Bight of Biafra 1849, Britain established its military influence over the Bight of Biafra by building a naval base and consulate on the island of Fernando Poo, under the authority of the British Consuls of the Bight of Benin: On 6 August 1861, the Bight of Biafra and the neighboring Bight of Benin (under its own British consuls) became a united British consulate, again under British consuls: In 1967, the Eastern Region of Nigeria seceded from the Nigerian State and adopted the name of its coastline, the adjoining Bight of Biafra, becoming the newly independent Republic of Biafra. This independence was short-lived as
Bight of Biafra trade emanating from the Bight of Biafra. Between 1525 and 1859, Britain dominated the slave trade from the Bight of Biafra accounting for over two-thirds of slaves exported to the New World. However, in 1807, Great Britain made illegal the international trade in slaves, and the Royal Navy was deployed to forcibly prevent slavers from the United States, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, West Africa and Arabia from plying their trade. Earlier, in 1777, Portugal transferred control of Fernando Poo and Annobon to Spanish suzerainty thus introducing Spain into the early colonial history of the Bight of Biafra. On 30 June