Tag Archives: Study in Equatorial Guinea

The territory of Equatorial Guinea includes a continental part, the Mbini (ex Río Muni) and a very small, insular, formed by the islands Bioko (ex Fernando Poo) and Pagalu (ex Annobón), Corisco, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico. Until the last years of the twentieth century, Equatorial Guinea was one of the smallest, poorest and most unknown countries in the world. Recently, however, the discovery of huge oil reserves has brought the state to the forefront of the world. This discovery gave undoubted help to its economic development, even if it did not affect the social conditions of the population, who drew minimal advantages from this situation. In addition to oil, tourism has also become an important economic resource: the dense forests of the interior, its beaches and islands attract an ever-increasing number of visitors. Together with Denmark, it is the only state in the world to have the capital on an island, far from the mainland of the country. According to COUNTRYAAH, Equatorial Guinea is a nation in Central Africa, the capital city of which is Malabo. The latest population of Equatorial Guinea is 1,402,996. REMZFAMILY: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Equatorial Guinea, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.

THE STATE
A former Spanish colony, Equatorial Guinea, independent since 1968, is a republic. On the basis of the 1991 Constitution, which opened to multi-partyism, the President of the Republic is elected by direct suffrage for 7 years and appoints the Prime Minister; Members of Parliament are elected for 5 years. The judicial system consists of a supreme court based in the capital, the High Territorial Courts, based in Malabo and Bata, which act as courts of appeal, and as courts of first instance. The death penalty is in effect. The country’s armed forces are divided into three traditional weapons, alongside which a paramilitary police force works. Education is compulsory and free for 8 years, from 6 to 14 years of age. The illiteracy rate is among the lowest on the continent: 13% (2006). There are no universities in the country.

GEOGRAPHY
Both the continental and the insular sections of the territory are eminently mountainous. The Mbini area – from the name of the river of the same name, now Mitemele – largely corresponds to a portion of that marked edge of the high ground which delimits the Congolese depression to the west and which rests on the very ancient African base. There follow one another, in the center and to the E, dense alignments of short crystalline chains, on average 500-800 m high but reaching 1200 m in Mount Mitra; towards W there are mainly Cenozoic sedimentary soils: the relief fades into low hills, which in turn yield to a low and imposing coast, interrupted only to the S by the deep Mitemele estuary. Outcrops of a volcanic alignment (continuation of the Cameroon reliefs) are the islands Bioko and Pagalu, located one off the coast of Cameroon, the other already in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Particularly tormented is the morphology of Bioko, characterized by the presence of numerous volcanic cones, which culminate in the 3107 m of the imposing mass of Mount Santa Isabel. More than Mitemele, which crosses the southern section of the Mbini, the real hydrographic axis of the country is the Río Benito, which crosses it from E to W, coming from Gabon; rich in water, given the abundant rainfall, it is navigable in the last part of its course, while elsewhere it is interrupted by frequent rapids. The climate of Equatorial Guinea is typically equatorial, with abundant rainfall (2000-3000 mm per year), high humidity and constantly high temperatures (average of 25-26 ºC); only the altitude mitigates the thermal excesses, while it contributes in part to temper the very heavy humiditySE trade wind, hot and dry, which from November marks the beginning of the austral summer.