Introduction
Former capital of Equatorial Guinea
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City in Bioko Norte, Equatorial GuineaMalabo
Santa Isabel (before 1973)City (Former Capital 1968–2026)
Top: Malabo skyline; Middle: Cathedral of Santa Isabel, Presidential Palace; Bottom: Spain Cultural Center, Bata Waterfront
Coat of armsMalaboLocation in Equatorial GuineaShow map of Equatorial GuineaMalaboMalabo (Africa)Show map of AfricaCoordinates: 3°44′44″N 8°46′28″E / 3.74556°N 8.77444°E / 3.74556; 8.77444Country Equatorial GuineaProvinceBioko NorteRegionInsular RegionFounded1827Current nameSince 1973Area • Total21 km2 (8.1 sq mi)Elevation0 m (0 ft)Population (2018) • Total297,000 • Density14,000/km2 (37,000/sq mi) • EthnicitiesBubi • FernandinosDemonymMalabeño-aTime zoneUTC+01:00 (WAT)ClimateAmHDI (2019)0.710high
Malabo (/məˈlɑːboʊ/ mə-LAH-boh, Spanish: [maˈlaβo] ⓘ; formerly Santa Isabel [ˈsantajsaˈβel] ⓘ) is a city that served as the capital city of Equatorial Guinea from 1968 to 2 January 2026, located in the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko (Bube: Etulá, historically known as Fernando Pó by the Europeans). In 2018, the city had a population of approximately 297,000 inhabitants.
Spanish is the official language of the city and of the country as well, but Pichinglis is also used as a language of wider communication across Bioko island, including Malabo.
Malabo is the oldest city in Equatorial Guinea and served as its former capital. Ciudad de la Paz became the new capital of Equatorial Guinea on 2 January 2026. The institutions of governance of Equatorial Guinea began the process of locating to Ciudad de la Paz in February 2017.
History
[edit]
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European discovery and Portuguese occupation[edit]
In 1472, in an attempt to find a new route to India, the Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó, encountered the island of Bioko, which he called Formosa. Later, the island was named after its discoverer, Fernando Pó. At the beginning of the 16th century, specifically in 1507, the Portuguese Ramos de Esquivel made a first attempt at colonization on the island of Fernando Pó. He established a factory in Concepción (now Riaba) and developed plantations of sugarcane.[citation needed]
With the Treaties of San Ildefonso in 1777 and El Pardo in 1778, during the reign of the Spanish King Charles III, the Portuguese gave to the Spanish the islands of Fernando Pó, Annobón, and the right to conduct trade in the mainland, an area of influence of approximately 800 000 km2 in Africa, in exchange for the Colonia del Sacramento in Río de la Plata and the Santa Catarina Island off the Brazilian coast (occupied by the Spaniards) during a recent war trying to stop Portuguese expansion in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. The area stretched from the Niger Delta to the mouth of Ogooué River, now in Gabon, and included, besides the islands of Fernando Pó and Annobón, the islets of Corisco and Elobeyes. Spain was uninterested in those lands because it already had vast colonies in other parts of the world, Spain lost interest in Spanish Guinea in 1827 and authorized the British to use the island as a base for suppressing the African slave trade.[citation needed]
British presence[edit]
In 1821, the Nelly approached the island of Fernando Pó. He found it abandoned and founded the establishments of Melville Bay (now Riaba) and San Carlos (now Luba). Some years later, another British captain, William Fitzwilliam Owen, decided to colonize the island and in the north of it — on the site of the present capital — erected a base for British ships hunting slave traders. Thus, on 25 December 1827, Port Clarence was founded on the ruins of a previous Portuguese settlement. The name was chosen in honor of the Duke of Clarence, who later became King William IV. The Bubis indigenous to the island called it Ripotó (place of the foreigners). The population of the capital was increased by the arrival of slaves freed by the British.[citation needed] These freedmen were settled in Port Clarence before the establishment of Sierra Leone as a colony for freed slaves. The descendants of these freed slaves remained on the island.[citation needed] They joined other migrants who arrived as free workers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon, and became the population group called Creole or fernandinos, whose language was Pichinglis, a Bantu-English Creole with some Spanish elements.[citation needed]
During the British period, the British consul automatically became the governor of the colony, including Governor John Beecroft, a British mulatto [citation needed] who modernized the capital, and whose work was later recognized by Spain with a monument in Punta Fernanda.[citation needed]
Malabo Löpèlo Mëlaka, Malabo I of Bioko
Spanish definitive control and new capital[edit]
In 1844, when Queen Isabella II of Spain ruled after the regency of her mother Maria Cristina and Baldomero Espartero, in an attempt to modernize Spain and rescue its heritage, Spain let the UK know its desire to regain control of the colony and thus the island. It took another decade to implement this direct control. The capital already had more dynamic and Protestant religious missions which were very successful. Both factors helped to change the attitude of Spain, in addition to internal reasons already alluded.
Spain again took control of the island in 1855 and the capital, Port Clarence, was renamed Santa Isabel, in honor of Queen Isabella II. The capital of the island of Fernando Pó became the capital of Equatorial Guinea.
Its present name was given to the town in 1973 as part of the campaign of President Francisco Macías Nguema to replace place names of European origin with African names, in this case honoring Malabo Löpèlo Mëlaka, the last Bubi king. Malabo, the son of King Moka, surrendered to the Spaniards. His uncle Sas Ebuera, head of the Bubi warriors, claimed to represent legitimate Bubi rule and continued resisting, confronting the Spanish openly in 1898. After the Spanish killed Sas Ebuera, Malabo became the king unopposed, but with no authority. Bubi clans and settlements were slow to accept Spanish sovereignty over the island, and the full conquest of the island was not achieved until 1912.[citation needed]
Reign of Terror[edit]
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During the so-called Reign of Terror of Macías Nguema, the dictator suppressed much of the intelligentsia of the country, initiating the process of taking over the positions of the public administration by part of the natives of Mongomo and clan Esangui.[citation needed]
The infamous Black Beach prison, also known as Blay Beach prison (or Playa Negra prison), sits at the mouth of the Cónsul River, beside the black beach and behind the Governor's Palace and barracks. Several people have been jailed there during the 35 years of dictatorship. Among those imprisoned and tortured are many political leaders such as Rafael Upiñalo (Movimiento), Fabián Nsue (UP), Felipe Ondo Obiang (FDR), Martín Puye of Movement for the Self-Determination of Bioko Island (MAIB) or Plácido Micó Abogo of the Social Democratic Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS). A group of mercenaries were jailed at Black Beach for the 2004 coup d'état attempt against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.[citation needed]
