Fernandino

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Fernandinos is the name for several, multi-ethnic or multi-racial Creole population groups that arose in the colonies of Equatorial Guinea and the former Spanish Guinea . Its name is derived from its main origin, the island of Fernando Pó (Bioko). This island was named after the Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó , who is said to have discovered it. The groups are also addressed as Bubi or Krio Fernandinos , depending on their origin .

background

Each population had different ethnic, social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The ancestors of this community were brought to Bioko in the 1880s and 1890s to do most of the work in the cocoa plantations. The ancestors were stolen from Sierra Leone (Krio people, Freetown), Cape Coast and Lagos (Saros people; Nigeria). Mulatto children were born through connections between the so-called Bubi women and Spanish men . These later belonged to the class of the emancipados (freedmen), even if many children from such connections grew up without a father. Few couples married under Roman Catholic law. Mostly it was the Bubi women who raised their multiracial children and so the children were seen as Bubi.

The Portuguese- African mixed mulattos of São Tomé and Príncipe were sometimes referred to as "Fernandinos" because these islands were also discovered by Fernão do Pó. The descendants of these mulattos merged into the different groups of the Fernandinos. In today's bio there are only marginal differences between the groups.

language

Originally, the Fernandinos spoke Equatorial Guinean Spanish , French, Bube and forms of Pidgin English, the so-called Pichinglis (Fernando Po Creole language). This Pichinglis came to Fernando Pó in Nigeria through Efik settlers from Akwa Akpa State (known as "Calabar State" in colonial times) . The language served as the language of commerce and varied depending on the region. During the Franco dictatorship these Creole dialects were stigmatized and suppressed.

religion

Many boys in Bioko converted to Catholic Christianity and the mulatto population was raised mainly as Catholics.

Krio Fernandinos

The so-called "Krio Fernandinos" from Equatorial Guinea were descendants of English-speaking freed slaves from tribes from Sierra Leone ( Krio ) and Liberia . Accordingly, Krios are descendants of colored people who were relocated to Sierra Leone from London , the Caribbean and even Nova Scotia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some of them were ex-slaves in the United States who were freed by the British after the American War of Independence . They mingled with Africans who had been saved from the illegal slave trade by the British military after 1808.

Groups of released "African Americans" emigrated to Liberia in separate movements and founded the US colony in West Africa with the support of the American Colonization Society . They too mingled with the Africans who had been freed from the slave trade on the west coast of Africa.

Then workers from Sierra Leone and mainly Liberia were shipped to Bioko as labor. As English-speaking people with some Anglic culture, they became a driving force in the creation of a local society and economy and took on leadership roles. However, they initially had a tendency to marry within their grouping as they considered themselves separate from the local, less educated and released natives. Nevertheless, the Krios ultimately mixed with the locals and Krio women and children took the names of the native families.

The Krios came to Fernando Po from 1827, a year after Great Britain leased the island for 50 years. They were among an influx of several hundred freed Creole immigrants of African descent from Cape Coast, Ghana and other groups from British colonies in Africa. These krios settled mainly at the harbor, in an area known as Clarence Cove . The first residents bought residential buildings for $ 3,000 to $ 5,000, along with a handful of large plantation owners who had made fortunes from cocoa trading and yam cultivation . However, these areas were mainly controlled by English and Spanish factory owners. A British story from the 19th century characterized the Krios as known for their learning and business acumen ("business acumen"). Some partisan scribes attributed this to their partly European ancestors.

marriage

The group was closely related to other Creole communities in west-central African Freetown, Cape Coast, and Lagos . Endogamy was very common and families sought family connections with one another in order to maintain and expand property and social and business alliances outside the island. Therefore, marriages with non-Creoles, so-called bush marriages , in front of the church or in property claims were invalid until the 20th century . However, they were socially recognized.

Culture

Krio Fernandinos were mainly English-speaking and Protestant, as well as culturally an offshoot of British West Africa. Some of them have been characterized as highly xenophobic . A famous example of this was a Krio Fernandino Henry Hugh Gardner , son of a Scottish father. He was beaten up by Spanish police officers after they killed his wife, Victoria Castellanos, an African Catholic woman of Cameroon origin. At the behest of his mother, Gardner Castellanos refused to marry because she refused to convert religiously. She then began a liaison with a Catholic convert, which Gardner upset.

Krio Fernandinos were initially unimpressed and uninterested in Spanish rule. In the late 19th century, however, as Spanish cultural and religious influence grew on the island, the Krio Fernandinos opened up to ensure their political and economic survival.

language

Through the generations, the Fernandinos received their Creole language, Fernando Poo Creole English . Krio Fernandinos were based exclusively around Malabo . Even though they represent a specific ethnic group in Equatorial Guinea, the Pidgin dialect is only spoken in six localities: Musola , Las Palmas , Sampaca , Basupu , Fiston and Balveri de Cristo Rey . In 1998 it was estimated that there were approximately 5,000 speakers. About a fifth of the 5,000 speakers have Creole English as their mother tongue. They can use up to 70,000 Equatoguineans as a commercial language. In the 21st century, Fernando Poo Creole merged English and Pichinglis into one dialect.

religion

The majority of the Krio Fernandinos are Protestant Christians. Krios contributed to the expansion of the Protestant churches in Bioko, with descendants of Spanish ancestors being more Catholic .

