Fernando Poouna aventura colonial española en el África Occidental 1778-1900

Abstract

The thesis is divided into two parts. The first, entitled "The Islands in Dispute. Between Slavery and Abolition", looks at the period beginning in 1778 when the islands pass into Spanish hands following a deal with Portugal, and the first occupation takes place with the Argelejo expedition, still within the context of a legal slave trade. It ends with the first occupations of 1843, by now in a period fully characterised by abolition and the clandestine slave trade. Meanwhile, owing to the Spanish Government's abandonment of its sovereignty over the islands, England occupies Fernando Poo in 1827 on the pretext of achieving greater efficiency in the repression of clandestine traffic in slavery, founding its capital, Clarence, and establishing a completely English-speaking society; a serious obstacle for Spanish colonisation in the 19th century. The second part of the thesis, entitled Fernando Poo: the great commercial repository of West Africa. A colonising fantasy", starts by analysing the beginnings of colonisation between 1858 and 1862 and the colony's first Organic Statute, known as the O'Donnell Statute. After the failure of this first settlement colony, and following changes in the colony until the end of the century, such as the projects of abandonment of the islands during the Six-year Revolutionary period or the subsequent arrival of the Claretianos who developed the village missions based on the cocoa culture, it finishes with the Spanish possession of a small coastal part of the continental zone denominated Río Muni, a consequence of the repartition of Africa initiated at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85.