![Bioko BMNG](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Bioko_BMNG.png)
Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of
Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census
and it covers an area of . The island is located off the
Ambazonian
Ambazonia, officially the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, also referred to as Amba Land, is an unrecognised breakaway state in West Africa which claims the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon, though it currently controls almos ...
segment of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, in the
Bight of Biafra portion of the
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...
. Its geology is volcanic; its highest peak is
Pico Basile
Pico may refer to:
Places The Moon
* Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin
Portugal
* Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde
* Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribeir ...
at .
Malabo, on the north coast of the island, is the capital city of Equatorial Guinea.
Etymology
Bioko's native name is ''Ëtulá Ëria'' in the
Bube language
Bube, Bohobé or Bube–Benga (Bobe, Bubi), is a Bantu language spoken by the Bubi, a Bantu people native to, and once the primary inhabitants of, Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea. The language was brought to Bioko from continental Africa mor ...
. For nearly 500 years, the island was known as ''Fernando Po'' ( pt, Fernando Pó, links=no; es, Fernando Poo, links=no), named for
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
navigator
Fernão do Pó
Fernão do Pó (; ''fl.'' 1472), also known as Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo, was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He was the first European to see the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 14 ...
. 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
Cristino Seriche Bioko (born 1940) is an Equatoguinean soldier and politician who was the prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of ...
.
Geography
![Bioko Relief Map, SRTM-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Bioko_Relief_Map%2C_SRTM-1.jpg)
Bioko has a total area of . It is long from NNE to SSW and about across. The island is mostly covered by
tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...
. It is volcanic and very mountainous with the highest peak
Pico Basile
Pico may refer to:
Places The Moon
* Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin
Portugal
* Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde
* Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribeir ...
(). It thus resembles neighbouring islands
São Tomé
São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities.
History
Álvar ...
and
Príncipe
Príncipe is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Census; . Like them, it lies on the
Cameroon line. Its southernmost point is called Punta Santiago.
Bioko lies on the African
continental shelf, separated from the African mainland by water with a depth of only 60 metres. During the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
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.
The
fire skink
The fire skink (''Mochlus fernandi''), also known as the true fire skink or Togo fire skink, is a fairly large skink, a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is known for its bright and vivid coloration. Native to tropical fore ...
, a species of lizard found on the island, carries the scientific name of ''
Mochlus fernandi'', derived from Fernando Po, the former name of the island.
Fernando Po (with the spelling "Poo") is the setting for a Cold War standoff in
Robert Shea
Robert Joseph Shea (February 14, 1933 – March 10, 1994) was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy '' Illuminatus!'' It became a cult success and was later turne ...
and
Robert Anton Wilson's ''
Illuminatus Trilogy
''The Illuminatus! Trilogy'' is a series of three novels by American writers Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, first published in 1975.''Illuminatus!'' was written between 1969 and 1971, but not published until 1975 according to Robert Anto ...
''.
Geology
The island is composed mostly of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
, mostly
alkali basalt
Alkali basalt or alkali olivine basalt is a dark-colored, porphyritic volcanic rock usually found in oceanic and continental areas associated with volcanic activity, such as oceanic islands, continental rifts and volcanic fields. Alkali basalt ...
and
hawaiites, and to a lesser extent
mugearites.
Demographics
The island has a population of 335,048 inhabitants (2015 Census).
Its historic indigenous people are the
Bubi people, who currently constitute 58% of the population. Other ethnicities include the
Fang at 16%, ''
Fernandinos
Fernandinos are creoles, multi-ethnic or multi-racial populations who developed in Equatorial Guinea (Spanish Guinea). Their name is derived from the island of Fernando Pó, where many worked. This island was named for the Portuguese explorer F ...
'' at 12%, and the
Igbo
Igbo may refer to:
* Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria
* Igbo language, their language
* anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria
See also
* Ibo (disambiguation)
* Igbo mythology
* Igbo music
* Igbo art
*
* Igbo-Ukwu, a ...
at 7%, as well as African and European immigrants.
Languages
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.
[Obiang convierte al portugués en tercer idioma oficial para entrar en la Comunidad lusófona de Naciones]
''Terra''. 13 July 2007
The
Bube language
Bube, Bohobé or Bube–Benga (Bobe, Bubi), is a Bantu language spoken by the Bubi, a Bantu people native to, and once the primary inhabitants of, Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea. The language was brought to Bioko from continental Africa mor ...
, 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, Portuguese vocabulary which forms a considerable part of the
Krio language
Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 96 percent of the country's population, and it uni ...
