A visit to Roça Sundy
Roça Sundy: Where Einstein's Theory Met Colonial History
Roça Sundy stands apart from Príncipe's other historic plantations—not merely for its size or architectural preservation, but because this remote cocoa estate witnessed one of science's most pivotal moments. On May 29, 1919, British astronomer Arthur Eddington observed a total solar eclipse from Sundy's grounds, capturing photographic evidence that confirmed Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. This plantation, built on slave labor to produce cocoa for European markets, inadvertently became the site where humanity's understanding of gravity, light, and spacetime fundamentally changed.
Today, Roça Sundy operates as a boutique hotel where visitors sleep in restored colonial buildings, walk grounds where scientific history unfolded, and engage with the complex legacy of plantation economies transformed into sustainable tourism. Understanding Sundy's multifaceted history—from agricultural enterprise to scientific landmark to community resettlement controversy—enriches what has become one of Príncipe's most significant heritage destinations.
Colonial Origins: Building the Island's Largest Plantation
The Agricultural Empire
Founded in 1822, Roça Sundy claims distinction as the first cocoa plantation in the entire São Tomé and Príncipe archipelago, pioneering cultivation of the crop that would dominate the islands' economy for over a century. Purchased around 1875 by Jerónimo José Carneiro, Sundy expanded to become Príncipe's largest plantation—and historically one of the world's major cocoa producers.
The plantation covered 1,657 hectares (roughly 4,100 acres), an enormous footprint representing substantial portions of Príncipe's limited flat land. While cocoa remained the principal product, Sundy was Príncipe's only coffee-producing plantation, also cultivating cassava and fruits including banana, coconut, mango, and papaya. This diversification provided food security alongside cash crops.
At peak operation, Roça Sundy employed approximately 600 workers—enslaved laborers initially, then "contract workers" (serviçais) after slavery's official 1876 abolition. The plantation functioned as a virtually autonomous community with its own hospital, school, chapel, shops, and transportation infrastructure. Like all roças, Sundy was built on the foundation of forced labor—what some sources term "slave-farmed cacao."
Transportation Infrastructure
Until independence in 1975, Sundy maintained a rudimentary railway system (Décauville-type narrow-gauge) for transporting products to Praia das Burras for shipping. Today, an old restored industrial steam locomotive stands on display, tangible reminder of the mechanical systems that moved millions of cocoa beans from plantation to global markets. Railway lines remain visible in the ground, industrial archaeology waiting to be noticed by attentive visitors.
Architectural Layout: Reading the Colonial Landscape
Roça Sundy organized itself around classic plantation principles, creating spatial hierarchies that physically manifested social relationships.
The Central Terreiro
The entire complex arranged itself around a central, wide plaza (terreiro)—the operational heart where cocoa dried, workers assembled, and plantation life converged. This open space functioned simultaneously as workspace, parade ground, and surveillance mechanism.
Notable Structures
The Former Stables (Cavalariças) – Perhaps Sundy's most visually striking feature: an imposing crenellated wall that resembles a castle fortification. This dramatic facade, featuring horseshoe-shaped windows, actually fronted the plantation's horse stables—architectural theater communicating owner status through livestock housing.
The Main House (Casa Principal) – Now the hotel's Casa Eclipse, the colonial manor house occupied prime position overlooking plantation operations. This substantial building provided owner and administrator accommodation with imported fixtures and superior construction quality.
The Chapel – Known as Capela da Nossa Senhora de Lourdes or Nossa Senhora da Penha de França, the chapel served spiritual needs while reinforcing colonial Christianity as social control mechanism.
The Hospital – Located at the entrance, flanked by two towers, the former hospital building symbolized plantation "modernity." As with hospitals at other roças, this facility served partly as genuine medical infrastructure but also as propaganda demonstrating that plantation workers weren't slaves (despite conditions suggesting otherwise).
The Sanzalas – Worker housing (slave quarters, later contract laborer barracks) occupied peripheral positions. These simple structures with minimal individual space reflected occupants' status in plantation hierarchies. Until recently, descendants of contract workers still inhabited these buildings—a living connection to plantation history that generated contemporary controversy.
Processing Areas – The terreiro and surrounding structures for fermentation, drying, sorting, and storage where harvested cocoa transformed into exportable commodity.
May 29, 1919: The Day Relativity Was Confirmed
Einstein's Revolutionary Theory
In 1915, Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity, proposing that massive objects curve spacetime itself, causing what we perceive as gravity. The theory made a testable prediction: light from distant stars passing near the sun should bend due to the sun's gravitational field, making stars appear slightly displaced from their actual positions.
The problem? Stars aren't visible near the sun except during total solar eclipses, when the moon blocks sunlight enough to reveal background stars.
The 1919 Eclipse Expeditions
The Royal Astronomical Society and Royal Society organized expeditions to observe the total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, from two locations: Sobral, Brazil, and Príncipe. Astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington led the Príncipe team, choosing Roça Sundy as observation base.
