Africa's only Spanish-speaking country is a repressive dictatorship that was until fairly recently fairly closed off to most visitors. But this small swath of West Africa is well worth a visit for its fascinating menu of history, culture, and ecotourism as well as friendly people.
Cover photo: ColleBlanche
Embassy of Equatorial Guinea This small slice of West Africa holds a unique distinction as the continent´s only Spanish-speaking country, and this is the lingua franca that most ties it together. There are a dozen tribal languages spoken here - with Fang the most widespread, especially on the mainland, and Bubi important on Bioko Island - but Spanish is used in government, schools, media, and communication between ethnic groups, making it the country’s real lingua franca, spoken by up to 90…
Read more…Not necessarily tourist-oriented, this video provides an interesting look and background on one of Africa's stranger countries, where Spanish is spoken and infrastructure is among the continent's best, alongside grinding poverty and shameless corruption. This has always been a place I've been very curious to visit - perhaps next year!
Read more…alarico, Africa’s only Spanish-speaking country is divided into two major regions – the island on which capital Malabo (which I covered here recently) is located, and larger Río Muni on the mainland, sandwiched between Cameroon and Gabon. Bustling port city Bata (pop. 173,000) is the capital of Litoral Province, which runs along West Africa’s Atlantic coast, and is the country’s economic capital, with a lot of domestic airlift to/from international gateway Malabo (which I wrote about on this…
Read more…Ruta 47 When you think about Spanish-speaking nations outside the mother country of Spain – well, it’s all about Latin America, right? The answer is: not quite. Tucked away on West Africa‘s Atlantic coastline, Equatorial Guinea is the only country on the entire continent to have Spanish as its official language (alongside local African languages such as Fang and Bubi). How in the world did this come about? Well, to cut a very long story short, after being initially discovered by Portugal in the…
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Here's one for my fellow language geeks! Not too many are aware that Africa has a Spanish-speaking country! Equatorial Guinea in West Africa was Guinea Española, ruled by Spain for nearly 200 years, and Spanish is an official language which unites the country, spoken by most of its population alongside local languages like Fang, Benga, and others. And though on the surface local Spanish greatly resembles that spoken in its former colonizer, there are some interesting differences: learn more here: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/equatorial-guinea-spanish/.