The roadstead is relatively safe, and some passing vessels take advantage of it in order to obtain water and fresh provisions, of which Annobón has offered an abundant supply.

[6] During the final years of the Francisco Macías Nguema administration, the island was called Pigalu or Pagalu, from the Portuguese papagaio 'parrot'.

[5] However, Spanish explorer Diego Ramirez de la Diaz first spotted the island in 1470 and named it San Antonio.

[7] It was apparently uninhabited until colonized under the Portuguese from 1474, primarily by Africans from Angola via São Tomé Island.

The treaty granted Spain control of the Portuguese islands of Annobón and Fernando Po (now Bioko) and the Guinea coast between the Niger and the Ogooué in exchange for Spanish acceptance of the Portuguese occupation of territories in Brazil west of the line established by the Treaty of Tordesillas.

The British erected a fort at "St Antony" in 1801, eventually legalized through a lease from the Spanish government in 1827.

[citation needed] During the final years of the administration of Francisco Macías Nguema, the first president of Equatorial Guinea, the island was called Pigalu or Pagalu.

It kept lobbying to become a full member, contrary to international pressure that wanted to isolate the country due to human rights violations, becoming a full member in 2014 with the very active support of Portuguese-speaking Africa, with the Portuguese language being restored as an official language.

Its central crater lake is named Lago A Pot and its highest peak is Quioveo, which rises 598 meters (1,962 ft).

The island is characterized by a succession of lush valleys and steep mountains, covered with rich woods and luxuriant vegetation.

[b] Originally, this small equatorial island 335 km (208 mi) from the Gabonese coast was uninhabited and had great biological diversity.

The early anti-Spanish sentiment, combined with the isolation from mainland Equatorial Guinea and the proximity of São Tomé and Príncipe—which is just 175 kilometers (109 mi) from the island—has helped preserve the island's cultural ties with Portugal.

[9] Like Equatorial Guinea in general, Annobón has a majority of people who adhere to Christianity, especially Roman Catholics who are strongly influenced by the Portuguese faith.

Although no drilling is currently taking place in São Tomé, there are estimated to be 34 billion barrels (5.4×109 m3) of oil within its marine borders.

[20] In 2015 a group of companies installed solar panels on the island to provide electricity to towns and the airport as part of the cross Equatorial Guinea development project 'Horizon 2020'.

The German edition of Der Spiegel on 28 August 2006 reported that the government of Equatorial Guinea sold permits to UK and US companies to bury 10 million metric tons of toxic waste and 7 million metric tons of radioactive waste on the island of Annobón.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, president of Equatorial Guinea, supposedly receives 200 million US dollars per year for renewed permits, while the population of Annobón lives in extreme poverty.

There is a local political movement which made a unilateral declaration of independence as the Republic of Annobón from Equatorial Guinea in 2022.