Well-known Krio Fernandino families

Allen : Henry Enrique Allen

Balboa : Juan Balboa Boneke ; Manuel Balboa

Barber : Kenneth Barber

Barleycorn : Edward Barleycorn ; Edward Emilio Barleycorn ; Edward Thaddeus Barleycorn Barber (doctor, preacher and barber); Gertrude Johnson Barleycorn ; Jeremiah Barleycorn (Mayor of Santa Isabel ); Napoleon Barleycorn ; William Barleycorn

Coker

Collins

Davis : David Davis (handball player)

Dougan : Joseph Dougan , Patriarch of the Dougan family (La Casa Teodolita 1902) in Malabo (Santa Isabel) in Equatorial Guinea .; Teófilo Jorge Dougan Kinson , son of Joseph Dougan and Mariana Kinson-Bishop He studied in Spain and was the first Equatorial Guinean to become a lawyer. He died in Barcelona in the early 1960s; Joseph Walterio Dougan Kinson , also a son of Joseph Dougan and Mariana Kinson-Bishop, studied at Fourah Bay College in Freetown , Sierra Leone and later agriculture in Spain. He became an eminent politician and diplomat of Equatorial Guinea, Ambassador of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea for the Organization of African Unity, among others . He was Minister of Justice before going into exile. He died in exile in Nigeria in 1984; Jose Domingo Dougan Beaca , son of Joseph Walterio Dougan Kinson, studied in Italy and Switzerland, became a Chief Diplomat of the United Nations for the post of Coordinator Head of the Latin America and Caribbean Unit . He later served as Head of the Anti-Discrimination Unit of the Human Rights High Commissioners office in Geneva. He is Vice President of the World Organization Against Torture ; Angel Serafin Seriche Dougan Malabo , son of Teofilo Dougan Kinson, diplomat and member of the Government of Equatorial Guinea; Jose Dougan Chubum , son of Joseph Okori Dougan Kinson, pilot with a law degree in Cuba ; Eleanor Sono Dougan Ngongolo , daughter of Joseph Okori Dougan Kinson; Ana María Dougan Thomson , daughter of Teófilo Jorge Dougan Kinson, married to Román Boricó Toichoa , who later became Minister of Industry in the Autonomous Government (1964–1968)

Fergusson : William Fergusson Nicol

Johnson

Jones : Maximiliano Jones , Farmer and Millionaire; Miguel Jones , Spanish footballer; Wilwardo Jones , Mayor of Santa Isabel in the 1960s; Alfredo Jones , agronomist and Spanish consul in Calabar in the 1960s

Kinson : Samuel Kinson

Knox : JW Knox

Niger : Daniel Niger

Thompson : Theophilo Thompson

Vivour : Amelia Barleycorn Vivour ; William Vivour

Willis : Catherine (Catalina) Willis

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WG Clarence-Smith: African and European Cocoa Producers on Fernando Póo, 1880s to 1910s. In: The Journal of African History. Vol. 35, July 2, 1994: 179-199. ( doi : 10.1017 / S0021853700026384 )
  2. ↑ IK Sundiata: From Slaving to Neoslavery: The Bight of Biafra and Fernando Po in the Era of Abolition, 1827-1930. University of Wisconsin Press 1996: 152. ISBN 0-299-14510-7 , ISBN 978-0-299-14510-1
  3. ^ Charles Spencer Smith: Glimpses of Africa, West and Southwest coast . AME Sunday School Union, 1895: 164.
  4. ↑ IK Sundiata: From Slaving to Neoslavery: The Bight of Biafra and Fernando Po in the Era of Abolition, 1827-1930. University of Wisconsin Press, Wisconsin 1966: 152. ISBN 978-0-299-14510-1
  5. ^ Charles Spencer Smith: Glimpses of Africa, West and Southwest coast. AME Sunday School Union 1895.
  6. ↑ IK Sundiata: From Slaving to Neoslavery: The Bight of Biafra and Fernando Po in the Era of Abolition, 1827-1930. University of Wisconsin Press, Wisconsin 1966: 114.
  7. ↑ Randall Fegley: Equatorial Guinea. World Bibliographical Series. Vol. 136, ABC-CLIO World, Clio 1991.
  8. ^ Keeping London moving. In: Transport for London | Every Journey Matters, July 6, 2017
  9. ↑ Celestino Nvo Okenve Ndo: HA FALLECIDO LA EXCMA. SRA. DÑA. ANA MARIA DOUGAN THOMSON .