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Updates: 

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-3 is dated 2011-12-15. This update changes the spelling of some province names. Following ISO, I have removed the accent from Wele-Nzás.

Country overview: 

Short name	EQUATORIAL GUINEA
ISO code	GQ
FIPS code	EK
Language	Spanish (es)
Time zone	+1
Capital	Malabo

 

At the start of the 20th century, there were three Spanish colonies called Elobey, Annobón y Corisco; Fernando Póo; and Guinea Continental Española. In 1909 they were united under one administration, forming Territorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea. The more convenient name Guinea Española was used increasingly, and finally became official. On 1935-04-16, the colony was subdivided into two districts: Fernando Póo (capital Santa Isabel, included Annobón Island) and Guinea Continental (capital Bata, included Corisco and Elobey). On 1960-04-01, the two districts became Spanish overseas provinces under the names Fernando Póo and Río Muni. On 1963-12-20 the provinces were combined once more into Guinea Ecuatorial, an autonomous region. On 1968-10-12 it became an independent country.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Ækvatorialguinea, Republikken Ækvatorialguinea
2. Dutch: Equatoriaal-Guinea, Equatoriaal Guinee, Republiek Equatoriaal-Guinea (formal)
3. English: Republic of Equatorial Guinea (formal)
4. Finnish: Päiväntasaajan Guinea
5. French: Guinée f équatoriale
6. German: Äquatorialguinea n
7. Icelandic: Miðbaugs-Gínea
8. Italian: Guinea f Equatoriale
9. Norwegian: Ekvatorial-Guinea, Republikken Ekvatorial-Guinea (formal)
10. Portuguese: Guiné Equatorial, República f da Guiné f Equatorial (formal)
11. Russian: Республика Экваториальная Гвинея (formal)
12. Spanish: Guinea Ecuatorial, República f de Guinea f Ecuatorial (formal)
13. Swedish: Ekvatorialguinea
14. Turkish: Ekvatoral Gine Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Descriptive: lies near the equator and on the Gulf of Guinea (see Guinea)

Primary subdivisions: 

Equatorial Guinea is divided into seven provinces.

Province	HASC	FIPS	Reg	Pop-1994	Pop-1983	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Annobón	GQ.AN	EK03	I	2,820	2,006	17	7	San Antonio de Palea
Bioko Norte	GQ.BN	EK04	I	75,137	46,221	776	300	Malabo
Bioko Sur	GQ.BS	EK05	I	12,569	10,969	1,241	479	Luba
Centro Sur	GQ.CS	EK06	C	60,341	52,393	9,931	3,834	Evinayong
Kié-Ntem	GQ.KN	EK07	C	92,779	70,202	3,943	1,522	Ebebiyín
Litoral	GQ.LI	EK08	C	100,047	66,370	6,665	2,573	Bata
Wele-Nzas	GQ.WN	EK09	C	62,458	51,839	5,478	2,115	Mongomo
7 provinces				406,151	300,000	28,051	10,830
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the province codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Reg: Region (for key, see "Further subdivisions" below). Pop-1994: 1994-09-09 census (Source [1]) Pop-1983: 1983-07-04 census

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Equatorial Guinea page.

Equatorial Guinea also uses a subdivision into two regions. ISO 3166-2 lists them, assigning them the one-letter codes shown below, and FIPS assigns them the four-character codes shown. These regions were the former provinces of the country.

ISO	ISO name	FIPS	FIPS name
C	Región Continental	EK02	Río Muni
I	Región Insular	EK01	Bioko

 

Before 1963, Fernando Póo was subdivided into four regional districts, and Río Muni was subdivided into 11 municipios.

Territorial extent: 

Litoral province contains the islands of Corisco, Elobey Chico, and Elobey Grande in the Muni estuary.

Origins of names: 

1. Annobón: From Portuguese anno bom: happy new year, discovered on 1471-01-01.
2. Bioko: After Adolfo Bioco, who in turn was born in a village named Bioko. Norte: North. Sur: South.
3. Centro Sur: Spanish for Center-South.
4. Fernando Póo: after the Portuguese navigator Fernando Póo, who discovered it and called it Ilha Formosa (beautiful island).
5. Litoral: Spanish for Coastal.
6. Macías Nguema Biyogo: After Francisco Macías (later Masie) Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong, dictator from 1968 until his overthrow in 1979.
7. Río Muni: From the estuary at the southwestern corner of the territory, misnamed as a river by early explorers. Muni is a Pamue word for big.

Change history: 

1. 1973: Name of Fernando Póo island and province changed to Macías Nguema Biyogo (sometimes given as just Macías Nguema); name of Río Muni province changed to Mbini; name of national capital changed from Santa Isabel to Malabo; name of Annobón island changed to Pagalu.
2. 1979: Name of Macías Nguema Biyogo changed to Bioko; name of Mbini restored to Río Muni; name of Pagalu restored to Annobón.
3. ~1990: The provinces became regions, and were subdivided into the seven new provinces.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Fernando Póo: Fernando Po (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] FAO: Documento de Perspectiva - República de Guinea Ecuatorial  (retrieved 2007-05-18). Cites "Estado de población: Resultados del II Censo de Población y II de Viviendas de 1994".