and Protestant as well as a cultural arm of British West Africa. They were once noted as being highly xenophobic. A notable example of this was a Krio Fernandino, and son of a Scottish father, named Henry Hugh Gardner. He was beaten by Spanish police after he murdered his African-Catholic Cameroon-born common-law wife, Victoria Castellanos. At the bequest of his mother, Gardner refused to marry Castellanos because she refused religious conversion. She, then, became involved with a Catholic-convert which infuriated Gardener. Krio Fernandinos were, initially, unimpressed and indifferent to Spanish rule. However, by the late-1800s, as Spanish cultural and religious influence grew on the island, Krio Fernandinos found that exclusively marrying into their traditional identity became less practical for political and economic survival. Language Throughout the generations, the Fernandinos maintained their creole language, Fernando Poo Creole English. Krio Fernandinos are exclusively concentrated around Malabo. Although they comprise a distinct ethnic group in Equatorial Guinea, their pidgin dialect is spoken in only six communities (Musola, Las Palmas, Sampaca, Basupu, Fiston and Balueri de Cristo Rey (Bottle Nose). In 1998 it was estimated that the number of fluent speakers of this Equatoguinean language was 5,000. About one-fifth of those 5,000 speakers have this Creole English as their only language. Up to 70,000 EquatoGuineans may use it as a trade language. In the 21st century, Fernando Poo Creole English and Pichinglis have long been fused into one dialect. Religion The majority of Krio Fernandinos are Christian. Krios have contributed to development of the Protestant church in Bioko. Descendants of Iberian parentage tend to be Roman Catholic. Notable Krio Fernandino families See also Afro-Hispanic people Afro-Spaniards Atlantic Creole Aku people (Gambian Creoles) Black African Gold Coast Euro-Africans Freetown Fernão do Pó, formerly part of Fernando Pó'' which included Bioko Island. São Tomé and Príncipe Saros (Nigerian Creoles) Sierra Leone Creole people Spanish Guinea Spanish Equatoguineans References External links Fernandinos Yakpo, Kofi (2009) "A Grammar of Pichi", 692 pp. This link opens a pdf of the most comprehensive linguistic description of Pichinglis (Pichi/Fernando Po Creole English) so far by the linguist Kofi Yakpo (University of Nijmegen) African-American diaspora Fernandino people Creole peoples Ethnic groups in Equatorial Guinea People of Sierra Leone Creole descent Sierra Leone Creole diaspora History of Equatorial Guinea European colonisation in Africa History of Africa Repatriated Africans Ethnic groups in São Tomé and Príncipe Portuguese diaspora in São Tomé and Príncipe Multiracial