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.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

EQUATORIAL GUINEA / GUINEA ECUATORIAL.

Centenary of the death of Ferdinand de Lesseps.
Map of the Suez Canal area and portrait of Lesseps.
Second stamp in a set of 4, issued in 1994.
Face value: 500 Central African CFA francs.
Printed by F,N.M.T. (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre), Madrid.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 75,000 copies.

Catalogues
- Edifil No. 193.
- Michel No. 1789.
- Scott No. 203.
- StampWorld No. 2017.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 212.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 319.

Ferdinand Marie, Viscount de Lesseps (Versailles, November 19, 1805 - Guilly, Indre, central France, December 7, 1894) was a French diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal. In the 1880s he planned a Panama Canal at sea level, but the project failed due to epidemics of malaria and yellow fever in the area, as well as financial problems: with another design it could be inaugurated in 1914. As a diplomat he was Consul in Cairo and Alexandria (1833-1837), Rotterdam, Malaga, Barcelona (1842-1848), and Minister of France in Madrid (1848-1849).

The Suez Canal (in Arabic, قناة السويس) is a navigable canal located in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. Its length is 163.30 km (120.11 miles) between Port Saíd (on the Mediterranean coast) and Suez (on the Red Sea coast). The canal excavation works officially began on April 10, 1859, promoted by Lesseps. It was solemnly inaugurated on November 17, 1869.

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.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

EQUATORIAL GUINEA / GUINEA ECUATORIAL.

Tourism promotion. Ilachi Waterfall.
First stamp in a set of 3, issued on 07.07.1989.
Face value: 15 Central African francs.
Printing: Offset.
Printed by the F.N.M.T. (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre), Madrid.

Catalogues
- Edifil No. 112.
- Michel No. 1707.
- StampWorld No. 1935.

The Ilachi (or Iladyi) waterfalls, located on the river of the same name, are found in a jungle area in the Moka Valley, south of the island of Bioko. They are divided into five branches and fall from a height of approximately 250 m (820 ft). They are the highest waterfalls in the country.