Fernandino Peoples

Fernandino Peoples

Named in reverence of the Portuguese explorer Fernão do Pó who is given credit for discovering their indigenous and adopted homelands, Fernandinos are creole, multi-ethnic or multi-race populations of Equatorial Guinea and former Spanish Guinea. Each population hails from a distinct ethnic, social, cultural and linguistic history. Members of these communities were responsible for building and expanding the cocoa farming industry on Fernando Po during the 1880s and 1890s. The Fernandinos of Fernando Po were closely related to each other as well as to members of communities in Freetown, Cape Coast, and Lagos. Eventually, these distinct groups integrated, and in present-day Bioko their differences barely exist.