Spanish Guinea () was a set of insular and

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

territories controlled by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

from 1778 in the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

and on the Bight of Bonny, in

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

. It gained independence in 1968 as

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

Name

From the resumption of Spanish sovereignty in 1843 to 1904 the colony went by various names in official documents. The name of the colony in an 1868 Royal decree that outlined the administration of the colony was the Spanish Possessions on the Gulf of Guinea. The other name commonly used was the name Colony of Fernando Poo and Dependencies. In a royal decree in 1904 the official name became Spanish Territories on the Gulf of Guinea as many of the administrative inefficiencies in the previous decrees were rectified. This was reaffirmed in a 1935 decree. In 1956 the colony became the Province of the Gulf of Guinea, a province of Spain.

History

18th–19th centuries

The Spanish colony in the Guinea region was established in 1778, by the Treaty of El Pardo between the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

and the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

. Between 1778 and 1810, Spain administered the territory of Equatorial Guinea via its colonial

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata or Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires ( or Virreinato de Buenos Aires or ) meaning "River of the Silver", also called the "Viceroyalty of River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in southern South America, was ...

, based in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

(in present-day

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

). From 1827 to 1843, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

had a base on

Bioko Bioko (; ; ; historically known as Fernando Pó, ) is an island of Equatorial Guinea. It is located south of the coast of Cameroon, and northwest of the northernmost part of mainland Equatorial Guinea. Malabo, on the north coast of the is ...

to combat the continuing

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

conducted by Spain and illegal traders. Based on an agreement with Spain in 1843, Britain moved its base to its own colony of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

in West Africa. In 1844, on restoration of Spanish rule, it became known as the "''Territorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea''".

20th century

Spain had never undertaken colonial settlement of the large area in the

Bight of Biafra The Bight of Biafra, also known as the Bight of Bonny, is a bight off the west- central African coast, in the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea. This "bight" has also sometimes been erroneously referred to as the "Bight of Africa" because ...

to which it had treaty rights. The French expanded their occupation at the expense of the area claimed by Spain. By the treaty of Paris in 1900, Spain was left with the continental enclave of

Río Muni Río Muni (called ''Mbini'' in Fang language, Fang) is the Continental Region (called ''Región Continental'' in Spanish language, Spanish) of Equatorial Guinea, and comprises the mainland geographical region, covering . The name is derived fr ...

, 26,000 km² of the 300,000 stretching east to the

Ubangi river The Ubangi River (; ; ; ), also spelled Oubangui, is a river in Central Africa, and the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou River, Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mea ...

, which the Spaniards had previously claimed.William Gervase Clarence-Smith, 1986 "Spanish Equatorial Guinea, 1898-1940", in ''The Cambridge History of Africa: From 1905 to 1940'' Ed. J. D. Fage, A. D. Roberts, & Roland Anthony Oliver. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press> File:(1897) Golfo de Guinea.jpg, Spanish possessions in the

in 1897. File:Eq Guinea 1900 ES.PNG, Spanish Guinea after Treaty of Paris of 1900. File:Muni - Guinea Continental Espańola LOC 2012590213.jpg,

, continental part of Spanish Guinea, 1903.

Agricultural economy

Toward the end of the 19th century Spanish, Portuguese, German and Fernandino planters started developing large cacao plantations on the island of Fernando Po. With the indigenous Bubi population decimated by disease and forced labour, the island's economy came to depend on imported agricultural contract workers. A labour treaty was signed with the Republic of

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

in 1914; the transport of up to 15,000 workers by sea was orchestrated by the German Woermann-Linie, the major shipping company. In 1930 an

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

(ILO) commission discovered that Liberian contract workers had "been recruited under conditions of criminal compulsion scarcely distinguishable from slave raiding and slave trading". The government prohibited recruiting of Liberian workers for Spanish Guinea. The persisting labour shortage in the cacao, coffee and logging industries led to a booming trade in illegal canoe-based smuggling of Igbo and Ibibio workers from the Eastern Provinces of Nigeria. The number of clandestine contract workers on the island of Fernando Po grew to 20,000 in 1942. A labour treaty was signed with the

British Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

in the same year. This led to a continuous stream of Nigerian workers going to Spanish Guinea. By 1968 at the time of independence, almost 100,000 ethnic Nigerians were living and working in Spanish Guinea.

