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110-484: Faranah Region is divided into four prefectures; which are further sub-divided into 42 sub-prefectures: Faranah Region is traversed by the northwesterly line of equal latitude and longitude. 10°00′N 10°50′W  /  10.000°N 10.833°W  / 10.000; -10.833 This Guinea location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Guinea Guinea ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ n i / GHIN -ee ), officially

220-602: A bloodless coup . Conté assumed the role of president, with Traoré serving as prime minister, until December. Conté denounced the previous regime's record on human rights, releasing 250 political prisoners and encouraging approximately 200 thousand more to return from exile. He made explicit the turn away from socialism. In 1992, Conté announced a return to civilian rule, with a presidential poll in 1993, followed by elections to parliament in 1995 (in which his party—the Party of Unity and Progress —won 71 of 114 seats). In September 2001,

330-458: A coup , declaring himself head of a military junta . Protests against the coup became violent, and 157 people were killed when, on 28 September 2009, the junta ordered its soldiers to attack people gathered to protest Camara's attempt to become president. The soldiers went on a rampage of rape, mutilation, and murder, which caused some foreign governments to withdraw their support for the new regime. On 3 December 2009, an aide shot Camara during

440-479: A weir . The power station was replaced in 2014. In 2013, construction of the Gouina Hydroelectric Plant upstream of Felou at Gouina Falls began. The Senegal River has a drainage basin of 270 000  km ( 100 000  sq mi), a mean flow of 680 m /s ( 24 000  cu ft/s), and an annual discharge of 21.5 km (5.2 cu mi). Important tributaries are

550-581: A "constitutional" resolution of the situation. China (which relies on Guinea for half of its aluminium ore, facilitated by connections to ousted President Condé) openly opposed the coup. Guinea's armed forces are divided into 5 branches—army, navy, air force, the paramilitary National Gendarmerie and the Republican Guard—whose chiefs report to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who

660-484: A camel. Further east, along the river, is the seated emperor ( mansa ) of Mali (" Rex Musa Meli ", prob. Mansa Musa ), holding a gold nugget. His capital, " civitat musa meli " is shown on the shores of the river, and the range of the Emperor of Mali's sway is suggested by all the black banners (an inscription notes "This lord of the blacks is called Musa Melli, Lord of Guinea, the greatest noble lord of these parts for

770-504: A considerable distance south of Cape Bojador ( buyeter ) - indeed, south of a mysterious " cap de abach " (possibly Cape Timris). There are extensive notes about the plentifulness of ivory and gold in the area, including a note that reads "This river is called Wad al-Nil and also is called the River of Gold, for one can here obtain the gold of Palolus. And know that the greater part of those that live here occupy themselves collecting gold on

880-677: A direct route to the Atlantic Ocean. The aquatic fauna in the Senegal River basin is closely associated with that of the Gambia River basin, and the two are usually combined under a single ecoregion known as the Senegal-Gambia Catchments . Although the species richness is moderately high, only three species of frogs and one fish are endemic to this ecoregion. The existence of the Senegal River

990-602: A dispute over the rampage in September. Camara went to Morocco for medical care. Vice-president (and defense minister) Sékouba Konaté flew from Lebanon to run the country. After meeting in Ouagadougou on 13 and 14 January 2010, Camara, Konaté and Blaise Compaoré , President of Burkina Faso , produced a formal statement of 12 principles promising a return of Guinea to civilian rule within 6 months. The presidential election of 27 June brought allegations of fraud, and

1100-457: A majority of the votes cast to be elected president. The president governs Guinea, assisted by a council of 25 civilian ministers , appointed by him. The government administers the country through 8 regions, 33 prefectures , over 100 subprefectures , and districts (known as communes in Conakry and other cities and villages, or quartiers in the interior). District-level leaders are elected;

1210-495: A population of 1,675,069 ranks as a special zone. Guinea is a republic. The president is directly elected by the people and is the head of state and the head of government . The unicameral National Assembly is the legislative body of the country, and its members are directly elected by the people. The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court of Guinea  [ fr ] , the highest and final court of appeal in

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1320-403: A public appearance in Conakry. His opponents claimed that he was a "tired dictator", whose departure was inevitable, whereas his supporters believed that he was winning a battle with dissidents. According to Foreign Policy , Guinea was in danger of becoming a failed state . In 2000, Guinea suffered as rebels crossed the borders from Liberia and Sierra Leone . Some thought that the country

