The very first Bubi from Bioko (formerly Fernando Póo), an Atlantic archipelago which is located around 50 kilometres off the coast of Africa and which has been inhabited for thousands of years, may have been fishermen. ${ }^{1}$ Further south, in the Kingdom of Loango, the Vili were skilled at manufacturing and handling fishing boats for Africa's Atlantic trade network, which existed before European domination (Linebaugh and Rediker, 2008, pp. 141-143; Silva, 2001, pp. 61-65; Thornton, 2004, p. 259).  
It was only from the time of the slave trade and of the diaspora, however, that an African presence in nautical navigation became more apparent. As the trade itself required a labour force specialized in docking, workers born locally or those who otherwise had a sound knowledge of the region were employed for their ability to steer long-range ships through ocean currents to the reefs and shallows of Africa's harbours. The same could be said of the need for linguas, interpreters who were especially useful in negotiations with foreign traders, sovereigns and local merchants. They also oversaw the loading of captives onto ships and subsequently assisted in the slave cellars.  
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[^0]:    1 The date of the Bubi's settlement on the island are disputed. Vansina (2010) believes that their migration movements must have begun before the year 1000, while Aymemi (1942) suggests that the process began between 3,000 and 5,000 years before the arrival of the first Europeans to the region in the fifteenth century.