ANNOBON or ANNO BOM, an island in the Gulf of Guinea, in I°24' S. and E., belonging to Spain. Length about 4m., breadth 2m., and area 64 square miles. It presents a succes sion of beautiful valleys and steep mountains, covered with rich woods and luxuriant vegetation, and culminating in the Pico de Fogo (about 3,000ft.) an extinct volcano with a crater lake. The inhabitants number (1926) about 2,000, the chief settlement being San Antonio de Praia, which has a poor roadstead. Ships can ob tain here water and fresh provisions. The island was discovered by the Portuguese on Jan. 1, 1473, from which circumstance it re ceived its name (=New Year). Annobon, together with Fer nando Po, was ceded to Spain by the Portuguese, by the treaty of El Parado, 1778, with a stipulation for the continuance of "free and open traffic and commerce in negroes." The Portuguese had valuable plantations, and in their hands Annobon was of some im portance. The islanders are negroes, b elieved to be the descen dants of a cargo of slaves shipwrecked there in the 16th century, with an admixture of Portuguese blood, and professedly Roman Catholics. They revolted against the Spaniards and kept practical independence until the time of the partition of Africa, when, about 1885, Spanish authority was established. The governor general of Spanish Guinea is represented by a native deputy.
See Arnold Schultze, "Die Insel Annobon" in Petermann's Mitteil ztngen, band lix. (1913) with map.