Etulá

Etulá (Bube: Ëtulá), officially the Kingdom of Etulá (Castillan: Reino de Etulá, Bube: Ëtulá Ëria) is an island state in central Africa. It shares maritime borders with Biafra, Wouri, Orungu, Kongo and Annobon. The capital is located in Malabo, and has a small population of 0.61 million. Despite having some riches in the form of oil wealth, Etulá remains poor due to income inequality: The name of the nation, Etulá, comes from the Bube name for the capital Malabo.

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The island was inhabited in the middle of the first millennium BC by Bantu tribes from the mainland, who formed the Bubi ethnic group. Unlike other islands in the area, Bioko had an indigenous population. Some researchers, however think the current Bube population came from southern Wouri sometime around the 1300's. In 1472, the Lusitanians navigator Fernão do Pó was the first European to sight the island. He named it Formosa Flora (Lusitanic: Beautiful Flower). In 1494 it was renamed Fernando Pó in his honour after being claimed as a colony by the Lusitanians.

Under the 1778 Treaty of El Pardo, Lusitania ceded Fernando Po and Annobón to Spain, together forming modern Etulá. The treaty was signed by Queen Mary I of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain, in exchange for territory on the Antillian continent. Parallel with this establishment, the Bubi clans began the slow process of establishing the core of a new kingdom on the island, which is now known as the Ureca Kingdom. The Ureca Kingdom was based in the town of the same name, Ureca, and occupied much of the south of the island. It was conquered in 1837, and thus the Spanish were able to establish the Fernando Po Colony. In 1828, they began enslaving people from Biafra and Oduduwa and bringing them over to the island, where most of them died. The greatest constraint to economic development was a chronic shortage of labour. Pushed into the interior of the island and decimated by alcohol addiction, venereal disease, smallpox, and sleeping sickness, the indigenous Bubi population of Bioko refused to work on plantations. Working their own small cocoa farms gave them a considerable degree of autonomy. The Spanish Civil War had a major impact on the colony. 150 Spanish whites, including the Governor-General, created a socialist party called the Popular Front in the island which served to counter the interests of the cocoa farmers.

A decision of 9 August 1963, approved by a referendum of 15 December 1963, gave the territory a measure of autonomy and the administrative promotion of a 'moderate' group, the Movimiento de Unión Nacional de Etulá (MUNE). This proved to work, and with growing pressure for change from the UN, Toledo was gradually forced to give independence to Etulá. The first and only elected president of the country was Francisco Mangue Engonga of MUNE, who promised to grant better rights to the general population. Francisco only “promised” better rights, and not much was actually done until his last year of power. Power was subsequently handed to the traditional monarchy after popular vote, much to the anger of Fernandinos and Igbos in the nation. In 1995 Mobil, an American oil company, discovered oil in Etulá. The country subsequently experienced rapid economic development, but earnings from the country's oil wealth have not reached the population and the country ranks low on the UN human development index. Some 68/1,000 of children die before age 5 and more than 42.8% of the population lacks access to clean drinking water. This major discrepancy in the income equality of Etulans will soon have a major impact on the politics of the nation. The country is governed as an unitary constitutinal monarchy, though it is in practice an absolute monarchy. The country is currently lead by King Bamöumá Malabo III, and governed by prime minister Enrique Mitogo Ela, of the MUNE party. The country's government is divided into the Senate (Spanish: Senado), and the Parliament (Spanish: Parlamento), as well as it's judiciary. Elections in the past were considered free and fair, though nowadays are deemed unfair due to discrepancies in vote counting. The population in 2020 was 0.61 million, though estimates now place it at 0.87 million. 84.3% is of Bube, a Bantu group related to the Bantu groups of Orungu and Wouri. This makes Etulá one of Africa's most ethnically homogenous countries, just behind Merina, Ruanda and Somalia. 8.2% of the national population are immigrants from other African countries, specifically Biafra and Orungu, of which 5.2% are Fang, 3% are Fernandino (mixed-race) and 2% are Igbo. 5.5% of the population is either mixed, mixed-race, immigrants from other countries, or unclassified peoples.

The culture of Etulá is Spanish in character, with Spanish names, language, food, buildings and media predominating, with hints of African and Portuguese elementes. In June 1984, the First Hispanic-African Cultural Congress was convened to explore the cultural identity of Etulá. The congress constituted the center of integration and the marriage of the Hispanic culture with African cultures. Many Bubi farmers still hold to their ancient customs. One of the country's 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. Music and dance is at the core of Equatorial Guinea, and they are treated by the natives as religiously significant. Traditional musical instruments include xylophones, big drums, the small thumb bamboo-made piano called the Sanza, the harp, and the wooden trumpet. The literary culture is mainly about legends and myths passed down by word of mouth. The various regions and communities of Etulan each have their own typical cuisine. Spanish cuisine also has influenced the cooking of the country. Commonly used ingredients are similar to those used in neighbouring countries, such as fish, shrimp, crayfish, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, chocolate, and vegetables.