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Coordinates: 3°30′N 8°42′E

Bioko
Bioko (/biːˈoʊkoʊ/;[3] historically Fernando Po; Bube:
Bioko
Ëtulá Ëria) is an island 32 km (20 mi) off the west coast
of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Native name: Ëtulá Ëria (Bube)
Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census[4] and it
covers an area of 2,017 km2 (779 sq mi). The island is
located off the Ambazonian segment of Cameroon, in the
Bight of Biafra portion of the Gulf of Guinea. Its geology is
volcanic; its highest peak is Pico Basile at 3,012 m
(9,882 ft). Malabo, on the north coast of the island, is the
capital city of Equatorial Guinea.

Contents
Etymology Map of Bioko

Geography
Geology Bioko
Demographics
Languages
History
Economy
Transport
Tourism
See also
References
External links Bioko (Equatorial Guinea)
Show map of Equatorial Guinea
Show map of Africa
Etymology Show all
Etymology Named for Cristino
Bioko's native name is Ëtulá Ëria in the Bube language.
For nearly 500 years, the island was known as Fernando Seriche Bioko
Po (Portuguese: Fernando Pó; Spanish: Fernando Poo), Geography
named for Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó. Between Location Gulf of Guinea
1973 and 1979 the island was named Macías Nguema
Biyogo after the then president of Equatorial Guinea; the Coordinates 3°30′N 8°42′E
current name, Bioko, dates from 1979 and is in honour of Archipelago Cameroon line
politician Cristino Seriche Bioko.[5]: 68 Area 2,017 km2
(779 sq mi)
Geography Length 70 km (43 mi)
Width 32 km (19.9 mi)
Bioko has a total area of 2,017 km2 (779 sq mi). It is
70 km (43 mi) long from NNE to SSW and about 32 km Highest elevation 3,012 m (9882 ft)
(20 mi) across. The island is mostly covered by tropical Highest point Pico Basile
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rainforest. It is volcanic and very mountainous with the Administration

highest peak Pico Basile (3,012 m (9,882 ft)). It thus
resembles neighbouring islands São Tomé and Príncipe. Equatorial Guinea
Like them, it lies on the Cameroon line. Its southernmost Region Insular Region
point is called Punta Santiago. Provinces Bioko Norte and
Bioko Sur
Bioko lies on the African continental shelf, separated from
the African mainland by 32 km (20 mi) water with a Largest Malabo
depth of only 60 metres. During the Pleistocene epoch settlement (pop. 297,000 (2019
Bioko was connected to the African mainland. Bioko estimate)[1])
separated from Africa around 10,000 years ago, at the
Demographics
end of the Last Glacial Period.[6]
Population 335,048 (2015
The fire skink, a species of lizard found on the island, Census)
carries the scientific name of Mochlus fernandi, derived
Pop. density 165.8/km2
from Fernando Po, the former name of the island.[7]
(429.4/sq mi)
Fernando Po (with the spelling "Poo") is the setting for a Languages Equatoguinean
Cold War standoff in Robert Shea and Robert Anton Spanish, Pichinglis,
Wilson's Illuminatus Trilogy.[8] Bube
Ethnic groups Bubi (58%), Fang
Geology (16%), Fernandino
(12%), Igbo (7%)
The island is composed mostly of basalt, mostly alkali (2002)[2]
basalt and hawaiites, and to a lesser extent mugearites.[9]

Demographics
The island has a population of 335,048 inhabitants (2015
Census).[4] Its historic indigenous people are the Bubi people,
who currently constitute 58% of the population. Other
ethnicities include the Fang at 16%, Fernandinos at 12%, and
the Igbo at 7%, as well as African and European immigrants.

Languages

The Bube language, with about 50,000 speakers, and various View of Bioko from satellite
dialects, is the original language of the inhabitants of Bioko.

