History of Loos Archipelago in Guinea Conakry
An Archipelago in front of Conakry
The first of Loos island is located at 3km from the lighthouse of Boulbinet; The islands are part of the landscape of the
Guinean capital. Tombo, where the city of Conakry originated, was once considered as an integral part of the
archipelago, since it was an island at high tide.
More for political reasons (the archipelago belonged to the English until 1904, before being ceded to the French) only for
geographical reasons, because a simple glance allows to see that Tombo is connected rather
to the Kaloum Peninsula, as confirmed by the geological data.
The current commune of Kaloum (resulting from the last administrative division of Conakry) includes the Tombo
Island and the Loos Archipelago.
As if to give reason to the English ?
The archipelago is remarkable for the circular arrangement of the islands, which for a long time led to the belief that the
volcanic origin of the whole is believed.
The coastline of the Loos Islands is mainly rocky.
On the ocean side, the waves, often spectacular prevents any landing.
There, artisanal fishing and sport fishing are practiced.(so popular with tourists).
Inside the archipelago, the sea is calm, shallow, suitable for swimming and other leisure.
The beaches, which are rare, are rather arranged along the inner shores of the islands. Most of them have never been fitted out
and allow Western tourists to become, in the days of a weekend, a modern-day Robinson Crusoe.
History
Ilhos dos idolos, islands of idols, islands of Loos.
The first European discoverers of the terra dos negros saw the idol-loaded boats that the continental waslands were
carrying on the islands for ceremonial purposes.
Legend has it that the Portuguese were surprised to see "these spectacles disappear as if by magic as soon as they set foot in
the water near the shore, to resume as soon as they returned to their boats.
The Loos Islands were frequented by European navigators very early on. On two of them still survive today the ruins
attributed to the Portuguese. According to a report by Paul Bidaine, administrator-mayor of Conakry, dated 8 November 1917,
until about 1850, Roume Island, served as a slave depot to the Americans and Portuguese who made a fruitful
trade of ebony wood in the South Rivers.
Other reports indicate, on the contrary, that the English, in 1810, established a small fort on the same island of Roume,
from which they launched operations against the slave-traders. It was the Berlin conference which officially awarded the Loos islands
to the British Crown, forcing the Portuguese to settle elsewhere in the Bissagos Islands (in Guinea-Bissau).
The English created Protestant schools and temples which seemed to disturb the French Catholics of Conakry (several sons of
chiefs of the South Rivers were educated there). The islands were then dependent on the English colony of Sierra Leone.
The islands were habited in the nineteenth century by Bagas who all fled when the British approached.
(Report by Paul Bidaine, 1917).
According to the report, the english settled eight soldiers from Nigeria (O'Connor Scipio, Harwey, Cockle - on whose land France built the
penitentiary of Fotoba - Rose, Duke, Cole, Dadi Wolf and Richard Wolf), and who, after 21 years of military service in the
colonies, were retired.
As a national endowment, they enjoyed the whole of the archipelago. They were also entrusted with a
certain number of liberated slaves, by committing them to marry women. Children from these families are known
Kinboyes and in turn founded families who retained this dominance over the islands.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Tamara Island was thus divided between 61 heads of families, descendants of
the first settlers or their Kinboyes.
The Convention of 8 April 1904 provided that all the islanders were to have one year, from 2 May 1905, the day of possession
of the islands on behalf of France, to make their declaration of option of nationality.
Though perhaps not exactly aware of the value of the word "option", they have all declared that they are of the same race
as the people of the continent, they would be Frenchmen like them. (Pobequin, June 10, 1905)
