Guinea, French Guinée, republic (1990 estimated population 6,880,000 2004 estimated population 9,246,462; 94,925 sq mi/245,856 sq km), W Africa. Conakry is (cap.) and chief city.
Geography
The country is bounded on the N by Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali; on the E by Côte d'Ivoire; on the S by Sierra Leone and Liberia; and on the W by the Atlantic Ocean. A humid and tropical country, Guinea comprises an alluvial coastal plain, the mountainous Fouta Djallon region, a savanna interior, and the forested Guinea Highlands, which rise to c.5,800 ft/1,768 m in the Nimba Mountains.
Population
The main ethnic groups are the pastoral Fulani and the agrarian Malinké, Susu, and other peoples. French is the country’s official language and Islam the chief religion.
Economy
Predominantly agricultural, Guinea produces rice, millet, cassava, coffee, bananas, peanuts, pineapples, palm kernels, and citrus fruits. Livestock raising is important in the highlands. Some of the world’s largest bauxite deposits lie in Guinea, and are mined jointly by Guinea and international companies. Iron ore, gold, and diamonds are also mined. Mineral exports increased throughout the 1980s, creating a favorable trade balance, but fighting along the Sierra Leonean and Liberian borders, as well as refugee movements, have caused economic challenges, especially in the mining sector which was generating over 75% of the nation’s export revenue in 1999. Alumina and bauxite are the leading exports; other exports include iron ore and a variety of agricultural products, including coffee, pineapples, bananas, and palm kernels. Guinea’s chief trading partners are the U.S. and Western Europe. Guinea has some light industry, but inadequate transportation facilities have hampered industrialization. Rail lines connect some large cities, and there are airports at Conakry (international) and Kankan . Expansion of the mineral industry has led to improvement of the road network.
History to 1891
The northeastern plains of present-day Guinea belonged to medieval Ghana and later to the Mali empire. In the early 18th century, a Fulani feudal state was established in the Fouta Djallon region. European exploration of the Guinean coast began with the Portuguese in the mid-15th century; by the 17th century French, British, and Portuguese traders were competing for slaves and by the 19th century for palm oil, peanuts, and other products. Anger over excessive levies exacted from French traders by local chieftains led France to proclaim a protectorate over the Boké area of Guinea in 1849. After a series of wars and agreements with other tribal chiefs, France took control of much of the rest of Guinea and annexed it under the name Rivières du Sud [rivers of the South].
History - 1891 to 1966
In 1891 it was constituted as a French colony separate from Senegal, of which it had hitherto been a part. Its name was changed to French Guinea in 1893, and two years later it became part of French West Africa. Guinean resistance to French rule was not quelled until 1898, however, and sporadic revolts continued into the 20th century. Little economic development occurred under the colonial regime until just before World War II, when exploitation of Guinea’s rich bauxite deposits began. The parallel growth of a radical labor movement led to the rise of Sékou Touré, a union leader who also headed the Parti Démocratique de Guinée (PDG), a branch of the intercolonial Rassemblement Démocratique Africain. Under his leadership, Guinea became the only colony to vote against the constitution of the French Community in 1958 and to opt for complete independence. France retaliated by severing relations and withdrawing all financial and technical aid and personnel; ties were reestablished in 1963. Guinea cultivated close relations with the Soviet Union but expelled the Soviet ambassador in 1961 for alleged interference in the country’s internal affairs. Touré also advocated African unity and steered the country into a union (largely symbolic) with Ghana in 1958; Mali joined in 1961. In the late 1960s, Guinea sought improved relations with the West, although its basic international posture has remained one of nonalignment. Touré fostered Pan-Africanism; the limitation or renunciation of sovereignty in favor of African unity is written into Guinea’s constitution.
History - 1966 to 1989
In 1966, when Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah was deposed, Touré welcomed him to Guinea as joint president. Guinea was a one-party Marxist-socialist republic; Touré, who held the presidency from the date of independence until his death in 1984, was head of both the government and the PDG. In 1972 he relinquished the post of premier to Louis Lansana Beavogui. In 1970 the country was invaded from Guinea-Bissau (then Portuguese Guinea) by a small force that included Guinean exiles opposed to Touré. The invasion was unsuccessful, and several political trials and executions followed. Guinea actively supported the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau, and Conakry was the movement’s headquarters. In 1973, Guinea took greater control of the foreign-owned bauxite industry and in 1974 became one of the seven charter members of the International Association of Producers of Bauxite. Touré’s isolationist policies and brutal suppression of political opponents eventually lost him public support. A softening of his policies was evident toward the end of his tenure; relations with France were normalized in 1978, and France supplied Guinea with an aid package for infrastructural projects. Touré was also able to secure aid for industrial projects from Arab nations.
History - 1989 to Present
Immediately after Touré’s death, a military coup brought the Military Committee of National Recovery (CMRN) to power under Colonel Lansana Conté. Under Conté, private enterprise and ties with Western nations have been strengthened. In 1989, Conté announced that civilian rule would be restored and that democratic reforms would take place in the mid-1990s. Also in 1989, French funds were provided for the construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Konkouré River. From the mid- to the late 1990s, Guinea received close to 400,000 refugees from the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Government
Conté was elected head of state in the multiparty elections held in December 1993, reelected in 1998 and again in 2003. In 2004, Francois Lonseny Fall became prime minister.
