Fernandino Peoples - II. Krio Fernandinos

II. Krio Fernandinos

The other Fernandinos of Equatorial Guinea descended from English speaking freed slaves of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Essentially, Krios are descendants of liberated Africans, as well as repatriated West Indians and African-Americans who immigrated back to Africa, Liberia, in the 1800s. Supported by the American Colonization Society, groups of free African-Americans emigrated primarily from Nova Scotia and England to Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Bioko Island where they became a dominant force in the evolution of local society and economy, assisting America as well European empires in the colonial progression of these regions. They were initially discouraged from mingling with the local, less educated and/or liberated indigenous people and more inclined to inter-marry with families of similar backgrounds. Krios eventually blended with the local populations, with Krio women and offspring taking on the surnames of indigenous families. They have contributed to the present-day existence of a very ethnically/racially mixed population that exists up and down the West Coast of Africa where the reality of such great heritage diversity, heavily influenced by the West, tends to be subdued.

The Krios arrived on the island of Fernando Po in 1827, a year after Great Britain leased the island of Fernando Po for fifty years. Thus the Krios joined an influx of several hundred freed Creole African descended immigrants from Cape Coast and other groups from British colonized Africa. The Krios began populating an area known as Clarence Cove - a harbor. The first inhabitants purchased dwellings for $3,000 to $5,000, with a handful of large plantation owners who'd engaged in cocoa and yam farming industry which was controlled by English and Spanish factory owners. Krios have been noted for their scholastic achievement and business acumen.