The Observation
On eclipse day, Eddington's team photographed the star field around the eclipsed sun, then compared these images with photographs of the same star field taken when the sun was in a different part of the sky. If Einstein was correct, stars near the sun's edge should appear shifted from their normal positions.
The measurements confirmed Einstein's prediction. Light bent. General Relativity was right.
Global Impact
Newspapers worldwide announced the results: "Revolution in Science / New Theory of the Universe / Newtonian Ideas Overthrown." Einstein became an international celebrity overnight. Eddington's observations at Roça Sundy represented a landmark in science history—experimental confirmation of theoretical predictions that fundamentally changed human understanding of the universe.
Commemorating the Event
A memorial plaque beside the main house marks the observation site. One of the hotel's restored buildings bears the name Casa Eclipse in tribute to this pivotal moment. The Espaço Ciência Sundy (Sundy Science Space), inaugurated for the 100th anniversary in 2019, serves as small museum highlighting the site's scientific legacy and promoting science tourism.
For science enthusiasts and physics students, standing where Eddington confirmed relativity creates powerful connection to scientific history—an agricultural plantation accidentally becoming a laboratory where theories about the nature of reality itself were tested.
The Modern Transformation: HBD Príncipe's Vision
Acquisition and Restoration
On February 9, 2011, the HBD Príncipe Group (Here Be Dragons), founded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, received concession from Príncipe's Regional Government to acquire and rehabilitate Roça Sundy. The property had deteriorated significantly since plantation operations ceased, requiring comprehensive restoration.
HBD transformed Sundy from ruined plantation into boutique hotel as part of the Príncipe Collection, which manages four resorts across the island. The restoration philosophy emphasized:
- Heritage preservation – Maintaining historic buildings rather than demolition and new construction
- Sustainable materials – Using recycled materials where possible
- Local capacity building – Training local builders to execute restoration work
- Lower carbon impact – Reducing environmental footprint through adaptive reuse
Significant rehabilitation included recovering the industrial locomotive, restoring the old cocoa dryer, and reconstructing 2.5 kilometers of access road.
The Hotel Today
Hotel Roça Sundy operates as 15-room boutique property (some sources cite 12 suites) distributed across two beautifully restored historic buildings:
Casa Eclipse – The former main house, now housing restaurant and bar alongside guest accommodations
Casa Cacau – The plant house, providing additional suites
Guests enjoy luxury amenities while staying in authentic colonial architecture. Room rates include daily guided experiences, dinner, breakfast, airport transfers, and WiFi. Guests have access to facilities at Sundy Praia Resort (only 2 km away) and Bom Bom Resort.
Active Cocoa Production
Critically, Roça Sundy remains a working cocoa plantation, continuing agricultural traditions spanning two centuries. The property produces fair-trade organic cocoa, demonstrating how heritage preservation and contemporary agriculture can coexist profitably.
The Chocolate Experience
An artisanal chocolate factory on-site allows visitors to experience complete cocoa-to-chocolate process:
- Plantation tours – Walking among cocoa trees, learning cultivation techniques
- Processing demonstrations – Fermentation, drying, roasting, and grinding
- Chocolate making – Observing artisanal production methods
- Tastings – Sampling single-origin Príncipe chocolate
The Cocoa Route tour comprehensively covers plantation history, agricultural practices, and chocolate production, creating immersive educational experiences connecting visitors to local food systems.
Community Employment and Conservation Contribution
More than 90% of hotel staff come from local communities—a deliberate policy ensuring tourism benefits island residents rather than importing workers from elsewhere.
Each guest's stay includes a "Conservation and Communities Contribution" (CCC) of €25 per person per night, directly funding local development projects and conservation initiatives. This mechanism theoretically ensures tourism generates tangible community benefits beyond wages.
The Terra Prometida Resettlement: Progress or Displacement?
Roça Sundy's modern transformation involved a controversial element that raises fundamental questions about heritage tourism, community rights, and neocolonial dynamics.
The Community in the Sanzalas
Until very recently, Roça Sundy remained a living community. Approximately 380-400 residents—primarily descendants of Cape Verdean contract workers—lived in the former sanzalas (worker barracks), the same structures that once housed enslaved and contract laborers. In 2013, about 380 residents lived at Sundy; by late 2023, 133 families still occupied the sanzalas.
These families maintained direct genealogical and cultural connections to plantation history—living heritage in the most literal sense.
Deteriorating Conditions
The sanzalas, built for temporary labor housing over a century ago, had deteriorated significantly. Minimal maintenance since independence left structures inadequate by contemporary standards—lacking proper sanitation, suffering structural decay, and providing substandard living conditions.
The Terra Prometida Project
HBD Príncipe, in collaboration with the Regional Government and with UN-Habitat support, developed a resettlement project called "Terra Prometida" (Promised Land). The initiative aimed to relocate residents from deteriorating sanzalas to new housing offering:
- Modern, safe construction
- Improved sanitation and utilities
- Better access to education and healthcare
- Enhanced opportunities for economic development
- Overall improved quality of life
The official resettlement of the most vulnerable families was completed in August 2023, inaugurated by Mark Shuttleworth and Maimunah Mohd Sharif (UN-Habitat Executive Director). The project emphasized participatory design, with UN supervision intended to ensure community input shaped outcomes.
