Republic of Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea, 1968–1979. Draft, not yet reviewed

Equatorial Guinea gained independence from Spain on 12 October 1968, with Francisco Macías Nguema becoming the country's first president. His rule lasted until 3 August 1979 and was marked by increasing totalitarianism, extreme centralization of power, and widespread human rights abuses. In July 1970, Macias turned Equatorial Guinea into a single-party state with the United National Workers' Party (PUNT) as the only legal party, and in 1972 Macias took complete control of the government and assumed the title of President for Life. In August 1979, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, a nephew of Macias and former director of the Black Beach prison, led a successful coup d'état.

Seat of power: Malabo

Rulers

Culture

• At independence, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa, although it was also very unevenly distributed as most of the money was in the hands of colonial and elite planters.
• Nguema introduced a campaign of authenticity, replacing colonial names with native ones: the capital Santa Isabel became Malabo, the main island of Fernando Po was renamed Masie Nguema Biyogo after himself, and Annobón became Pagalu.
• All schools were ordered closed in 1975, and the country's churches were also closed in 1978.
• The government abandoned all functions except internal security, and this led to the death or exile of up to one-third of the country's population.

Picture

Francisco Macías Nguema served as the first president of Equatorial Guinea from the country's gaining of independence in 1968 until his overthrow in 1979.

Image: Anefo, CC0, file

Sources

• Republic of Equatorial Guinea (1968–1979) (Wikipedia)
• Republic of Equatorial Guinea (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.