SPANISH GUINEA

SPANISH GUINEA / GUINEA ESPAÑOLA (now EQUATORIAL GUINEA).

Landscapes.
Benito River and portrait of general Franco.
Sixth stamp in a set of 16, issued on 01.12.1949.
Face value: 5 cents of Spanish peseta.
Printing: Photogravure.
Size: 40.4 x 24.9 mm.

Catalogs
- Edifil No. 278.
- Michel No. 243.
- Scott No. 306.
- StampWorld No. 347.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 332.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 311.

Spanish Guinea, officially Spanish Territories of the Gulf of Guinea (Spanish: Territorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea), was an African colony of Spain located in the Gulf of Guinea. It was formed from the Río Muni Colony (established in 1900), the Fernando Poo (now Bioko) Island, the Elobey, Annobón and Corisco Colony and other adjacent islands. The colony lasted between 1885 and 1968. It was reunified in 1926, becoming Spanish Guinea (Guinea Española), which became independent forming the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, recognized by Spain on October 12, 1968.

The Benito (in Fang language: Mbini) is a river in Equatorial Guinea, 338 km (210 mi) long. It is also known locally as Wele River, and, at least as it flows in its westerly part through the Monte Alén National Park, as the Uoro River. The river rises in Gabon and crosses into Equatorial Guinea where it divides the country roughly along the middle, running east to west. At the mouth to the Atlantic Ocean lies the town of Mbini, as well as large mangrove stands that extend 20 km (12.4 mi) inland; only this portion of the river is navigable.