However, given the numerous ethnic groups and peoples who

operated on Bioko, a creole language developed, known as Pichi. It is based on English grammar,
from the period when the British operated bases for their forces. It also incorporates West African
languages from Nigeria and Liberia, Portuguese vocabulary which forms a considerable part of the
Krio language, which had developed in Sierra Leone. Workers came from all these areas in the 19th
through much of the 20th century.

Spanish has been an official language since 1844 when Spain took control of the island. It is still
the language of education and administration, related to the more than 100 years as a Spanish
colony. 67.6% of Equatoguineans can speak Spanish, especially those living in the capital, Malabo,
on Bioko.[10]

History
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The island was inhabited in the middle of the first millennium

BC by Bantu tribes from the mainland, who formed the Bubi
ethnic group. Unlike other islands in the area, Bioko had an
indigenous African population. The Bubi speak a Bantu
language. The island has probably been inhabited by this or
other Bantu-speaking groups since before the 7th century BC.

In 1472, the Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó was the first

European to sight the island. He named it Formosa Flora
("beautiful flower"). In 1494 it was renamed Fernando Po in
his honor after being claimed as a colony by the Portuguese.
The Portuguese developed the island for sugarcane crops, and
while considered poor quality, the refineries' output was such Relief map of Bioko
that Fernando Po sugar briefly dominated the trade centres in
Europe.

In 1642, the Dutch East India Company established trade bases

on the island without Portuguese consent. It temporarily
centralized from there its slave trade in the Gulf of Guinea. The
Portuguese appeared again on the island in 1648, replacing the
Dutch Company with one of their own, also dedicated to slave
trading and established in its neighbour island Corisco.

Parallel with this establishment, the Bubi clans began the slow
process of establishing the core of a new kingdom on the
Bioko in the distance from Limbe, island, especially after the activity of some local chiefs such as
Cameroon
Molambo (approx. 1700–1760). During a period when
enslavement was increasing in the region, local clans
abandoned their coastal settlements and settled in the safer
hinterland.

Under the 1778 Treaty of El Pardo, Portugal ceded Fernando Po, Annobón, and the Guinea coast,
Río Muni, to Spain, which together form modern Equatorial Guinea. The treaty was signed by
Queen Mary I of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain, in exchange for territory on the American
continent. Spain mounted an expedition to Fernando Po, led by the Conde de Argelejos, who
stayed for four months. In October 1778, Spain installed a governor on the island who stayed until
1780, when the Spanish mission left the island.

Chief Molambo was succeeded by another local leader, Lorite (1760–1810), who was succeeded by
Lopoa (1810–1842). After abolishing the British Atlantic slave trade, from 1827 to 1843 the British
leased bases at Port Clarence (modern Malabo) and San Carlos for the African Slave Trade Patrol.
The settlement at Port Clarence (named after the Duke of Clarence) was constructed under the
supervision of William Fitzwilliam Owen. He had previously mapped most of the coasts of Africa
and was a zealous anti-slaver. During his three-year command, his forces detained 20 ships and
liberated 2,500 slaves. The Mixed Commission Court was moved from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to
Clarence to hasten the legal process of emancipating slaves liberated from slave ships.[11]

In March 1843, Juan José Lerena planted the Spanish flag in Port Clarence (renamed Santa
Isabel), starting the decline of British influence on the island. Spain revoked the British lease in
1855.[12] Madabita (1842–1860) and Sepoko (1860–1875) were principal local chiefs during the
period when Spain re-established its control of the island. A notable resident from 1861 to 1865
was the British explorer Richard Burton who served as the British consul, during which time he
wrote several books about Africa.This period was also marked by Spain's transport deportation

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here of several hundred Afro-Cubans, as well as dozens of Spanish

scholars and politicians considered politically undesirable. In addition
Spain exiled 218 revolutionaries here from the Philippine Revolution,
of whom only 94 survived for long.[13]: 539

