Equatorial Guinea

“ President Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO has ruled the country since 1979 when he seized power in a coup. Although nominally a constitutional democracy since 1991, the 1996, 2002, and 2009 presidential elections - as well as the 1999 and 2004 legislative elections - were widely seen as flawed. The president exerts almost total control over the political system and has discouraged political opposition. Equatorial Guinea has experienced rapid economic growth due to the discovery of large offshore oil reserves, and in the last decade has become Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil exporter. ”

“ All Equato-Guineans shall have the obligation to honor the father land and defend its sovereignty, its territorial integrity and national unity, factors which contribute to the peace, national security and traditional Equato-Guinean values and protect national interests. ”

“ Population: 368,935 (July 1990) , growth rate 2.6% (1990)
Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 16 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 118 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 48 years male, 52 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 5.5 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Equatorial Guinean (s) or Equatoguinean (s) ; adjective—Equatorial Guinean or Equatoguinean
Ethnic divisions: indigenous population of Bioko, primarily Bubi, some Fernandinos ”

“ In Africa numerous tribes and cities are marked even beyond the Equator, in regions inscribed as "Inhabitabiles propter calorem;" but the general shape of the west coast is hardly satisfactory. Fra Mauro knows nothing of the great bend of the Guinea coast; N.W. Africa appears not as a great projection, but only as a gently-sloping shoulder of land; Cape Verde is not the westernmost point of the Continent. This position is given to the traditional "Promontory of Seven Mountains" (north of the Western Nile) , which we have met with in earlier examples. ”

“ They cook the food, which they carry to the communal house; they also do all the work required in cultivating the gardens of yams, bananas, and vegetables. War, hunting, and fishing are the only pursuits of the men.
Three nations, Holland, Great Britain, and Germany, have divided New Guinea among them. The Dutch have the eastern half of the island. The British and Germans possess each about one-quarter, British New Guinea being situated opposite to Queensland, Australia. The British own the Solomon Islands to the eastward of New Guinea, also. ”

“ As it is evident, on account of the climate, that as the natural resources of New Guinea can only be developed by means of coloured labour, the distribution of the natives, both as to population and disposition, is perhaps of paramount importance. With the exception of some portions of the North-East Coast, almost the entire littoral of the Protected Territory is inhabited. In the West and North-West, from the Fly River to Hall Sound, the natives are very numerous, the tribes are large, and a higher stage of tribal development is reached than elsewhere. ”

“ Sixty miles from the western end of the island is the mountainous land of German New Guinea; and sometimes, when the air is clear and the south-east trade wind blows, the savages on Berara can see across the deep, wide strait the grey loom of the great range that fringes the north-eastern coast of New Guinea for many hundred miles. Once, indeed, when the writer of this true story lived in New Britain, he saw this sight for a whole week, for there, in those beautiful islands, the air is very clear at certain seasons of the year. ”

“ But to obtain a thorough knowledge of these extensive countries, the discovery whereof has been begun (in consequence of the intention of the Company and the recommendation of our masters) now only remains for the future to discover whether New Guinea is one continent with that great south land, or separated by channels and islands lying between them ”

“ To the south of the Green Cape appears a long and narrow inlet of sea, [282] which can hardly be supposed to represent in any way the South coast of "Guinea" from Sierra Leone to Benin, but perhaps is a combination and exaggeration of the great estuaries so recently visited by Henry's seamen—the Gambia, the Casamansa, the Rio Grande or Geba, [Pg cxliii] and others. The Western or Negro Nile is drawn as flowing straight from Meroe in Nubia to the Atlantic, passing through a great swamp (Lake Chad?) , an elongated piece of open water in the country of Melli (the Middle Niger in flood?) ”

“ British New Guinea is to most people the least-known part of our empire; but there are few valleys in its dark interior in which the prospector has not "chipped" some quartz formation, or "panned" some sand from the river's bed. The British flag was first planted in Eastern New Guinea by Captain, now Admiral, John Moresby, of H.M.S. Basilisk, in 1872. This officer, whilst employed in superintending the pearl shell fisheries in Torres Straits, learnt that adventurers, both American and French, were contemplating expeditions and occupation of the then unknown shores of Eastern New Guinea. ”

“ There are, in all, about twenty white men now resident in New Guinea. The majority of these are traders, who are backed in a small way by merchants and firms in Australia. There are three stores at Port Moresby, and one settler has erected a sawmill. The traders, as a rule, live in their boats, but a few native houses at Hula and Killerton Island have been erected by Europeans. In consequence of the recent murders that have been committed in the islands, and the disturbed state of the natives generally on the South-East Coast, warnings were sent round to as many traders as possible. ”

“ Several boys from Queensland were here, who told us frequently, "White man no good. New Guinea man very good;" "White man no gammon, too much fight."
When passing through Chads Bay, we had difficulty in getting canoes alongside. One approaching with clothed men, our interpreter recognized boys as some who had been returned in "Victoria," and knew they belonged to a place where a labour vessel killed several natives and stole quite a large number. ”

“ In their own possessions they stagnate. They need more freedom, and the surety of profiting by their own enterprise.
Since the Government must do everything, it is very obvious here in New Guinea that a duty of the Government is to build roads straight out into the interior from each port, gradually extending these roads, from which in time other roads would branch off on either side. The natives of the interior would gradually and naturally avail themselves of these roads to bring their “trade” to the coast, and they and the roads would be constantly kept under observation and control. ”

“ James Barbot, agent general to the French African company, in his account of Africa, page 105, says, "The natives are seldom troubled with any distempers, being little affected with the unhealthy air. In tempestuous times they keep much within doors; and when exposed to the weather, their skins being suppled, and pores closed by daily anointing with palm oil, the weather can make but little impression on them."
That part of Africa from which the Negroes are sold to be carried into slavery, commonly known by the name of Guinea, extends along the coast three or four thousand miles. ”

