Guinea
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- For other uses, see Guinea (disambiguation).
The Republic of Guinea (République de Guinée) is a nation in northwest Africa. It borders Guinea-Bissau and Senegal on the north, Mali on the north and north-east, the Ivory Coast on the south-east, Liberia on the south, and Sierra Leone on the west. Its territory encompases the water source for the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia rivers. The name Guinea (geographically assigned to most of Africa's west coast, south of the Sahara desert and north of the Gulf of Guinea) originates from Berber and roughly translates into 'land of the blacks.'
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| National motto: Travail, Justice, Solidarité (French: Work, Justice, Solidarity) | |||||
| Missing image LocationGuinea.png Location of Guinea | |||||
| Official language | French (official), Fula, Arabic, others | ||||
| Capital and largest city | Conakry | ||||
| Capital's coordinates | Template:Coor dm | ||||
| President | Lansana Conté | ||||
| Prime Minister | Cellou Dalein Diallo | ||||
| Area - Total - % water | Ranked 75th 245,857 km² Negligible | ||||
| Population
| Ranked 83rd
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| GDP (PPP)
| Ranked 112th
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| Currency | Guinean franc (FG) | ||||
| Time zone | UTC | ||||
| Independence | 2 October 1958, from France | ||||
| National anthem | Liberté | ||||
| Internet TLD | .gn | ||||
| Calling Code | 224 | ||||
| Contents |
History
Main article: History of Guinea
In part of what is now Guinea, many empires rose and fell. Among them the Mandigo Mali Empire created by Soundiata Kéïta who defeated the Sosso ruler, Soumangourou Kéïta at the Kirina battle in 1235 which ended the Sosso Empire.
The Mali Empire comprising parts of the northern part of Guinea was ruled by Mansa (Emperors). The most famous being Alhaj Kankou Moussa who made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. The Mali Empire fell prey to the Almoravids invaders coming from north Africa who established the Songhai Empire which itself fell prey to the Maurs in 1591.
Fulani Muslims migrated to Foutah Djallon in Central Guinea and established an Islamic state from 1735 to 1898 with a written Constitution and alternate rulers.
Europeans adventurers started the overseas slave trade in the coastal region of Guinea from the 16th to the 19th Century.
Present-day Guinea was created as a colony by France in 1890 with Noël Balley, being the first governor. The capital Conakry was founded on Tombo Island in 1890.
Independent from France since 1958, Guinea did not hold democratic elections until 1993 when Gen. Lansana Conté (head of the military government) was elected president in disputed balloting. Security clampdowns continue, although not as severe as in earlier decades. Reelected in 1998, the President faced growing criticism in 1999 for his jailing of a major opposition leader and widespread economic malaise. Unrest in Sierra Leone also continued to threaten Guinea's stability.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Guinea
Prefectures
Main article: Prefectures of Guinea
Guinea is divided into 33 prefectures and one special zone (the capital, Conakry).
Geography
Main article: Geography of Guinea
The capital is Conakry.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Guinea
Guinea possesses major mineral, hydropower, and agricultural resources, yet remains a poor underdeveloped nation. The agricultural sector employs 80% of the work force. Guinea possesses over 25% of the world's bauxite reserves and is the second largest bauxite producer. The mining sector accounted for about 75% of exports in 1998. Long-run improvements in government fiscal arrangements, literacy, and the legal framework are needed if the country is to move out of poverty. The government made encouraging progress in budget management in 1997-99. Even with a recovery in prices for some of Guinea's main commodity exports, annual GDP is unlikely to increase by more than 5% in 2000-2001.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Guinea
Culture
Main article: Culture of Guinea
Miscellaneous topics
- Communications in Guinea
- Transportation in Guinea
- Military of Guinea
- Foreign relations of Guinea
- National Park of Upper Niger
External links
Template:Portal Template:Commonscat Template:Wiktionary
Government
- Permanent UN Mission of the Republic of Guinea (http://www.un.int/guinea/) official government site
News
- AllAfrica.com - Guinea (http://allafrica.com/guinea/) news headline links
- Guinéenews (http://www.boubah.com)
Overviews
- BBC News Country Profile - Guinea (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1032311.stm)
- CIA World Factbook - Guinea (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gv.html)
Directories
- LookSmart - Guinea (http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317836/us317916/us559898/us559899/us10065674/us559924/) directory category
- Open Directory Project - Guinea (http://dmoz.org/Regional/Africa/Guinea/) directory category
- Stanford University - Africa South of the Sahara: Guinea (http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/guinea.html) directory category
- The Index on Africa - Guinea (http://www.afrika.no/index/Countries/Guinea/) directory category
- University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center: Guinea (http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Country_Specific/Guinea.html) directory category
- Yahoo! - Guinea (http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Guinea/) directory category
Tourism
| Countries in Africa | ||
|
Algeria | Angola | Benin | Botswana | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Cameroon | Cape Verde | Central African Republic | Chad | Comoros | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Republic of the Congo | Côte d'Ivoire | Djibouti | Egypt | Equatorial Guinea | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | The Gambia | Ghana | Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | Kenya | Lesotho | Liberia | Libya | Madagascar | Malawi | Mali | Mauritania | Mauritius | Morocco | Mozambique | Namibia | Niger | Nigeria | Rwanda | São Tomé and Príncipe | Senegal | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Somalia | Somaliland | South Africa | Sudan | Swaziland | Tanzania | Togo | Tunisia | Uganda | Zambia | Zimbabwe | Western Sahara | ||
| Dependencies: Canary Islands | Ceuta and Melilla | Madeira Islands | Mayotte | Réunion | Saint Helena and dependencies | ||
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