Ëtúlá á Eri (“Island of Eri”) or Bioko Island is a small island located off the coast of modern day Equatorial Guinea in Central-West Africa, It is home to a community known as Batyö Abóbë(“Bubi people”), We speak a language often referred to as Bubi/Ebóobë,Evóóve,Ëtyö a Niger-Congo tonal language that is deeply rich and complex.

Over 10,000 years ago the Batyö Abóbë, indigenous to the island, migrated from Cameroon to the Island of Eri as a result of the Bantu expansions. We were isolated and undisturbed for much time, leading us to develop a unique society, language, and spiritual system. We perfected and respected the high sciences. And then came the disaster. Portuguese-speaking Europeans came to our island and brought a life of misery and destruction to our people. With the arrival of the Portuguese explorer Fernando Po, explorers killed us en masse and those who escaped caught discases such as whooping cough, smallpox, and dysentery from the colonizers.

For several centuries, Europeans attempted to penetrate the interior our island. They, however, were met with staunch resistance by our ancestors. 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 dock upon our beaches, for fear of surprise attacks from us. Surprise attacks on explorers and colonizers were a common phenomenon during this period. Because of this fact, we, as a people, remained unconquered by Europcan imperialism until the start of the 20th century. Led by our batúkku, we were all aware of the slave trade in the region and, for centuries, were very wary of outsiders. This was later reduced when our island leadership began to trade and barter with Europeans, so Europeans were better 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, the Island of Eri was a short-term integral point in the transfer of enslaved persons from mainland Africa to the Americas. Over time, our influence had greatly diminished, and we are now a minority in Equatorial Guinea.