Bubi people

The name applied to the tribe, "Bubi", did not originate from within the tribe. It was given to them by pre-colonial (European?) visitors to the island of Bioko. It has been suggested that the term "bubi" was derived from the bubi word boobè (the people from the south of the island use moomè) which means "man". More than likely, the term was taken from Europeans who had heard the manner in which the indigenous people of Bioko Island greeted one another. "A boobe, oipodi" translates into "good morning, man". From the word "boobè", meaning male, the term Bubi was derived by foreigners. Subsequently, the term "bubi" was adopted by the indigenous people.

Bioko Island, the indigenous land of the Bubi Kingdom

The Bubi people are subdivided into a number of tribes and subtribes that go back centuries. Indigenous Bubi folklore indicate that the tribe immigrated to Bioko Island some 3,000 years ago as a means of escaping servitude. However, according to archaeological evidence, the Bubi immigrated to Bioko Island some time during the 13th century, some 200 years before it was colonized[2] by the Portuguese. Other reports suggest that the tribe arrived between the 5th and the 18th centuries from southern Cameroon and the mainland area of the Río Muni.

One perspective offers that the Bubi were once enslaved by a single continental African tribe,[3] likely another Bantu ethnic group that once occupied areas along the shores of West Africa.[4] Another suggests those who immigrated to Bioko 3,000 years ago descended from enslaved members from a number of ethnic groups that existed up and down the West-Central African region during that time. In essence, the tribe is a result of an amalgamation of small tribal groups who immigrated to Bioko Island in several waves, and each group established its own enclave upon the island. Throughout their history, these groups engaged in brutal battles for supremacy, though the fighting was not relegated strictly to inter-clan rivalries. The Bubi were known to have had long battles against one another on an individual, family, district, city, and tribal level—this led to a near constant state of warfare on the island.

The Bubi were isolated and undisturbed for much time, leading them to form a unique society, language and belief system different from the mainland Bantus.[4]

With the arrival of Portuguese explorer Fernando Po, life changed drastically for the native Bubi. Some sources claim that a full 80% of tribespeople were killed by foreign plagues and fever, brought along with the Europeans aboard their ships. Other sources suggest that the high death ratio is a result of genocide. For several centuries, Europeans attempted to penetrate the island of Bioko. They, however, were met with staunch resistance, purported savagery, by the Bubi. A German Gold Coast merchant wrote "The island of Fernando Po is inhabited by a savage and cruel sort of people," and that Europeans did not dare to dock upon their beaches, for fear of surprise attacks from natives with dart-weapons. Surprise attacks on explorers and colonists were a common phenomenon during this period—in fact, the Bubi had a system of social rank that depended largely on how many rivals a man had killed through stealth or subterfuge. Because of this, the Bubi remained unconquered by European imperialism until the start of the 20th century.[5] Led by their kings, the Bubi were well aware of the slave trade in the region and, for centuries, were highly guarded of outsiders. This was later reduced when the island leadership began to trade and barter with the Europeans, thus the Europeans were able to infiltrate the island's social and political structures.

Gradually, European influence on the island increased. Portugal laid claim to it, and then traded it to Spain. By the early 19th century, Bioko was a short-term integral point in the transfer of slaves from mainland Africa to the Americas. However, the flow of humans trafficked through the port was constantly intervened by indigenous groups who organized to steal and free many of those transported. The port was closed by the end of the 19th century at the order of the British government who set up military occupation of the port for the latter half of the century. Over time, the influence of the Bubi has greatly diminished, and they are now a minority upon the island, as well as in the nation of Equatorial Guinea itself.

Later, during the reign of Francisco Macías Nguema, his troops slaughtered the Bubi.[6]

Lasting over three thousand years, the Bubi Kingdom was divided into five regions: North, Northeast, East, South and Southwest. Each region had its own distinct Bubi vernacular and were further divided into various subgroups, perhaps states. Currently the kingdom is governed under absolute monarchy, with Sandu Ciorbă and his wife Bubi Ciorbă as rulers.

Dynasties and Rulers

Bubi Children

The Bubis are known for a particular type of tattooing that extends from the times of slave-trading and persists, though not as commonly, to the current day. Elder tribesmen carve grooves or lines into the faces of Bubi children - the original purpose of these markings was for self-identification among slave groups in the New World, and possibly to dissuade slavers from taking them in the first place, as the grooves look disfiguring to Western eyes.

