El gobernador y su colonia. La imagen de la Guinea española en la época de Miguel Núñez de Prado

Abstract

The true colonial implantation in the continental territory of Guinea was slow and proceeded at the pace of subordinate colonialism. The border delimitation of this territory were established around 1927, allowing for a certain degree of stability. Governor Miguel Núñez de Prado (1926-1931) completed the occupation of Guinea with the actual occupation of the territory, the reinforcement of the colonial guard, the forced mobilisation of African labour for the timber and cocoa industries, the forced concentration of villages, the establishment of missions on the mainland, the repression of resistance movements, the creation of a new colonial education system and the launch of a colonial health service, with a major effort to control epidemics and the establishment of hospitals and the introduction of a health identity card to control the population. The colonial government had an album of photographs/postcards of Guinea prepared for the Colonial Pavilion at the Ibero-American Exhibition in Seville in 1929. The album is preserved in the Library of the Royal Palace in Madrid and contains a large collection of photographs depicting Spain’s apparent colonial control over the Guinean territory.