, which had developed in Sierra Leone. Workers came from all these areas in the 19th through much of the 20th century.
History
The island was inhabited in the middle of the first millennium BC by
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
tribes from the mainland, who formed the
Bubi ethnic group
The Bubi people (also known as Bobe, Voove, Ewota and Bantu Bubi) are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group of Central Africa who are indigenous to Bioko, Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. Once the majority group in the region, the population experi ...
. Unlike other islands in the area, Bioko had an indigenous African population. The Bubi speak a
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
language. The island has probably been inhabited by this or other Bantu-speaking groups since before the 7th century BC.
In 1472, the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
navigator
Fernão do Pó
Fernão do Pó (; ''fl.'' 1472), also known as Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo, was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He was the first European to see the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 14 ...
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 that Fernando Po sugar briefly dominated the trade centres in Europe.
![Limbe view with Bioko](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Limbe_view_with_Bioko.jpg)
In 1642, the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
established trade bases on the island without Portuguese consent. It temporarily centralized from there its
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
in the
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...
. 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
Corisco, Mandj, or Mandyi, is a small island of Equatorial Guinea, located southwest of the Río Muni estuary that defines the border with Gabon. Corisco, whose name derives from the Portuguese word for lightning, has an area of , and its highe ...
.
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.
Under the 1778
Treaty of El Pardo, Portugal ceded Fernando Po,
Annobón
Annobón ( es, Provincia de Annobón; pt, Ano-Bom), and formerly as ''Anno Bom'' and ''Annabona'', is a province (smallest province in both area and population) of Equatorial Guinea consisting of the island of Annobón, formerly also Pigalu a ...
, and the
Guinea coast,
Río Muni
Río Muni (called ''Mbini'' in Fang) is the Continental Region (called ''Región Continental'' in Spanish) of Equatorial Guinea, and comprises the mainland geographical region, covering . The name is derived from the Muni River, along whic ...
, 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
Conde may refer to:
Places
United States
* Conde, South Dakota, a city
France
* Condé-sur-l'Escaut (or simply 'Condé'), a commune
Linguistic
''Conde'' is the Ibero-Romance form of "count" (Latin ''comitatus'').
It may refer to:
*Count# ...
, 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
Port Clarence is a small village now within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Tees, and hosts the northern end of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bri ...
(modern
Malabo) and
San Carlos for the
African Slave Trade Patrol
African Slave Trade Patrol was part of the Blockade of Africa suppressing the Atlantic slave trade between 1819 and the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861. Due to the abolitionist movement in the United States, a squadron of U.S. Navy ...
. The settlement at Port Clarence (named after the
Duke of Clarence
Duke of Clarence is a substantive title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the British Royal Family. All three creations were in the Peerage of England.
The title was first granted to Lionel of Antwerp, the second son ...
) was constructed under the supervision of
William Fitzwilliam Owen
Vice Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen (17 September 1774 – 3 November 1857), was a British naval officer and explorer. He is best known for his exploration of the west and east African coasts, discovery of the Seaflower Channel off the co ...
. 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 A Mixed Commission Court was a joint court set up by the British government with Dutch, Spanish or Portuguese representation following treaties agreed in 1817 and 1818. By 1820 there were 6 courts: This occurred during a period often referred to as ...
was moved from
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...
, Sierra Leone, to Clarence to hasten the legal process of emancipating slaves liberated from slave ships.
![Stamp Fernando Po 1903 2c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Stamp_Fernando_Po_1903_2c.jpg)
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.
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
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
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 here of several hundred
Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural el ...
s, 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.
![Cameroons that Saker laboured](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Cameroons_that_Saker_laboured.jpg)
In 1923–1930, the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
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
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
cultivation. Their dependence on
migrant labour
A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
Migrant workers who work outsi ...
and increasing competition with Europeans resulted in an economic crisis 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.
During the
Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...
in the 20th century, relief agencies used the island as a base for flights into the secessionist Republic of
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...
.
Economy
![Arena Blanca beach, pirogues 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Arena_Blanca_beach%2C_pirogues_1.jpg)
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 Production Limited. The plant produces
natural gas liquids
Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natur ...
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
EG LNG (also known as Punta Europa LNG) is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company that operates an LNG terminal and plant at Malabo, the capital city of Equatorial Guinea located on Bioko Island. The LNG plant began operation in 2007 and the first ...
. 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.