“ The Society and the public now had an idea of what was really required to explore a tropical country like Now Guinea, and the knowledge would be of extreme benefit in future. He suggested that in succeeding expeditions there should be fewer Europeans and more Malays. When discontent commenced in a party it was like a cancer, and ate its way into the heart of the enterprise. He felt certain that the world in general would hereafter thank Captain Everill and those who had formed the expedition. ”

“ The whole of the great island of New Guinea, the Ke and Aru Islands, with Mysol, Salwatty, and Waigiou, are inhabited almost exclusively by the typical Papuans. I found no trace of any other tribes inhabiting the interior of New Guinea, but the coast people are in some places mixed with the browner races of the Moluccas. The same Papuan race seems to extend over the islands east of New Guinea as far as the Fijis. ”

“ The country is commonly divided into Upper Guinea or the Sudan, lying north and west of the great angle of the coast, and Lower Guinea, the land of the Bantu, to the southward. Separate zones may also be distinguished as having different systems of economy: in the jungle belt along the equator bananas are the staple diet; in the belts bordering this on the north and south the growing of millet and manioc respectively, in small clearings, are the characteristic industries; while beyond the edges of the continental forest cattle contribute much of the food supply. ”

“ Several small governments depend on plunder and the slave trade.
That part of Guinea known by the name of the Grain, and Ivory Coast, comes next in course. This coast extends about five hundred miles. The soil appears by account, to be in general fertile, producing abundance of rice and roots; indigo and cotton thrive without cultivation, and tobacco would be excellent, if carefully manufactured; they have fish in plenty; their flocks greatly increase, and their trees are loaded with fruit. They make a cotton cloth, which sells well on the Coast. ”

“ If there is uncertainty about life in New Guinea, there is precious little in the Solomon Islands, for the chances are ten to one against one’s living to tell the tale, unless he keep strictly to the trading parts of the islands. ”

“ Cocoa-nuts also form an important food factor, and groves are found everywhere; while copra and palm-oil are the principal articles of trade.
Papuan birds are noted, and amongst the numerous species of bird life the bird of paradise is particularly notable for richness of plumage; and the skins of bright-plumaged birds have been in the past extensively exported.
New Guinea holds less than 500 white inhabitants, the majority being, of course, German officials and planters; while the natives living in all the islands are estimated at 500,000. ”

“ He belonged to a small trading vessel from Ceram, or one of the neighbouring islands, which are accustomed to visit that coast to barter fire-arms, calico, and ironwork, for slaves, nutmegs, trepang, tortoise-shell, and edible birds’ nests. She had been driven out of her course by a gale, and found herself on a part of the coast with which no one on board was acquainted. Before she could make good her retreat, she was perceived by some of the inhabitants. The inhabitants of New Guinea are called Papuans. ”

“ The natives of New Guinea are Papuans, Polynesians, and Malays. You can trace a connection from Northern Australia right up to Japan, the races having had some commingling, no doubt, for centuries. These Straits are eighty miles wide and full of islands, therefore some of the natives must have found their way across. ”

“ The Papuans who inhabit New Guinea, and the islands on its coasts, are the immediate neighbours of the inhabitants of the Moluccas, yet have neither [271] their manners, or possess one trait of the character of the latter: they approach nearer, and bear a closer analogy to the natives of Guinea, on the coast of Africa, and which has been the cause of the country they inhabit acquiring the name of New Guinea. They are little known, and their coasts seldom visited. They are of a robust make, and great stature, and though of a shining black, their skin is nevertheless rough and hard ”

“ The same cause has been the occasion of the ill treatment they have sometimes given to innocent strangers, who have attempted to trade with them. As the Europeans have no settlement on this part of Guinea, the trade is carried on by signals from the ships, on the appearance of which the natives usually come on board in their canoes, bringing their gold-dust, ivory, &c. which has given opportunity to some villainous Europeans to carry them off with their effects, or retain them on board till a ransom is paid. ”

“ It will therefore be necessary for the British New Guinea people to learn the use of our money also.
One side of Mérite for some unknown reason is fever free. Dampier Straits lie between New Britain and New Guinea. The natives there are noted for their cleverness with the sling, the stone being put in with the toes. ”

“ It is interesting to observe among the islands themselves how a shallow sea always intimates a recent land connexion. The Aru Islands, Mysol, and Waigiou, as well as Jobie, agree with New Guinea in their species of mammalia and birds much more closely than they do with the Moluccas, and we find that they are all united to New Guinea by a shallow sea. ”

“ They were followed by several canoes of the Baruga tribe with their chief, who brought us four live pigs tied to poles, besides other native food, which, together with the fish, saved us from using the rice for the police and carriers. New Guinea is not a rice-producing country, and the natives not being used to it, are far from appreciating it. ”

“ I stayed with a party of natives who were getting a kind of large almond with a very thick fleshy rind, the nut inside very hard, which they broke open with stones, filling their kits with the kernels. They call the nut okari. They fed me with sugar-cane, taro, and okari, and then got leaves for me to rest on. They had all their arms handy; I was, as I am always, unarmed, and felt thoroughly comfortable with them. Only once in New Guinea have I carried a weapon, and then we had spears thrown at us. I consider a man safer without than with arms. ”

“ Although it is highly probable that in a country which is more than three thousand miles in extent from north to south, and as much from east to west, there will be barren parts, and many inhabitants more uncivilized and barbarous than others; as is the case in all other countries: yet, from the most authentic accounts, the inhabitants of Guinea appear, generally speaking, to be an industrious, humane, sociable people, whose capacities are naturally as enlarged, and as open to improvement, as those of the Europeans ”