Editing Malabo (section)

== History ==
{{Moresources|section|date=July 2023}}

===European discovery and Portuguese occupation===
[[File:Isla de Fernando Poo – Vista de la playa y ciudad de Santa Isabel.jpg|thumb|left|upright]]
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''.<ref name="Adrian2013">Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLIO, USA, 2013, p. 174</ref> 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]].{{cn|date=November 2022}}

With the treaties of San Ildefonso in 1777 and [[Treaty of El Pardo (1778)|El Pardo]] in 1778, during the reign of the Spanish King [[Charles III of Spain|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&nbsp;000 [[Square kilometre|km<sup>2</sup>]] 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]] — in current [[Gabon]] — and included, besides the islands of Fernando Pó and [[Annobón]], the islets of Corisco and Elobeyes. Spain wasn't interested in these lands because Spain 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 [[Slavery in Africa|slave trade]].{{cn|date=November 2022}}

===British presence===
In 1821, the ''[[Nelly (1798 ship)|Nelly]]'' approached the island of [[Bioko|Fernando Pó]]. He found it abandoned and founded the establishments of ''Melville Bay'' (now [[Riaba]]) and ''San Carlos'' (now [[Luba, Equatorial Guinea|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 [[Slavery in Africa|slave traders]]. Thus, on 25 December 1827, ''Port Clarence'' was founded on the ruins of a previous Portuguese settlement.<ref name="Adrian2013" /> The name was chosen in honor of the Duke of Clarence, who later became King [[William IV]]. The [[Bubi people|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.{{cn|date=December 2024}} 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.{{cn|date=December 2024}} 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 peoples|Creole]] or [[Fernandino peoples|fernandinos]], whose language was [[Pichinglis]], a Bantu-English [[Creole language|Creole]] with some Spanish elements.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

During the British period, the British consul automatically became the governor of the colony, including Governor [[John Beecroft]], a British [[mulatto]] {{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} who modernized the capital, and whose work was later recognized by Spain with a monument in Punta Fernanda.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
[[File:Reymalabo1930.PNG|thumb|160px|right|[[Malabo Lopelo Melaka|Malabo Löpèlo Mëlaka, Malabo I of Bioko]]]]

=== Spanish definitive control and new capital ===
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 of Spain|Isabella II]].<ref name="Adrian2013" /> The capital of the island of [[Bioko|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 [[toponymy|place name]]s of European origin with African names, in this case honoring [[Malabo Lopelo Melaka|Malabo Löpèlo Mëlaka]], the last [[Bubi people|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.<ref>
{{cite book|page=58|title=The Human Tradition in Modern Africa|volume= 49|series=Human tradition around the world|author=Dennis D. Cordell|year=2012|editor=Dennis D. Cordell|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield, 2012|isbn=978-0742537323|via=Google Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WqKbRSk7S8C}}</ref> 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 and pacification of the island was not achieved until 1912.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

===Reign of Terror===
{{Unreferencedsect|date=December 2024}}
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.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

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 (Equatorial Guinea)|Convergence for Social Democracy]] (CPDS). A group of mercenaries were jailed at Black Beach for the [[2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt|2004 coup d'état attempt]] against President [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]].{{cn|date=December 2023}}