In 1923–1930, the League of Nations investigated the transportation

of contract migrant labour between Liberia and the Spanish colony of
Fernando Po. Although the League concentrated its attention on
arrangements in Liberia, a closer examination revealed that labour
abuse arose from conditions on Fernando Po. In the last quarter of the
19th century, Krio planters on the island had shifted from palm oil
trading to cocoa cultivation. Their dependence on migrant labour and A 1903 postage stamp of
increasing competition with Europeans resulted in an economic crisis Fernando Po
in the first years of the twentieth century. Planters detained labour but
failed to pay their contracts, resulting in a situation of de facto
slavery. Liberia prohibited labor traders from contracting with
their citizens.[14]

During the Nigerian Civil War in the 20th century, relief

agencies used the island as a base for flights into the
secessionist Republic of Biafra.

Economy
Located on Punta Europa,
west of Malabo, the Alba
Gas Plant processes natural
gas delivered from offshore
production wells. The plant
is operated by Marathon
Oil Company through its
subsidiary, Marathon
Equatorial Guinea 1908 map of Fernando Po and the
Coastline of Bioko Production Limited. The coast of Cameroons
plant produces natural gas
liquids including propane,
butane, and condensate products. The majority of the residue
gas from the Alba plant is delivered to a natural gas
liquefaction plant operated by EG LNG. A portion of the Alba
plant residue is also delivered to the Atlantic Methanol
Production Company and is used to produce methanol. The
products from all three plants are loaded onto ocean-going
tanker ships for export.

Pirogues on Arena Blanca beach

Transport

A rectangular transport route links the four main cities: Malabo, Luba, Baney, and Riaba. The
island's airport is Malabo International Airport.

Tourism

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Tourist attractions include the colonial quarter in Malabo, and the southern part of the island,
where visitors can hike to the Iladyi Cascades (Moka Falls) and to remote beaches of Ureka to
watch nesting turtles.

See also
Annobón, an island
Bight of Bonny also known as the Bight of Biafra
Bioko drill
Bioko Norte Province
Bioko Sur Province
Cameroon line
Equatorial Guinea
Emancipados, black people in Spanish Guinea assimilated to the Spaniards.
Fernandino peoples
Fernão do Pó, commander of the first European ship to land here.
Gulf of Guinea
Leopold Janikowski, Polish explorer who visited the island in 1883
Kru people
Tetteh Quarshie, a Ghanaian who introduced cocoa to his native country from the island.
Luba Crater Scientific Reserve
Movement for the Self-Determination of Bioko Island
The English-lexicon Creole Pichi is spoken on Bioko
Postage stamps and postal history of Fernando Po

References
1. "Equatorial Guinea - The World Factbook" (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/e
quatorial-guinea/). cia.gov. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
2. Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Publishing
Group. p. 330. ISBN 0313321094.
3. Room, Adrian (May 30, 2007). The Pronunciation of Placenames: A Worldwide Dictionary (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=mE6AAAAAMAAJ&q=Bioko+). McFarland, Incorporated,
Publishers. ISBN 9780786429417 – via Google Books.
4. "Anuario Estadístico de Guinea Ecuatorial 2018" (http://www.inege.gq/index.php/download/59/
anuarios-estadisticos/1715/anuario-estadistico-2018.pdf) (PDF). Instituto Nacional de
Estadisticas de Guinea Ecuatorial. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
5. Pospelov, E. M. (1998). Geograficheskie nazvanii︠ a︡ mira: toponimicheskiĭ slovarʹ. Moskva:
Russkie slovari. ISBN 978-5-89216-029-2.
6. Pérez‐Pérez, Miguel A.; Yu, Wen‐Bin (2021-10-20). "Pleistocene origin and colonization history
of Lobelia columnaris Hook. f. (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae) across sky islands of West
Central Africa" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.8256). Ecology and Evolution.
11 (22): 15860–15873. doi:10.1002/ece3.8256 (https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fece3.8256).
ISSN 2045-7758 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2045-7758). PMC 8601881 (https://www.ncbi.n
lm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8601881). PMID 34824795 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3482
4795).
7. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5.
("Fernand", p. 89).

