African Tree Islands
Bioko is a mountainous, volcanic tree island covered in green lush forests situated in the Gulf of Guinea as part of Equatorial Guinea. About the Gulf of Guinea’s Bioko African Tree Island Before European exploration, the island was inhabited by the marginalized but fierce Bubi people . Bioko Tree Island was known as Fernando Pó, named after the Portuguese explorer Fernão do Pó , who was the first European to discover the island in 1472. In 1778, the Portuguese ceded control of Bioko to Spain as part of a treaty, and it became a Spanish colony. The Spanish used the island as a base for the transatlantic slave trade. The Bubi, once the dominant group on Bioko Tree Island , saw their numbers decline due to conflict and disease from Portuguese expeditions. In the 1960s, Bubi leaders sought independence from mainland Equatorial Guinea, facing harsh repression, resulting in deaths and exile. After many battles between the local African populati...
