Population: 24,000
District Area: Unknown
Leader: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (President of Equatorial Guinea)
Name and Etymology:
Luba was formerly called San Carlos until the rule of Francisco Macias (Ngueme) when it was renamed San Carlos de Luba in honor of a Bubi chief who led a revolt against the Spanish in 1910.
Economy:
Luba is the second-largest city on the island of Bioko. It is the home of a free port which opened in 1999.
History:
Bioko was first settled by Bantu tribes, now known as the Bubi people, who arrived in the first millennium CE. Portuguese explorer Fernando Pó landed on Bioko Island in 1472. He named it Formosa but it came to be known by his name instead. In 1778, the island passed to Spain; until 1810, it was administered from Argentina due to its role in the slave trade. Between 1827 and 1843 Britian controlled the slave trade. Plantations on Bioko were run by the creole Fernandinos, who imported labor from the mainland, including Fang and Igbo peoples. After independence in 1968, the dictator Nguema carried out ethnic cleansing against the Bubi and renamed the island Bioko (in Bubi it is known as Etulá).
