The Bight of Biafra (known as the Bight of Bonny in Nigeria) is a bight off the West

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n coast, in the easternmost part of the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...

Geography

The Bight of Biafra, or Mafra (named after the town Mafra in southern Portugal), between Capes Formosa and Lopez, is the most eastern part of the

; it contains the islands

Bioko Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census and it covers an area of . The island is located of ...

quatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe. The name Biafra – as indicating the country – fell into disuse in the later part of the 19th century 1710 moll

A 1710 map indicates that the region known as "Biafra" ( Biafra) was located in present-day

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. The Bight of Biafra extends east from the

River Delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

of the

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesCape Lopez in Gabon. Besides the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

, other rivers reaching the bay are the Cross River,

Calabar River The Calabar River in Cross River State, Nigeria flows from the north past the city of Calabar, joining the larger Cross River about to the south. The river at Calabar forms a natural harbor deep enough for vessels with a draft of . The Calabar ...

Ndian Ndian is a department of Southwest Region in Cameroon. It is located in the humid tropical rainforest zone about southeast of Yaoundé, the capital. History Ndian division was formed in 1975 from parts of Kumba and Victoria divisions and is ...

, Wouri, Sanaga,

Nyong River The Nyong (formerly german: Yong) is a river in Cameroon. The river flows approximately to empty into the Gulf of Guinea. Course The Nyong originates east of the town of Abong-Mbang, where the northern rain forest feeds it. The river's lengt ...

, Ntem,

Mbia MBIA Inc. is an American financial services company. It was founded in 1973 as the Municipal Bond Insurance Association. It is headquartered in Purchase, New York, and as of January 1, 2015 had approximately 180 employees. MBIA is the largest bo ...

Mbini Mbini is a town in Río Muni, Equatorial Guinea, lying at the mouth of the Benito River. ''Mbini'' is the Ndowe This article is about the demographics, demographic features of the population of Equatorial Guinea, including population density, E ...

, Muni and

Komo River The Komo is a river of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It flows for . It rises in Equatorial Guinea in the southwestern part of the Woleu-Ntem plateau. However much of its watershed is in the territory of Gabon. The largest tributary of the River ...

. The main islands in the Bay are

and Príncipe; other important islands are

Ilhéu Bom Bom Ilhéu Bom Bom is an island in the Gulf of Guinea. The islet is located near the north coast of the island of Príncipe, one of the main islands of São Tomé and Príncipe and is almost completely forested. Its population is 15 (2008 est.). There ...

, Ilhéu Caroço, Elobey Grande and

Elobey Chico Elobey Chico, or Little Elobey, is a small island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea, lying near the mouth of the Mitémélé River. The island is now uninhabited but was once the ''de facto'' colonial capital of the Spanish territory of Río ...

. Countries located at the Bight of Bonny are

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

(eastern coast),

, Equatorial Guinea (

Bioko Island Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census and it covers an area of . The island is located of ...

and

Río Muni Río Muni (called ''Mbini'' in Fang) is the Continental Region (called ''Región Continental'' in Spanish) of Equatorial Guinea, and comprises the mainland geographical region, covering . The name is derived from the Muni River, along whic ...

), and

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

(northern coast).

History

Travel via the Bight of Biafra is estimated to account for 13% (1.6 million) of the total number of enslaved people exported from the Western African coast. The Bight of Benin to the west is estimated to account for 17% while Central Africa to the south is estimated to account for up to 48%. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Bonny had emerged as the major slave trading port on the Bight of Biafra outpacing the earlier dominant slave ports at Elem Kalabari (also known then as New Calabar) and Old Calabar. These 3 ports together accounted for over 90% of the slave trade emanating from the Bight of Biafra. Between 1525 and 1859, Britain accounted for over two-thirds of slaves exported from the Bight of Biafra to the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

. In 1777, Portugal transferred control of Fernando Po and Annobón to Spanish suzerainty thus introducing Spain into the early colonial history of the Bight of Biafra. In 1807, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

made illegal the international trade in slaves, and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

was deployed to forcibly prevent slavers from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

from plying their trade. On 30 June 1849, Britain established its military influence over the Bight of Biafra by building a naval base and consulate on the island of Fernando Po, under the authority of the British Consuls of the Bight of Benin: *May 1852—1853

Louis Fraser Louis Fraser (1819 – c. 1883) was a British zoologist and collector. In his early years, Fraser was curator of the Museum of the Zoological Society of London. Little is known about Fraser's early life. He was born in 1819 or 1820 and married Mar ...

*1853—April 1859 Benjamin Campbell *April 1859—1860 George Brand *1860—January 1861 Henry Hand *January—May 1861 Henry Grant Foote *May—6 August 1861 William McCoskry (acting) On 6 August 1861, the Bight of Biafra and the neighboring Bight of Benin (under its own British consuls) became a united British consulate, again under British consuls: *1861—December 1864 Richard Francis Burton *December 1864—1873 Charles Livingstone *1873—1878 George Hartley *1878—13 September 1879 David Hopkins *13 September 1879—5 June 1885 Edward Hyde Hewett. In 1967, the

Eastern Region of Nigeria The Eastern Region was an administrative region in Nigeria, dating back originally from the division of the colony Southern Nigeria in 1954. Its first capital was Calabar. The capital was later moved to Enugu and the second capital was Umuahia. T ...

seceded from the Nigerian State and adopted the name of its coastline, the adjoining Bight of Biafra, becoming the newly independent Republic of Biafra. This independence was short-lived as the new state lost the ensuing

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...

. In 1975, by decree, the Nigerian government changed the name of the Bight of Biafra to the Bight of Bonny.

Slave traders

* Daniel Backhouse * George Case * William Boats * William Davenport * John Shaw * Samuel Shaw

Pulsations

In 1962, Jack Oliver, a geologist at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, first noticed the earth had a "pulse" also known in geology lingo as a " microseism". This discovery was put on the shelves and re-examined briefly in 1980 by Gary Holcomb and then fully examined in 2005 by graduate student Greg Benson at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

. Later results revealed that the earth pulses every 26 seconds, but nobody is exactly sure why. Theories range from waves hitting the continental shelf to volcanic activity. By using triangulation, they were able to locate the source of the pulse in the Bight of Bonny.

References

External links

Worldstatesmen
{{Authority control Bays of the Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Guinea Biafra Regions of Africa Bodies of water of Cameroon Bodies of water of Equatorial Guinea Bodies of water of Gabon Bodies of water of Nigeria Cameroon–Equatorial Guinea border Cameroon–Nigeria border Equatorial Guinea–Gabon border Equatorial Guinea–São Tomé and Príncipe border Gabon–São Tomé and Príncipe border Nigeria–São Tomé and Príncipe border Equatorial Guinea–Nigeria border Bights (geography)