There is a small fishing industry, and some livestock is raised. The discovery and exploitation of large offshore oil deposits greatly enhanced economic growth in the late 1990s. The country also has unexploited deposits of manganese, uranium, gold, titanium, and iron ore. Malabo is the main port. 4 Equatorial Guinea trades principally with Spain, the United States, Cameroon, Japan, and France.
Equatorial Guinea continues to depend heavily on foreign investment.
It belongs to the Franc Zone. During the 17th cent. Hoping to export Africans as slaves to their American possessions, the Spanish sent settlers to the islands, but they died of yellow fever, and by 1781 the region was abandoned by the Europeans. In 1844 the Spanish reacquired Bioko and began to occupy it. In 1879, a Cuban penal settlement was established there, and some of the convicts remained on the island after being released from prison.