Elobey, Annobón and Corisco
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Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco was a colonial administration of Spanish Africa, consisting of the small islands of Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico, Annobón, and Corisco, located in the Gulf of Guinea. 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 now part part of the Litoral Province within the Continental Region of Equatorial Guinea, while Annobón constitutes a province in its own right within the Insular Region.
[edit] Postage stamps
The colony is remembered by philatelists for having issued its own postage stamps between 1903 and 1910. The first issue depicted a profile of the young Alfonso XIII of Spain, and consisted of 18 values, from 1/4 centimos to 10 pesetas. The values from 1c to 10p were reprinted in 1905, but inscribed "1905".
In 1906, the 1c, 2c, 3c, and 4c values were surcharged 10c, 15c, 25c, and 50c, using a box with the value and "1906". A 1907 set of 16 values updated to a profile of an older Alfonso. Several of these values were surcharged between 1908 and 1910. A total of 72 issues are identified in the Yvert catalogue.
Subsequently the island used the stamps of Spanish Guinea.
[edit] In 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).
[edit] References
- Scott catalogue
- Stuart Rossiter & John Flower, The Stamp Atlas
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