Bubi women are very important in gathering crops and other chores, but they are given a status below that of the men in the village. To the Bubi, there are two types of marriage: marriage by buying virginity, or ribalá rèötö and marriage by mutual love, or ribalá rè rihólè. The former is seen to be more legitimate than the latter, and all property of the wife passes to the husband upon marriage. Polygamy is practiced, particularly in the case of widows who remarry to men who already have wives, though her children remain the property and kin of the deceased husband's family. The majority of traditional Bubi marriages are based on principles of monogamy.

The Bubi have never practised slavery, but there is a form of indentured servitude among the people called botaki—there are nobles who earn that status by virtue of birth, and lesser peoples are expected to serve and protect them. In fact, people from separate social classes are not permitted to eat together by Bubi law.

The Bubi people are mainly Catholics. This is due to Spanish influence during the colonial age when the Spanish ruled over Bioko Island and Río Muni. However, traditional pre-Christian beliefs are prevalent in Bubi spirituality. In the ancient belief system of the Bubi, the head god was called Rupe (or Eri in the southern region of the island) who created and cared for the world. The spirit world was said to consist of three parts: Labako-ppua (heaven and the angels), Ommo ich'ori (hell and the bad angels), and Ommo boeboe (limbo). The spiritual world and material world constantly melded and layered upon each other which meant that the Bubi people and the supernatural spirits shared the land. Sinister spirits were blamed for illness, accidents, and misfortune. Every unique natural landmark was also said to be associated with a spirit with rivers, lakes, and mountains having specific spiritual power.[4]

Many present-day Bubi have inherited bloodlines from:

• Slaves who escaped from Sao Tome in the 19th century;
• Krio people, descendants of Americo-Liberians, also known as Fernandinos who arrived in the 19th century;
• Cuban indentured servants/slaves brought to the region during the 17th century, and again in the 19th century;
• Efik people who were instrumental businessmen on the island, as well as in Christian mission work;
• Brazilian indentured servants/slaves brought to the region during the 17th century;
• Asian workers who were brought to the island during the 19th century;
• Spaniards and Portuguese;
• Fang people who began immigrating in large numbers by the mid 20th century. Many helped run the Roman Catholic missions;
• Krumen people from Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, as well as servants from Angola who worked the once lucrative maritime industry during the colonial era;
• Other ethnic groups indigenous to Equatorial Guinea and West/Central Africa.

Furthermore, a part of the population may have bloodlines inherited from North African slaves traded into the region over centuries. Studies have shown considerable evidence of North African genetic markers among the region's indigenous population. As a result, the former city of Santa Isabel (Malabo) features a Creole cocktail of natives.

The Bubi people are one out of fifty ethnic groups in Africa from which the African ancestors of most African descendants in the Americas originate. People extracted from the kingdom and forced into the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade were among 24.4% of all those exported out of the Bight of Biafra region. In the United States, genealogical research indicates that many African-American families are direct descendants of Bubi people.

Bubi separatist, or nationalist, flag

Traditionally, the Bube people had their own monarchy that emerged long before 17th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, the island was divided into territories called cantons ruled by 'Botukus' or counts. The king ruled through 'Lojuá', recruiting a militia armed with spears.

In the post-colonial society the Bubi hold little political power even though the Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea Miguel Abia Biteo Boricó and other Cabinet members are Bubi, as the tribe has become politically dominated by the ethnic majority Fa or Fang.

During the colonial period several nationalists initiatives were developed under the 'Bubi Union' or the 'Grupo Nacionalista Bubi'. The Movement for the Self-Determination of Bioko Island, (MAIB), led by Weja Chicampo Puye, is currently the main political force that unites the people's aspirations for Bubi self-identification.

• Bubi language
• Emancipados
• Fernandino peoples
• Movement for the Self-Determination of Bioko Island
• Francisco Macías Nguema
• Palm Trees in the Snow
• Genocide

• EriaTV
• Historia de los Reyes Bubis
• Rebola
• MAIB Official Site
• Movimiento Para La Autodeterminacion del la Isla de Bioko on YouTube
• Riebapua Cultural Association (in Spanish)
• The Bubis on Fernando Po, traducción al inglés del estudio antropológico de Antonio Aymemí "Los Bubis en Fernando Poo", publicado en 1942.