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8. "Excerpt from The Illuminatus! Trilogy" (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/165363/th

e-illuminatus-trilogy-by-robert-shea-and-robert-anton-wilson/9780440539810/excerpt).
Penguin Random House Canada.
9. Yamgouot, Fadimatou Ngounouno; Déruelle, Bernard; Gbambié Mbowou, Isaac Bertrand;
Ngounouno, Ismaïla; Demaiffe, Daniel (2016-09-01). "Geochemistry of the volcanic rocks from
Bioko Island ("Cameroon Hot Line"): Evidence for plume-lithosphere interaction" (https://www.s
ciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987115000651). Geoscience Frontiers. 7 (5): 743–
757. doi:10.1016/j.gsf.2015.06.003 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.gsf.2015.06.003). ISSN 1674-
9871 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1674-9871).
10. Obiang convierte al portugués en tercer idioma oficial para entrar en la Comunidad lusófona
de Naciones (https://web.archive.org/web/20080216191116/http://actualidad.terra.es/internacio
nal/articulo/obiang_comunidad_naciones_1710388.htm), Terra. 13 July 2007
11. Goodman, Jordan (September 2007). "The Hell-Borne Traffic" (https://web.archive.org/web/20
120107111405/http://www.geographical.co.uk/Magazine/William_Owen_Sep07.html).
geographical.co.uk. Archived from the original (http://www.geographical.co.uk/Magazine/Willia
m_Owen_Sep07.html) on 2012-01-07.
12. "British Empire: Africa: Fernando Po" (http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/fernandopo.ht
m). britishempire.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
13. Foreman, John (1906). The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical,
Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons.
14. Sundiata, I. K. (1974). "Prelude to Scandal: Liberia and Fernando Po, 1880–1930". The
Journal of African History. 15 (1): 97–112. doi:10.1017/S0021853700013268 (https://doi.org/1
0.1017%2FS0021853700013268). JSTOR stable/180372 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/stable/1
80372). S2CID 162982618 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162982618).

Room, Adrian (1994). African placenames. Jefferson, North Carolina (USA): McFarland.
ISBN 0-89950-943-6
Sundiata, Ibrahim K. (1990). Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for
Stability. Boulder, Colorado (USA): Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-0429-6
Janikowski, Leopold (1886). L'ile De Fernando-Poo, Son Etat Actuel Et Ses Habitants [The
Island of Fernando Po, its current state and its inhabitants] (in French) (Bulletin De La Société
De Géographie, Septième Série. - Tome Septième ed.).
Janikowski, Leopold (1887). La Isla de Fernando Póo, su estado actual y sus habitantes [The
Island of Fernando Po, its current state and its inhabitants] (in Spanish) (Boletín dela sociedad
Geográfica de Madrid XXII ed.). pp. 67–77 and 201–211.
Janikowski, Leopold (1936). W dżunglach Afryki. Wspomnienia z polskiej wyprawy afrykańskiej
w latach 1882-90 (https://books.google.com/books?id=s4HVAAAAMAAJ&q=Fernando) [In the
African Jungle. Memories of the Polish expedition to Africa in the years 1882-1890] (in Polish)
(1936 ed.). Warsaw, Poland: Wydawnictwo Ligi Morskiej I Kolonjalnej; Skład Główny: Instytut
Wydawn. Bibljoteka Polska S. A. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150409224126/http
s://books.google.com/books?id=s4HVAAAAMAAJ) from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved
April 9, 2015.

External links
The Drill Project (https://www.thedrillproject.org/)
Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program (http://www.bioko.org)
Gulf of Guinea Conservation Group (http://www.ggcg.st)
Bubi history and culture from a Spanish missionary (http://www.thebubis.com)
Virginia Morell: "Island ark", National Geographic Magazine August 2008; link (http://ngm.natio
nalgeographic.com/2008/08/bioko-primates/morell-text)

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