1918-1939 History of Central Africa Equatorial Guinea





Spanish stamp overprinted Golfo de Guinea (1943), featuring Generalissimo Franco.
Stamps issued by Spain's postal service for the Spanish Territories in the Gulf of Guinea, 1949.


Spanish Guinea, 1939-1968



During World War II, Spain remained neutral. Spanish ultra-nationalists proposed the Spanish annexation of (French) Gabon and (British) Calabar, both territories within the borders allocated to Spain in the 1778 treaty of El Pardo; the proposal was not taken up by the Spanish government. In 1959, Spain's possessions on the coast of Guinea - RIO MUNI and FERNANDO POO (the latter with Annobon) - were declared separate Spanish OVERSEAS PROVINCES. The areas elected representatives for the Spanish Cortes.
In 1963 both territories were merged to form EQUATORIAL GUINEA (it had to be distinuished from Portuguise Guinea and formerly French Guinea); Equatorial Guinea was granted political autonomy. On Dec. 31st 1965, Spanish Guinea had an estimated population of 254,700 (Rio Muni 191,000, Fernando Poo 63,700). In 1968, the country was released into independence.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Equatorial Guinea, History of, from Infoplease
Entries Elobey, Annobon & Corrisco, Spanish Guinea, Rio Muni, Fernando Po, from Sandafayre Stamp Atlas
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Max Liniger-Goumaz, Historical Dictionary of Equatorial Guinea, Metuchen : Scarecrow 1988, 238 pp.
Article : Spanish Colonial Empire, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1945 p.656, 1946 p.694, 1947 p.716, 1948 p.693, 1949 p.600, 1950 pp.641-642, 1951 p.647, 1952 pp.648-649, 1953 p.657, 1954 pp.660-661, 1955 p.709, 1956 pp.646-647, 1957 pp.708-709 [G]
Article : Spanish Colonies, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1958 p.651, 1959 p.650 [G]
Article : Spanish Overseas Provinces, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1960 pp.651-652, 1961 pp.652-653, 1962 p.646, 1963 p.760 [G]
Article : Colonies and Dependent Territories, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1964 p.265-268 (on events of 1963) [G]
Article : Colonies and other Dependencies, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1965 p.255, 1966 p.206, 1967 p.221, 1968 p.219 [G]
Article : Spain : Colonies, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.1281-1282 [G]
Article : Spanish Colonial Empire - Spanish Guinea, in : Americana Annual 1946 p.687 [G]
Article : Spanish Colonial Empire, in : Americana Annual 1947 p.664 [G]
Article : Spanish Territories, in : Americana Annual 1962 p.717, 1963 pp.633-634, 1964 p.621 [G]
Article : Spain : Colonial Empire, in : New International Year Book Events of 1940 pp.706-707, 1941 p.619, 1942 p.657, 1943 pp.604-605, 1944 p.586 [G]
Article : Spanish Africa, in : New International Year Book Events of 1945 pp.588-589 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on August 22nd 2007

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