Spanish Guinea

Territorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea Spanish Territories of the Gulf of Guinea Spanish colony ←   ←   ← 1926–1968 → Flag of Spain Coat of arms of Spain Spanish Guinea Capital Santa Isabel Language(s) Spanish Political structure Colony Governor  - 1962-63 (last) Francisco Núñez Rodríguez High Commissioner  - 1963-64 (first) Francisco Núñez Rodríguez  - 1966-68 (last) Víctor Suances Díaz del Río Historical era Cold War  - Established 11 August 1926  - Independence 11 August 1968 Currency Spanish Guinea Peseta

Spanish Guinea was an African colony of Spain that became the independent nation of Equatorial Guinea.

History

The Portuguese explorer, Fernão do Pó, seeking a route to India, is credited with having discovered the island of Bioko in 1472. He called it Formosa ("Beautiful"), but it quickly took on the name of its European discoverer. The islands of Fernando Pó and Annobón were colonized by Portugal in 1474. The Portuguese retained control until 1778, when the island, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers were ceded to Spain in exchange for territory on the American continent (Treaty of El Pardo, between Queen Maria I of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain). From 1827 to 1843, Britain established a base on the island supposedly to combat the slave trade. However human trafficking continued through existing networks of slave trade established long before Europeans arrived. The mainland portion, Rio Muni, became a protectorate in 1885 and a colony in 1900. Conflicting claims to the mainland by France and Spain were settled in 1900 by the Treaty of Paris, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule. Between 1926 and 1959 they were united as the colony of Spanish Guinea. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the nationalist side from Fernando Poo (who rebelled on September 19, 1936) overtook the Republican forces of Río Muni on October 14, 1936^[1].

The population of the colony was stratified^[2] as:

1. Whites, whose immigration was regulated by the Spanish government.
2. Emancipados, black population assimilated to the Whites. They had a Christian Spanish education. Some of them descended from freed Cuban slaves, brought to Africa by Royal Orders of September 13, 1845, (voluntary) and June 20, 1861, (deportation). This group included mestizos (mulattoes) acknowledged by the White father^[3].
3. "Individuals of colour" under patronage, the majority of the black indigenous people, of different ethnic groups, mostly Bantus. They were not allowed to own property and were liable to forced labour. They included unacknowleged mestizos.
4. Nigerian and Cameroonian, Chinese and Indian.

References

See also

• History of Equatorial Guinea
• Annobón
• Bight of Bonny
• Bioko Island
• Cameroon line
• Equatorial Guinea
• Fernando Po
• Gulf of Guinea
• São Tomé and Príncipe

• Bubi
• Fernandinos
• Emancipados

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