Marco do Equador

Just south of São Tomé there is a small island called Ilhéu das Rolas. On this little island, you can find a monument marking the location of the equator.

Ilhéu das Rolas covers just two square kilometers (0.77 square miles). It has a small population, and can only be reached by a ferry from the larger island of São Tomé Island, which lies across the Canal das Rolas. Between 1915 and 1918, Portuguese navigator and historian Gago Coutinho traveled to São Tomé on an expedition to map the island, which was at that point a colony of Portugal. During the mapping process, Coutinho observed that the equator crossed Ilhéu das Rolas.

The monument roughly marks the spot where the equatorial line runs through the island, splitting it between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The line does not cross exactly at the monument but rather down the hill in the little town below. But the scenic view up the hill lead to the monument being built up there instead of at the precise location.

The ground underneath the monument is covered with a tile mosaic map of the world.