FERNÁNDEZ DE OVIEDO Y VALDÉS, GONZALO. — Historian, b. in Madrid in 1478, d. in Valladolid in 1557. In 1523 he went to America, where he fought against the indigenous peoples and was governor of the fortress of Santo Domingo.
His *Historia general y natural de las Indias*, the fruit of his colonial experience, constitutes a source of very useful and generally reliable information on the conquest and the early development of the West Indies, Peru, and Mexico. His attitude toward the Indians is at least one of fanaticism. The opposition of Las Casas apparently prevented the publication of the work. He also wrote: *Quinquagenas de la nobleza de España; Batallas y quimeras*.
FERNANDO PÓ, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. With a decree of 10 Oct. 1855 the apostolic prefecture of the Islands of Annobón, Corisco, and Fernando Pó, belonging to Spanish Guinea, was erected, with territory detached from the apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas. It was entrusted to the secular priest Don Michele Martínez y Sanz and, by a decree of 18 July 1857, to the Jesuits.
Later, by another decree of 16 Dec. 1858, the two islands of Elobey Mayor and Menor were united to the aforesaid prefecture, and by a decree of 4 Jan. 1860 the continental territory of Cabo San Juan and the nearby zone then subject to Spain. In 1872 the Jesuits left the mission, which was entrusted to military chaplains and some secular priests until 1883, when the Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians) took over. In that same year the apostolic prefecture was again erected with the territories annexed in 1860. The continental territories had no precise boundaries, and finally on 25 Apr. 1903 the entire zone of Río Muni was annexed to the prefecture, which on 12 May was raised to a vicariate with its present name.
The climate is hot and humid, the terrain very fertile. The indigenous people are of Bantu stock, many of whom understand Spanish. The area is about 29,000 sq. km. According to 1948 statistics, in the vicariate there are 44 Claretian missionaries with 17 lay brothers, 174 sisters. Major seminarians 14 and minor 18. The population exceeds 70,000 inhabitants, of whom 216,898 are indigenous Catholics, 6,000 foreigners, 422 of mixed race, 12,818 catechumens, 8 Eastern dissenters, 9,372 Protestants, 700 Muslims, and about 4,500 pagans. There are 12 parish districts, 18 elementary schools with 2,350 pupils, 1 middle school with 64 pupils, 1 high school with 17 pupils, hospitals, dispensaries, orphanages with 1,870 boys, leper hospitals with 2,500 patients. Two periodicals are also published there.