Equatorial Guinea
Central Africa's Spanish-speaking oil enclave
Equatorial Guinea is a geographic oddity and a political one: the only sovereign African state with Spanish as an official language, and a country split between a mainland enclave and a scatter of volcanic islands in the Gulf of Guinea. The capital, Malabo, sits on Bioko island off the coast of Cameroon, while most of the territory lies on the mainland region of Rio Muni. The discovery of major offshore oil in the 1990s transformed it into one of Africa's highest per-capita-income nations on paper, even as that wealth has stayed concentrated under one of the continent's longest-ruling governments.
The country comprises the continental enclave of Rio Muni, hemmed between Cameroon and Gabon, plus the islands of Bioko, Annobon, and several smaller isles. Bioko is dominated by Pico Basile, a volcano rising to about 3,011 meters - the nation's highest point - cloaked in dense rainforest that shelters rare primates and seabird colonies. The mainland is low and heavily forested, drained by the Mbini River, with offshore basins holding the petroleum and natural gas that drive the economy. A hot, wet equatorial climate prevails throughout.
Settled by Bubi and Fang peoples, the islands became a Portuguese and then Spanish possession, making this the rare slice of Spanish colonial Africa. Independence came in 1968, soon followed by the murderous regime of Francisco Macias Nguema and then the long rule of his nephew Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the world's longest-serving head of state. Spanish, French, and Portuguese are all official, reflecting the country's memberships in overlapping Francophone and Lusophone blocs. Oil wealth funds gleaming new government cities while basic services for ordinary citizens lag far behind.