Colony of Spanish Guinea

Coat of Arms of the Portuguese and Spanish Guinea

Between 1926 and 1959,

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

united Bioko and Río Muni as the "colony of Spanish Guinea". The economy was based on the exploitation of the commodity crops of cacao and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, produced at large plantations, in addition to

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksLiberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. Spain mounted military campaigns in the 1920s to subdue the indigenous

Fang people The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon.Colonial Guard throughout the enclave by 1926, and the whole colony was considered 'pacified' by 1929. Río Muni had a small population, officially put at a little over 100,000 in the 1930s. Its people could easily escape over the borders into Cameroon or Gabon. Moreover, the timber companies needed growing amounts of labour, and the spread of coffee cultivation offered an alternative means of paying taxes. The island of Fernando Po continued to suffer from labour shortages. The French only briefly permitted recruitment in Cameroon. Planters began to recruit Igbo laborers, who were smuggled in canoes from

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari, Cali and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language, as the Efik people dominate this area. The city is adjac ...

, Nigeria. Fernando Po was developed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as one of Africa's most productive agricultural areas. File:Corisco-Saliendo de misa-1910.jpg, Corisco in 1910. File:Iberia- vuelo inaugural a Bata (Guinea) (1941) (5811105541).jpg, Inaugural flight with

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

from

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

to Bata in 1941. File:Naval Infantry in Spanish Guinea 1964.jpg, Marine Infantry in Spanish Guinea in 1964.

Decolonisation

The post-war political history of Spanish Guinea had three fairly distinct phases. From 1946 to 1959, it had the status of a "province", having been raised from "colony", after the

made overtures to take it over. From 1960 to 1968, Spain tried a system of partial decolonisation to keep the province within the Spanish territorial system, which failed due to continued anti-colonial activity by Guineans. On 12 October 1968, Spain conceded the independence of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

Francisco Macías Nguema Francisco Macías Nguema (born Mez-m Ngueme, later Africanisation, Africanised to Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong; 1 January 1924 – 29 September 1979), often referred to as Macías Nguema or simply Macías, was an Equatoguinean politician w ...

was elected as president.Campos, Alicia. "The decolonization of Equatorial Guinea: the relevance of the international factor", ''Journal of African History'' (2003): 95–116. File:Fraga na sinatura da independencia de Guinea Ecuatorial.jpg, Signing of the independence of Equatorial Guinea by Spanish government on 12 October 1968.

Colonial demographics

The population of the Colony of Spanish Guinea was stratified (before slavery was abolished). The system was somewhat similar to the one operating in the French, English and Portuguese colonies in the rest of Africa: #

Peninsulares In the context of the Spanish Empire, a ''peninsular'' (, pl. ''peninsulares'') was a Spaniard born in Spain residing in the New World, Spanish East Indies, or Spanish Guinea. In the context of the Portuguese Empire, ''reinóis'' (singular ''r ...

— White Spanish population, whose immigration was regulated by the Spanish government. #

Emancipados Emancipado () was a term used for an African-descended social-political demographic within the population of Spanish Guinea (modern day Equatorial Guinea) that existed in the early to mid 1900s. This segment of the native population had become as ...

—

Black African Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...

population, assimilated into the Peninsulares' culture via Spanish Catholic educations. Some were descended from freed Cuban slaves, repatriated to Africa after emancipation and abolition of slavery by the Spanish Royal Orders of 13 September 1845 (voluntary), and of 20 June 1861 (deported). The latter group included ''

mestizos ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...

'' (indigenous-European) and ''

mulattoes ( , ) is a racial classification that refers to people of mixed African and European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the word is (). The use of this term began in the United States shortly ...

'' (African-European), mixed-race descendants who had been acknowledged by a white Peninsular father.''Espacio, Tiempo y Forma'', Serie V, Hª Contemporánea, t. 11, 1998, págs. 113-138
"Penología e indigenismo en la antigua Guinea española"
, Pedro María Belmonte Medina # Fernandinos —

Creole peoples Creole peoples may refer to various ethnic groups around the world. The term's meaning exhibits regional variations, often sparking debate. Creole peoples represent a diverse array of ethnicities, each possessing a distinct cultural identity tha ...

, multi-ethnic or multi-race populations, often speaking the local Pidgin English of Spanish Guinea's island of Fernando Po (now known as

). #"Individuals of colour" under patronage — included the majority of the indigenous

people, and those mestizos−mulattoes who were not acknowledged by white fathers and were being deported from the Americas. Of the indigenous ethnic groups in Guinea, most were Bubi and

Bantu peoples The Bantu peoples are an Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct native Demographics of Africa, African List of ethnic groups of Africa, ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. The language ...

such as the Fang of Rio Muni. #Others — primarily

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

, Cameroonian,

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

, and

Indian people Indian people or Indians are the Indian nationality law, citizens and nationals of the India, Republic of India or people who trace their ancestry to India. While the demonym "Indian" applies to people originating from the present-day India, ...

s who were hired as contract laborers under types of indentures.

References

{{coord, 1, 35, N, 10, 21, E, region:GQ_type:country_source:dewiki, display=title Spanish Africa Former colonies in Africa Former Spanish colonies Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata States and territories established in 1778 States and territories disestablished in 1968 Guinea, Spanish Equatorial Guinea–Spain relations