Colony of Spanish Guinea[edit]
Between 1926 and 1959, the Crown united Bioko and Rio Muni as the “colony of Spanish Guinea.” The economy was based on exploitation of the commodity crops of cacao and coffee, produced at large plantations, in addition to logging concessions. Owners of these companies hired mostly immigrant contract labour from Liberia, Nigeria, and Cameroun.[6] Spain mounted military campaigns in the 1920s to subdue the indigenous Fang people, as Liberia was trying to reduce recruiting of its workers. The Crown established garrisons of the colonial guard throughout the enclave by 1926, and the whole colony was considered ‘pacified’ by 1929.[8]
Rio 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 Cameroun 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 Cameroun. Planters began to recruit Igbo laborers, who were smuggled in canoes from Calabar, Nigeria. Fernando Po was developed after the Second World War as one of Africa’s most productive agricultural areas.[2]
Decolonization[edit]
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 Portuguese Empire made overtures to take it over. From 1960 to 1968, Spain tried a system of partial decolonization to keep the province within the Spanish territorial system, which failed due to continued anti-colonial activity by natives of the region. On 12 October 1968, Spain conceded the independence of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Francisco Macías Nguema was elected as president.[9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Guinea
