Bengas inhabit a small coastal portion of the Cabo de San Juan, suburban enclaves in the coastal municipalities of Mbini and Bata, and the islands of Corisco, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico.

The Benga people are one of 14 Ndowe tribes of Equatorial Guinea and traditionally have been Fishermen, Sailors and Merchants.

[2] The Benga traditionally practiced slavery in their culture, enslaving neighboring tribes such as the Fang and partook in the Trans-atlantic slave trade.

[2] By the mid-19th century with Britain outlawing the Trans-atlantic slave trade it began putting pressure via its military to stop in the trafficking of human beings especially in the Bight of Biafra where British military occupation took place in Equatorial Guinea, thus essentially ending the slave trade.

[2] By 1857 American missionaries began to set up missions in Corisco, but by 1943 most left due to the Second World War.