Transport
A rectangular transport route links the four main cities:
Malabo,
Luba
Luba may refer to:
Geography
*Kingdom of Luba, a pre-colonial Central African empire
* Ľubá, a village and municipality in the Nitra region of south-west Slovakia
*Luba, Abra, a municipality in the Philippines
*Luba, Equatorial Guinea, a town ...
,
Baney
Baney (also known as Santiago de Baney) is a town and municipality in Equatorial Guinea. It is located in Bioko Norte
Bioko Norte () is the second-most populated of the eight provinces of Equatorial Guinea, after the Wele-Nzas province. Both th ...
, and
Riaba
Riaba is a town in Equatorial Guinea. It is also the 30th largest settlement in the country. It was founded in 1779 under the name of Concepción by the frigate lieutenant Guillermo Carboner. It was reestablished by the British in 1821.
Location ...
. The island's airport is
Malabo International Airport
Malabo Airport or Saint Isabel Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto de Malabo), is an airport located at ''Punta Europa'', Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. The airport is named after the capital, Malabo, approximately to the east.
Airlines and ...
.
Tourism
Tourist attractions include the colonial quarter in Malabo, and the southern part of the island, where visitors can hike to the (Moka Falls) and to remote beaches of
Ureka to watch nesting turtles.
See also
*
Annobón
Annobón ( es, Provincia de Annobón; pt, Ano-Bom), and formerly as ''Anno Bom'' and ''Annabona'', is a province (smallest province in both area and population) of Equatorial Guinea consisting of the island of Annobón, formerly also Pigalu a ...
, an island
*
Bight of Bonny
The Bight of Biafra (known as the Bight of Bonny in Nigeria) is a bight off the West African coast, in the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea.
Geography
The Bight of Biafra, or Mafra (named after the town Mafra in southern Portugal), betwee ...
also known as the
Bight of Biafra
*
Bioko drill
*
Bioko Norte Province
*
Bioko Sur Province
*
Cameroon line
*
Equatorial Guinea
*
Emancipados
Emancipado () was a term used for an African-descended social-political demographic within the population of Spanish Guinea (modern day Equatorial Guinea) that existed in the early to mid 1900s. This segment of the native population had become as ...
, black people in Spanish Guinea assimilated to the Spaniards.
*
Fernandino peoples
Fernandinos are creoles, multi-ethnic or multi-racial populations who developed in Equatorial Guinea (Spanish Guinea). Their name is derived from the island of Fernando Pó, where many worked. This island was named for the Portuguese explorer ...
*
Fernão do Pó
Fernão do Pó (; ''fl.'' 1472), also known as Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo, was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He was the first European to see the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 14 ...
, commander of the first European ship to land here.
*
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...
*
Leopold Janikowski
Leopold Janikowski (14 November 1855 - 8 December 1942) was a Polish people, Polish explorer and ethnographer.
Biography
Leopold Ludwik Janikowski was born on 14 November 1855 in Dąbrówka, now part of Warsaw (Białołęka) in Poland, son of Ja ...
, Polish explorer who visited the island in 1883
*
Kru people
The Kru, Kroo, Krou or Kuru are a West African ethnic group who are indigenous to western Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia. They migrated and settled along various points of the West African coast, notably Freetown, Sierra Leone, but also the Ivo ...
*
Tetteh Quarshie
Tetteh Quarshie (1842 – 25 December 1892) was a pre-independence Ghanaian agriculturalist and the person directly responsible for the introduction of cocoa crops to Ghana, which today constitute one of the major export crops of the Ghanaian econ ...
, a Ghanaian who introduced cocoa to his native country from the island.
*
Luba Crater Scientific Reserve
The Gran Caldera de Luba Scientific Reserve ( es, Reserva Científica de la Gran Caldera de Luba) is a protected area of on the volcanic island of Bioko (formerly called Fernando Pó), a part of Equatorial Guinea. The dense rainforest is rich i ...
*
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
* Room, Adrian (1994). ''African placenames''. Jefferson, North Carolina (USA): McFarland.
* Sundiata, Ibrahim K. (1990). ''Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability''. Boulder, Colorado (USA): Westview Press.
*
*
*
External links
The Drill ProjectBioko Biodiversity Protection ProgramGulf of Guinea Conservation GroupBubi history and culture from a Spanish missionary* Virginia Morell: "Island ark",
National Geographic Magazine
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
August 2008
link
{{Authority control
Islands of Equatorial Guinea
Gulf of Guinea
History of Equatorial Guinea
Former colonies in Africa
Former Portuguese colonies
Former Spanish colonies
Portuguese colonisation in Africa
Spanish Africa
Former English colonies