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Updates: 

Sorin Cosoveanu has provided me with some documentation about changes in Equatorial Guinea. A new city, Oyala, has been built as a future capital. Its name has been changed to Djibloho; formal name, Djibloho de Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. And now it has been split from Añisok district as a new district, and simultaneously made a new province, split from Wele-Nzas province, both named Djibloho.

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 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 eight provinces.

Province	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Reg	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Annobón	GQ.AN	AN	EK03	I	5,232	17	7	San Antonio de Palea
Bioko Norte	GQ.BN	BN	EK04	I	299,836	776	300	Malabo
Bioko Sur	GQ.BS	BS	EK05	I	34,627	1,241	479	Luba
Centro Sur	GQ.CS	CS	EK06	C	141,903	9,931	3,834	Evinayong
Djibloho	GQ.DJ		EK09	C				Djibloho
Kié-Ntem	GQ.KN	KN	EK07	C	183,331	3,943	1,522	Ebebiyín
Litoral	GQ.LI	LI	EK08	C	366,130	6,665	2,573	Bata
Wele-Nzas	GQ.WE	WN	EK09	C	191,383	5,478	2,115	Mongomo
8 provinces					1,222,442	28,051	10,830
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Province codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Reg: Region (for key, see "Further subdivisions" below). Population: 2015-07-19 census, preliminary results (Source [3])

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.

The UN LOCODE page  for Equatorial Guinea lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

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. 1935-04-16: Guinea Española colony subdivided into two districts: Fernando Póo (capital Santa Isabel, included Annobón Island) and Guinea Continental (capital Bata, included Corisco and Elobey).
2. 1960-04-01: Status of districts changed to Spanish overseas provinces. Guinea Continental renamed Río Muni.
3. 1963-12-20: Fernando Póo and Río Muni province were combined to form Guinea Ecuatorial autonomous region.
4. 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.
5. 1979: Name of Macías Nguema Biyogo changed to Bioko; name of Mbini restored to Río Muni; name of Pagalu restored to Annobón.
6. ~1990: The provinces became regions, and were subdivided into the seven new provinces.
7. 2015-08-03: Djibloho province split from Wele-Nzas (former HASC code GQ.WN).

Population history:

Province	1983-07-04	1994-09-09	2001	2015-07-19
Annobón	2,006	2,820	5,008	5,232
Bioko Norte	46,221	75,137	231,428	299,836
Bioko Sur	10,969	12,569	29,034	34,627
Centro Sur	52,393	60,341	125,856	141,903
Kié-Ntem	70,202	92,779	167,279	183,331
Litoral	66,370	100,047	298,414	366,130
Wele-Nzas	51,839	62,458	157,980	191,383
Total	300,000	406,151	1,014,999	1,222,442

 

Sources for census data: 2015 - [3], 2001 - [2], 1994 - [1]

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".
2. [2] Evolución y Distribución de la población total por sexo y región . Dirección General de Estadística y Cuentas Nacionales (retrieved 2007-06-05). Paolo Pagani has pointed out that the implied growth rate from 1994 to 2001 is impossibly high. The earlier census may be understated, or the later one exaggerated.
3. [3] Censo de Población 2015: Resultados Preliminares . Ministerio de Economía, Planificación e Inversiones Públicas (retrieved 2016-03-06).
4. [4] "Solemn inauguration of the new city of Djibloho ". Equatorial Guinea’s Press and Information Office (dated 2015-08-03, retrieved 2016-04-22).