 Let's face it, Africa is a region of the world that popular media does not talk about enough. When talking about dictatorships, the media will usually point to countries like Russia and China, sometimes even more reclusive regimes like North Korea. In last week's video, I looked at Turkmenistan, which hasn't really surfaced in the news much, but still finds its way into the public eye through humor and hopefully my video. Countries like Eritrea and this week's topic, Equatorial Guinea, are not talked about much, but are truly some of the world's most autocratic regimes. Today, I will discuss the short but absolutely mad history of Equatorial Guinea and the tenures of the two leaders of the country over its 50 years of existence. The area that now encompasses Equatorial Guinea has probably been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, but the country's majority Bantu population started migrating to the Rio Muni region of the country around 4,000 years ago. The island of Bioko is thought to have been first inhabited in the 500s AD. In 1474, the Portuguese officially created a colony on the island of Bioko, which at the time was known as Fernando Poe after the man who discovered them. Despite their initial success, the extreme tropical climate of the island proved to be too much for the early European settlers, and the Portuguese mainly abandoned the colony. In 1778, the island was given to the Spanish Empire, and between then in 1810, the colony was actually part of the Viceroy of Rio de la Plata, which was based in Buenos Aires, so it was kind of a colony of Argentina if you want to call it that. In the year 1900, Spain was given the Rio Muni Continental Exclave by France, though what they had received was much less than what they had hoped for. Starting in 1926, both the island of Bioko and Rio Muni were united to form the colony of Spanish Guinea, which would be the modern borders of Equatorial Guinea. In 1963, the independence of the colony was in question, and a conference was held to settle this matter, with many minority groups in the country worrying that the Fong majority would trample over their rights. The leader of the Fong delegates, Francisco Macias Nguema, made a very controversial speech where he stated that Adolf Hitler, and I quote, saved Africa. This totalitarian tenure would outline much of his future presidency. On October 12, 1968, Equatorial Guinea gained independence, and Macias won the election for a president in the country's only fair election, with 63% of the vote. He was initially supported by Francois Spain, but Macias eventually distanced himself from the Spanish, claiming that the Fong could have the homes and wives of the Spanish if they voted for him. His authoritarian tenure only grew from his election. On Christmas Eve 1969, he had over 150 political opponents executed in a purge of whom he claimed were plotting to overthrow his government in a coup. This was only the beginning of Macias' bloody reign of terror, after banning opposition political parties in 1970, and establishing himself as president for life in 1972. He began killing political opponents in the thousands, and even more people were imprisoned, in conditions similar to concentration camps. Macias also allegedly committed genocide against the Bubi people of Bioko, who had worked with the Spanish during colonial rule. 80,000 of the 300,000 Equatorian were killed under his rule, and many others, including most of the country's skilled laborers, fled the country. After overseeing the downfall of his country's economy, Macias was ultimately ousted in a coup d'etat by his nephew, Teodoro Obiang Ngue Mambasogo. Macias had already killed several of Obiang's close family members, including his brother. The whole situation was carried out kind of like Hamlet in real life, except Obiang actually survived after having his uncle depose. Speaking of which, Macias was executed on 29th September 1979 by a hired Moroccan presidential guard, since the local soldiers were afraid he would use his magical powers against them. The rule of Teodoro Obiang Ngue Mambasogo has been described as not quite as brutal as his predecessors, but Equatoginians are still suffering under him. Though he has technically legalized opposition parties, they essentially have no chance at opposing Obiang and his allies in government, due to nearly all members of the National Assembly being part of Obiang's block. He consistently wins elections by margins over 95%, and nearly all agree that major voter fraud is at play in creating these numbers. Aside from the political loopholes that he has created for himself, Obiang has disenfranchised the main population in other ways as well. In 1995, oil was discovered in Equatorial Guinea by mobile, and since then the GDP per capita of the nation has gone way up. However, there is something these numbers are not telling you. Nearly all of this wealth is in the hands of Obiang, his family, and his top officials. The main population of the country is destitute, to such an extent that 20% of children die before the age of 5 and 50% of the population does not have access to clean drinking water. With a net worth estimated to be around 600 million, Obiang owns around 5% of the country's GDP, and this figure alone should give you a glimpse into the true economic disparity of the country. On top of all this, Obiang has been accused of cannibalism by political rival, Severo Moto, who currently lives in Spain. It is said, and I quote, Obiang systematically eats his political rivals, and that once he devoured the brain of a police commissioner. With all this said, I think it's important that we acknowledge both the well-known atrocities in history as well as the not so well-known ones. Sometimes, especially in the case of Francisco Macias and Guema, the worst tyrants to have ever ruled the earth are not known to most people, and in today's world with Teodoro Obiang, the most kleptocratic leaders are also generally unknown to most. Equatorial Guinea may be a small country, but its short history has proved to be bizarre, bloody, and somewhat disturbing, and a truly fascinating story that I think everyone has the right to hear. Thank you all for watching. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share this video with all your friends. I'll be starting a Patreon soon, so be sure to look out for that in the coming weeks. Also, if you could, please share my videos to everyone you think might be interested in this type of content. If I can reach 1,000 subscribers, I can afford to make much better content, and believe me, you will not regret it. We get closer every day, so every way you can help is greatly appreciated. Thanks again, and I'll see you next time.