Equatorial Guinea consists of a mainland territory called Rio Muni (or Continental Equatorial Guinea), with Bata as the administrative capital, and five islands (known collectively as insular Equatorial Guinea) including Bioko, where the capital Malabo is located. Portuguese explorer Fernão do Pó was the first European to discover the island of Bioko, which was then named “Fernando Pó” in his honor. In 1778 the land and adjacent islets were ceded by the Portuguese to Spain, who intended to occupy a direct source of slave labor to use as needed in Spanish America. Neither independence did introduce democratic rule in this country: the first President, Macias Nguema, ruled the country autocratically, banning all political opposition. By the time his rule ended, overthrown with a coup led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema, two-thirds of the population had either fled Equatorial Guinea or been killed. Teodoro Obiang Nguema’s take over brought hopes of democratization, which remained dissatisfied: rights organizations have described the two post-independence leaders as among the worst abusers of human rights in Africa. Since the mid-1990s the country has become one of sub-Sahara’s biggest oil producers, yet a large proportion of the population still lives in poverty.