Bioko

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bioko" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Bioko (

Etymology

Bioko's native name is Ëtulá a Ëri in the Bube language.^[5] For nearly 500 years, the island was known as Fernando Po (Portuguese: Fernando Pó; Spanish: Fernando Poo), named for Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó. Between 1973 and 1979 the island was named Macías Nguema Biyogo after the then president of Equatorial Guinea. The current name, Bioko, dates from 1979 and is in honour of politician Cristino Seriche Bioko.^[6]: 68

Geography

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 (20 mi) across. The island is mostly covered by

Bioko lies on the African continental shelf, separated from the African mainland by 32 km (20 mi) of water with a depth of only 60 metres. During the Pleistocene epoch Bioko was connected to the African mainland. Bioko separated from Africa around 10,000 years ago, at the end of the Last Glacial Period.^[7]

The

Fernando Po (with the spelling "Fernando Poo") is the setting for a Cold War standoff in Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus Trilogy.^[9]

Geology

The island is composed mostly of basalt, mostly alkali basalt and hawaiites, and to a lesser extent mugearites.^[10]

Demographics

The island has a population of 335,048 inhabitants (2015 Census).

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.^[11]

The Bube language, with about 50,000 speakers, and various 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, as well as Portuguese vocabulary, which forms a considerable part of the Krio language, which had developed in Sierra Leone. Workers came to Bioko from all of these areas in the 19th through much of the 20th century.

History

Unlike other islands in the area, Bioko had an indigenous African population. The island was inhabited in the middle of the first millennium BC by

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 honour 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 that Fernando Po sugar briefly dominated the trade centres in Europe.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Parallel with this establishment, the Bubi clans began the slow process of establishing the core of a new kingdom on the island, especially after the activity of some local chiefs such as 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.^{[citation needed]}

Under the 1778

In March 1843,

In 1923–1930, the

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.^{[citation needed]}

Economy

Located on Punta Europa, west of Malabo, the Alba

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

Tourism

Tourist attractions include the colonial quarter in Malabo, and the southern part of the island, where visitors can hike to the

See also

References

• Room, Adrian (1994). African placenames. Jefferson, North Carolina (US): McFarland.
  ISBN 0-89950-943-6
• Sundiata, Ibrahim K. (1990). Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability. Boulder, Colorado (US): 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 [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 from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bioko.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bioko.

• The Drill Project
• Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program
• Gulf of Guinea Conservation Group Archived 2020-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Bubi history and culture from a Spanish missionary
• Virginia Morell: "Island ark",
  National Geographic Magazine August 2008; link