Future Plans for the Sanzalas
The area formerly occupied by the residential community is planned for transformation into:
- Art galleries showcasing local artists
- Shops selling artisan products
- Additional tourist accommodations
- Market spaces where locals sell products to visitors
These plans aim to maintain community economic participation while adapting spaces for tourism infrastructure.
The Controversy
The resettlement generated profoundly mixed reactions and raised uncomfortable questions:
Naming as Rejection – The community chose the name "Terra Prometida" themselves, notably rejecting the name "Sundy" because they perceived the roça as having been "colonized by new actors" through tourism development. This naming choice signals alienation from a place their families inhabited for generations.
Neocolonial Dynamics – Critics argue the resettlement exemplifies neocolonial logic in the post-independence era: international capital (HBD) partners with government to displace poor, predominantly Black descendants of forced laborers from valuable heritage property to make way for luxury tourism serving wealthy (predominantly white) international visitors.
Privatization and Segregation – What was once community space became exclusive tourist access. Descendants of the workers who built Sundy are relocated to make room for paying guests sleeping in their ancestors' master's house.
Progress vs. Displacement – Defenders argue Terra Prometida offers genuine improvements—modern housing, better services, enhanced opportunities. Critics counter that forced displacement, however materially beneficial, severs genealogical connections to ancestral spaces and continues patterns of marginalization where descendant communities serve tourism rather than benefiting equitably.
Economic Distribution – Fundamental questions persist: Who truly benefits? While 90% local employment and conservation contributions are positive, do these mechanisms adequately compensate communities for losing homes and heritage spaces? Do families profit from tourism, or merely serve it?
There are no simple answers. The resettlement embodies tensions inherent in heritage tourism globally: balancing preservation with progress, tourism development with community rights, honoring history while confronting uncomfortable truths about who controls heritage spaces and who benefits from their commodification.
Heritage and Museums
Beyond accommodation, Roça Sundy functions as multi-layered heritage site with interpretive infrastructure:
Espaço Ciência Sundy (Sundy Science Space) – Museum space at Eddington's observation site, inaugurated for the 1919 centenary. The center promotes scientific legacy, serving as reference for science education and tourist attraction connecting visitors to relativity confirmation history.
Museu do Ferro Velho (Old Iron Museum) – Contains locomotives and colonial-era industrial machinery, providing industrial archaeology interpretation.
Casa do Cacau (Cocoa House) – The artisanal chocolate factory functions as living museum where visitors learn cocoa production processes through demonstrations and tastings.
Future Plans – Intentions exist to rehabilitate additional former sanzalas into art galleries and shops. Original 2015 plans anticipated opening Príncipe's first museum dedicated to industrial archaeology here.
Visiting Roça Sundy: Practical Information
For Hotel Guests
The 15-room boutique property offers immersive multi-day experiences combining luxury accommodation, historical interpretation, culinary experiences, and nature access. Rates include comprehensive programming ensuring guests engage deeply with plantation heritage and island ecology.
For Non-Guests
Day visits can be arranged through hotel reception. The property offers:
- Historical tours covering Einstein's relativity experiments, colonial architecture, and plantation operations
- Cocoa Route tours including plantation walks, chocolate factory demonstrations, and tastings
- Industrial heritage viewing of locomotives, processing equipment, and railway remnants
- Memorial plaque visits at the eclipse observation site
Combining with Other Attractions
Roça Sundy pairs well with:
- Praia Sundy – Beautiful beach accessible via trails from the plantation
- Praia das Burras – Historic shipping point where Sundy's railway terminated
- Príncipe Natural Park – Primary rainforest protecting endemic species
- Other roças – Porto Real (dramatic ruins), Paciência (continuing agriculture), Belo Monte (small hotel)
Reflections for Thoughtful Visitors
Visiting Roça Sundy rewards thoughtful engagement with its layered history:
- Acknowledge complexity – This site simultaneously represents agricultural innovation, scientific breakthrough, forced labor exploitation, architectural achievement, and community displacement
- Consider whose stories are told – Plantation narratives often privilege owners, administrators, and scientists while marginalizing workers whose labor created wealth
- Recognize ongoing tensions – Heritage tourism here isn't resolved history but living process with real stakes for descendant communities
- Support equitably – Patronize community businesses, hire local guides, and respect that heritage spaces carry living meaning beyond tourist attractions
Roça Sundy embodies Príncipe's promise and contradictions: a place where scientific history unfolded, where colonial exploitation left lasting scars, where sustainable tourism aspires to benefit communities, and where uncomfortable questions about heritage, ownership, and equity remain unresolved. It's Príncipe's most internationally significant plantation—and perhaps its most complex.