Spanish Equatoguineans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Spanish Equatoguinean 22,000 people ) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Malabo, Rio Muni | |
| Languages | |
| Equatoguinean Spanish, Fang, Bubi | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Spanish, Bubi people, Fang people, Fernandino peoples |
Spanish Equatoguinean (Spanish: Hispano-ecuatoguineano) is a person of Spanish descent who are residents born or living in Equatorial Guinea, as well as indigenous Equatoguinean descendants living in or born in Spain. The population living in Equatorial Guinea numbers an estimated 16,000. Many Spanish Equatoquineans are of mulatto, or multiracial, ancestry.
A group of prosperous plantations was set up by Castilian and above all Valencian landowners, whose cultural level was considerably above that of the Spaniards that continued to emigrate to the Americas, and since Guinea was never an attractive place for massive immigration, those Spaniards that chose to live in Guinea generally made this choice in view of superior salaries or perquisites, available only for the middle and professional classes.
Spaniards in Equatorial Guinea did not generally immigrate with the intent of permanently establishing themselves, but rather of working for a given time period, and nearly always returned to Spain. The result was a reduced sense of permanency, and a greater bilateral contact between Spain and expatriate Spaniards in Guinea. Even though a number of Spaniards were born in Guinea, few considered themselves as anything other than Spaniards, similar to their countrymen in the Canary Islands or Ifni, and there were few families that had lived continuously in Spanish Guinea for more than a single generation.
The amount of miscegenation was also considerably less in Guinea than in the Americas, as Spanish settlers brought a higher proportion of Spanish women, a fact visibly evident in the small number of mulatto Guineans (Fernandino), as opposed to the Caribbean region of Latin America. However, during the 1940s and 1950s an increased number of mulatto offspring were born to indigenous women and Spaniard men, mostly out of wedlock. These mulatto offspring were usually left be cared for by their mother and maternal family, and were more likely to identify as the tribe they were born into. Most married or procreated with other indigenous Africans. As a result of this era, as well as further interracial unions post-independence, a considerable amount of white Spaniard ancestry persists in the country, even among those with a black, or indigenous, phenotype. It's believed that some of the mixed ancestry resulted from rape, as forced servitude/slavery did, in fact, exist in the country through the course of Spanish domination there. It's further believed that some of the non-consent occurred through the corruption and coercion methods used by various Christian missionary organizations posted there, including those belonging to the Roman Catholic church, during the Spanish colonial era in the country.
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Wikipedia