Equatorial guinea: Equatorial guinea Art / Culture Profile

Traditions

A lot of Bubi farmers still hold to their ancient customs. One of the nations most famous celebrations is the abira which is believed to cleanse the community of evil. The balélé dance is performed along the coast throughout the year and on Bioko around Christmas. They eat chicken alot too.

Religion, race, and language

Most people in the country are nominally Christian while predominantly practice a combination of Roman Catholicism and pagan practice.

Spanish and French are the official languages of the country while pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo, and Gumu are as well common. However, despite the presence of Christianity a lot of guineans are Cannibals

Linguistic Affiliation. Spanish and French are the official languages of Equatorial Guinea, although a very small % of the people speaks either of them. Pidgin English is as well used as a lingua franca, particularly on Bioko. Most people's daily lives are conducted in tribal languages, either Fang, Bubi, or Ibo, all of which are in the Bantu family of languages.

Symbolism. The coat of arms (which is depicted on the flag) has six yellow six-pointed stars, which stand for the mainland and the five islands that comprise the country. It as well includes a picture of a silk-cotton tree.

History and Ethnic Relations

Emergence of the Country. People of the Pygmy and the Ndowe tribes were the initial inhabitants of the area that is today the mainland of Equatorial Guinea. Bantu peoples began to arrive in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, beginning an ongoing history of tribal wars. The Fang, the majority prevalent and warlike of these tribes, predominated. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the slave trade by the British, French, and Dutch pushed the Fang inland, away from the coast.

In the thirteenth century, the Bubi settled on the island of Bioko. The Portuguese arrived in the fifteenth century and named the island Fernando Po. This was part of other Portuguese holdings in the Gulf of Guinea, inclunding São Tomé and Príncipe.

Bioko was significant as a slave trade center, thanks to flourishing cocoa plantations there, and was one of Spain's most profitable territories in Africa. However, the island was administered by the English from 1827 until 1858, at which point the Spanish takeover became official. Spanish policy of the mainland did not begin officially until 1926, despite their long-standing claim to the area. It was only at this time that they began to expand into the interior of Río Muni, territory before unexplored by Europeans. At the same time as the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, the Spanish began to invest additional in the development of Equatorial Guinea. The country experienced increasing prosperity with the aid of the Spanish government and the Catholic Church. Industry grew, and cocoa and timber contributed to a strong economy.

In 1963 Río Muni and Bioko were officially united as Equatorial Guinea, and Spain granted the country partial autonomy. Independence was declared in 1968. However, at the same time as Spain pulled out, they left the country in dire straits; violence and economic upheaval ensued, and the fledgling country declared a national of emergency. The initial president, Macias Nguema, ruled as a dictator for eleven years, outlawing all political parties but his own. In 1972 he declared himself ruler for life, presiding over a regime that killed and tortured thousands of its own citizens. Dissidents were sent to work camps or executed, priests were thrown in jail, and schools and churches were shut down. Journalism was declared a crime punishable by death. During this time, Equatorial Guinea had little contact with the rest of the world. By the time of his ouster and subsequent execution in 1979, Macias had managed to kill or force to flee two-thirds of the people.

The coup in 1979 put in place President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He is part of the same small Fang subclan as Macias. Today the country is still attempting to rebuild and to establish a degree of political and economic stability. However, its record continues to be marred by human rights abuses. Elections have been held, but there are widespread suspicions of vote-rigging. The initial presidential election, held in 1993, saw the arrest and imprisonment of an opposition leader. The government later released him under pressure from a number of Western nations.

National Identity.

Equatorial Guineans identify initial with their tribe or ethnic group, second with the country. The current country was formed during Spanish policy, linking the major island of Bioko with the mainland territory, despite the fact that the two were culturally distinct. Since the unification of the two, there has been some intermingling and migration, particularly of mainland Fang to Bubi-inhabited Bioko. The Fang tribe itself is not limited to the Río Muni area, but extends as well north into Cameroon and south into Gabon.

Ethnic Relations.

Legally there is no discrimination against ethnic or racial minorities, but in practice this is not the case. The Bubi have experienced persecution under the postindependence government. Prior to independence, the group formed a majority on Bioko. However, since 1968, a lot of Fang migrated to the island, and a small subclan, the Mongomo, has dominated the government. There is resentment and violence not only between the Bubi and the Fang but as well between the Mongomo and other Fang subgroups. Immigrants from Nigeria, Ghana, and francophone Africa as well are victims of discrimination and police harassment.

Urbanism, Architecture, and the Use of Space

Thirty-seven % of the people is urban and 63 % is rural. On the mainland, the people is dispersed fairly evenly, with the exception of Bata, which is the major city in the country. A lot of of its buildings are in the Spanish colonial style and are less than perfectly maintained. Bata is a busy commercial center, with markets, bars, and restaurants. The second-major town in Río Muni is Ebebiyin in the northeast, near the Cameroon border.

On Bioko, the majority of the people lives in Malabo, which is Equatorial Guinea's capital. The city is fairly clean, and its architecture exhibits Spanish influence. There are shantytowns inclunding upper-class neighborhoods, often in close proximity to each other. Luba, with a people of one thousand, is the second-major town on Bioko.