Equatorial Guinea is a small Central African nation and the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa, comprising the mainland region of Río Muni and the islands of Bioko and Annobón. After centuries of Portuguese and then Spanish colonial rule, it gained independence in 1968, only to fall under the brutal dictatorship of Francisco Macías Nguema, who was overthrown by his nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in 1979—a president who still rules today. Since the mid-1990s, the country has become one of Sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producers, creating immense per-capita wealth that is, however, extremely unevenly distributed. Despite this oil wealth, the government is widely characterized as authoritarian with one of the world's worst human rights records, including significant problems with human trafficking and press freedom. The population is predominantly of the Fang ethnic group, and while Spanish is the main official language, French and Portuguese also hold official status.