Equatorial Guinea History
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History
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name evokes its location near both the Equator and the Gulf of Guinea. Equatorial Guinea is the only sovereign African state in which Spanish is an official language. Equatorial Guinea consists of two parts, an insular and a mainland region. The insular region consists of the islands of Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea and Annobón, a small volcanic island which is the only part of the country south of the equator.
Since the mid-1990s, Equatorial Guinea has become one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producers. It is the richest country per capita in Africa, and its gross domestic product adjusted for purchasing power parity per capita ranks 43rd in the world; however, the wealth is distributed extremely unevenly, and few people have benefited from the oil riches. The country ranks 135th on the UN's 2016 Human Development Index.
The sovereign state authoritarian government is cited as having one of the worst human rights records in the world, consistently ranking among the worst of the worst in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil rights.
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Timeline
1472 - The first European to discover the island of Bioko and Fernando Pó and Annobón were colonized by Portugal in 1474
1778 - 1810, the territory of Equatorial Guinea was administered by the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, based in Buenos Aires
1844 - Spain neglected to occupy the large area in the Bight of Biafra to which it had right by treaty, and the French expanded their occupation at the expense of the area claimed by Spain
1926 - 1959 Bioko and Rio Muni were united as the colony of Spanish Guinea
1959 - When its status was raised from 'colonial' to 'provincial'
1960 - 1968 When Madrid attempted a partial decolonization aimed at keeping the territory as part of the Spanish system
1968 - on The territory became an independent republic
1968 - Independence was conceded and the region became the Republic of Equatorial Guinea
1974 - 1968 In an ongoing reign of terror a quarter of the entire population had fled abroad, and out of a population of 300,000, an estimated 80,000 were killed
Links
- History of Equatorial Guinea
- Every Culture Equatorial Guinea