Elobey, Annobón and Corisco
Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco was a colonial administration of Spanish Africa consisting of the island of Annobón, located in the Gulf of Guinea, and the small islands of Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico and Corisco, located in the Bay of the Mitémélé River. It was established as a protectorate in 1843. Its total area was under 36 km2, and the estimated population in 1910 was 2,950 people. The capital was Santa Isabel. The islands are presently part of Equatorial Guinea. Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico and Corisco are now part of the Litoral Province within the Río Muni (mainland) of Equatorial Guinea, while Annobón constitutes a province in its own right within the Insular Region.
Elobey, Annobon and Corsico | |||||||||
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| 1843-1926 | |||||||||
.svg.png.webp) Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Anthem: Marcha Real (1844–1873, 1874–1926) Himno de Riego (1873–1874) | |||||||||
| Status | Protectorate of Spain (1843–1903) Colony of Spain (1903–1926) | ||||||||
| Capital | Santa Isabel | ||||||||
| Common languages | Spanish | ||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||
• 1844–1868 | Isabella II (first) | ||||||||
| Government Delegate | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1843 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1926 | ||||||||
| Currency | Spanish peseta | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Equatorial Guinea | ||||||||
Postage stamps and fiction
The American author William Styron wrote a short vignette entitled Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco, about his time as a young Marine officer during World War II. His childhood memories of stamp collecting (including stamps from the Guinean islands) are a welcome distraction from the dread and fear he feels when he thinks of the approaching Battle of Okinawa. Although written in 1985, the vignette was not published until 2009, in the collection of Marine-related short stories The Suicide Run (Random House 2009).