Editing Malabo (section)

===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]]]]