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Bioko (spelled also Bioco) is an island off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea, formerly called Fernando Pó or Fernando Póo and known as Otcho to Bubi. It is part of Equatorial Guinea.
Geography
Bioko has a total area of 2,017 square kilometers. It is 70 km long from NNE to SSW and about 32 km across. It is volcanic and very mountainous with highest peak Pico Basile (3012m) and in this way resembles neighboring islands such as São Tomé and Príncipe.
Demographics
Island has population of 130,000 inhabibatants of which most belong to Bubi tribe. The rest of population belong to Fernandinos, Spaniards and immigrants from Rio Muni, Nigeria and Cameroon.
History
The island was inhabited in middle of the first millennium C.E. by Bantu tribes from mainland which formed ethnic group Bubi. The first European discovery of the island was made in 1472, by the Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó. It was at first named Formosa Flora ('Beautiful Flower'), but in 1494 was renamed for its discoverer (Fernando Pó or Fernando Póo). Unlike other islands in the area, Bioko had an indigenous (African) population. Presently still a distinct ethnic group on the island, these indigenous people, the Bubi, speak a Bantu language; the island was likely inhabited by this or other Bantu-speaking groups since before the 7th century BC.
In 1642 Dutch Indian Company established its trade bases on island without Portuguese consent, centralizing from there temporally the trade of slaves in the Guinea gulf, although the portuguese appeared once again in the island in 1648, replacing the Dutch Company for one of their own dedicated to the same trade and established in its neighbour island Corisco. Parallel with establishing begins slow process of establishing core of new kingdom on the island formed by Bubi clans especially after the actuation in that sense by some local chiefs like Molombo (aprox. 1700-aprox. 1760) during period of harsh enslavment in the region, situation that forced local clans to abandon their coastal settlements and settle in safer interior of the island.
Portugal ceded to Spain Fernando Póo, Annobón and the Guinea coast (modern Equatorial Guinea) in 1778, with the Treaty of El Pardo, signed between Queen Mary II of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain, in exchange for territory in the American continent. Spain then mounted an expedition to Fernando Póo, led by the Conde de Argelejos and stayed for four months. On october 1778 Spain installed governor on the island that stayed till 1780 when Spanish mission left the island.
Molambo was succeeded by another local chief, Lorite (1760-1810) who was succeeded by Lopoa (1810-1842). From 1827 to 1843 the British leased bases at Port Clarence (modern Malabo) and San Carlos for the anti-slavery patrols. Juan José Lerena in March 1843 put Spanish flag in Malabo ending British influence on the island. Madabita (1842-1860) and Sepoko (1860-1875) were principal local chiefs during reestablishment of Spanish rule on the island. This period was also marked by immigration of several hundreds of Afro-Cubans as well as tens of Spanish scholars and politicians.
A rectangular transport route links the four main cities- Malabo, Luba, Baney and Riaba.
The island was used as a base for flights into Biafra during the Nigerian civil war.
Notably, Fernando Póo was a central historical nexus in Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's Illuminatus! trilogy.
References
- Room, Adrian (1994). African placenames. Jefferson, NC (USA): McFarland. ISBN 0899509436
- Sundiata, Ibrahim K. (1990). Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability. Boulder, CO (USA): Westview Press. ISBN 0813304296
External links
Former Spanish colonies | Islands of Equatorial Guinea | History of Equatorial Guinea | Former Portuguese colonies
Bioko | Bioko | Bioko | Bioko | Bioko | Bioko | ビオコ島 | Bioko | Bioko | Bioko
"Bioko"