FERNANDO POO

FERNANDO POO (now Bioko, Equatorial Guinea).

25th anniversary of the accession of General Franco to the Head of State, 1936-1961.
Maps of Fernando Poo and Annobón islands.
First stamp in a set of 4, issued on 01.10.1961.
Face value: 25 cents of Spanish peseta.
Printing: Photogravure.
Printed by F.N.M.T. (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre), Madrid.
Issue: 444,041 copies.
Size: 35 x 41 mm.

Catalogues
- Edifil No. 199.
- Michel No. 195.
- Scott No. 192.
- StampWorld No. 214.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 240.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 191.

The island of Fernando Poo (currently Bioko, in Equatorial Guinea) was a colony, from 1926, and later (from 1959 to 1968) a Spanish province in Africa, which included the island of Annobón. The surface of the island is 2017 km² (779 sq mi), and that of Annobón (or Pagalu), 17 km² (6.5 sq mi). Bioko's maximum height is the volcano Basilé, 3,011 m (9,878 ft), and that of Annobón, Mount Mazafin, 831 m (2,726 ft).

The island was populated between the 5th and 6th centuries by Bubi people from the mainland. In 1472 the Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó (whose name was imposed, in Spanish, on the island) arrived, and in 1641 the Dutch West IndiaCompany centralized the slave trade from the Gulf of Guinea there. This trade passed into the hands of the Portuguese in 1648. In 1778 Portugal ceded the Guinean islands to Spain. At the end of the 19th century, Spain established a colonial government, under which there were serious clashes with the Bubi tribes, which did not end until 1910.