became allies
of the powerful Blackfoot tribe for protection.
Many Sarcee died in war and from
diseases brought by the white settlers.
There were outbreaks of smallpox in
1836 and 1870, and scarlet fever struck
in 1856. In 1877 the weakened Sarcee
gave up their lands to the Canadian
government. Three years later the
Sarcee settled on a reservation near
Calgary. At the end of the 20th century
there were about 1,000 Sarcee living in
Canada.
#More to explore
Blackfoot • Native Americans
SARS
SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome,
is an illness that is similar to
influenza, or the flu. In 2003 SARS
became an epidemic. An epidemic is an
outbreak of a disease that quickly infects
a large number of people.
A germ called a virus causes SARS. The
symptoms, or signs, of SARS are fever,
headache, body aches, and a cough.
People with SARS can pass the virus to
others by sneezing or coughing.
SARS first appeared in Asia in 2002. By
the end of May 2003, SARS had spread
to North America, South America, and
Europe. More than 8,000 cases of SARS
were reported. About 800 people died
from the disease. By June 2003 the
spread of SARS had been controlled so
that it was no longer an epidemic.
#More to explore
Disease, Human • Epidemic • Influenza
Students in a class in Hong Kong wear
masks to protect them against the disease
known as SARS. The masks keep them from
breathing in the germ that causes SARS.
A Sarcee man wears metal armbands and
a headdress.
38 SARS BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Saskatchewan