1430-595: A raid on Conakry by several hundred exiled Guinean opposition forces. Among their goals, the Portuguese military wanted to kill or capture Sekou Touré due to his support of PAIGC , an independence movement and rebel group that had carried out attacks inside Portuguese Guinea from their bases in Guinea. After some fighting, the Portuguese-backed forces retreated. Guinea was elected as a non-permanent member of

1540-538: A reference to Ptolemy 's legendary 'Nigir' (Νιγειρ) (below the Gir), which would be later identified by Leo Africanus with the modern Niger River . Much the same story is repeated by Marmol in 1573, with the additional note that both the Senegal River and Gambia River were tributaries of the Niger River . However, the contemporary African atlas of Venetian cartographer Livio Sanuto , published in 1588, sketches

1650-709: A scimitar. The River of Gold is sourced at a circular island, what seem like the Mountains of the Moon (albeit unlabeled here). From this same source also flows north the White Nile towards Egypt, which forms the frontier between the Muslim "king of Nubia " (" Rex Onubia ", his range depicted by crescent-on-gold banners) and the Christian Prester John (" Preste Joha "), i.e. the emperor of Ethiopia in

1760-505: A second election was held on 7 November. Voter turnout was "high", and the elections went "relatively smoothly". Alpha Condé , leader of the opposition party Rally of the Guinean People (RGP), won the election, promising to reform the security sector and review mining contracts. In February 2013, political violence erupted after street protests over the transparency of the upcoming May elections . The protests were fueled by

1870-830: A single ecoregion known as the Senegal-Gambia Catchments . Only three species of frogs and one fish are endemic to this ecoregion. The river has two large dams along its course, the Manantali Dam in Mali and the Maka-Diama Dam downstream on the Mauritania-Senegal border. In between is the Félou Hydroelectric Plant , built in 1927, but replaced in 2014. The construction of the Gouina Hydroelectric Plant upstream of Felou at Gouina Falls began in 2013. The Senegal's headwaters are

1980-454: A sovereign and independent republic, with Sékou Touré as president. Later, Opération Persil was planned by Jacques Foccart ; they planned to create large quantities of forged Guinean francs to hyperinflate Guinea's economy and to arm Touré's opposition figures. However, the operation was leaked, and soon, the Guinean was issuing a number of official complaints. In 1960, Touré declared

2090-420: Is believed that the first case was Emile Ouamouno, a 2-year-old boy in the village of Meliandou . He fell ill on 2 December 2013 and died on 6 December. On 18 September 2014, 8 members of an Ebola education health care team were murdered by villagers in the town of Womey . As of 1 November 2015, there had been 3,810 cases and 2,536 deaths in Guinea. Mass civil unrest and violent protests broke out against

2200-463: Is home to 5 ecoregions: Guinean montane forests , Western Guinean lowland forests , Guinean forest-savanna mosaic , West Sudanian savanna , and Guinean mangroves . It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.9/10, ranking it 114th globally out of 172 countries. The southern part of Guinea lies within the Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity hotspot , while

2310-684: Is illegal in Guinea. The prime minister declared in 2010 that he does not consider sexual orientation a legitimate human right. Guinea has one of the world's highest rates of female genital mutilation (FGM, sometimes referred to as 'female circumcision') according to Anastasia Gage, an associate professor at Tulane University , and Ronan van Rossem, an associate professor at Ghent University . Female genital mutilation in Guinea had been performed on more than 98% of women as of 2009 . In Guinea "almost all cultures, religions, and ethnicities" practice female genital mutilation. The 2005 Demographic and Health Survey reported that 96% of women have gone through

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2420-452: Is now Guinea either bordered or was situated within a series of historic African empires before the French arrived in the 1890s and claimed the terrain as part of colonial French West Africa . Guinea declared independence from France on 2 October 1958. From independence until the presidential election of 2010, Guinea was governed by multiple autocratic rulers. What is now Guinea sat on

2530-489: Is one of the emerging regional producers of apples and pears. There are plantations of grapes, pomegranates, and more recent years have seen the development of strawberry plantations, based on the vertical hydroponic system. Guinea has 25% or more of the world's known bauxite reserves. It has diamonds, gold, and other metals. Bauxite and alumina are the most major exports. Guinea possesses over 25 billion tonnes (metric tons) of bauxite —and perhaps up to one half of

2640-523: Is roughly the size of the United Kingdom. There are 320 km (200 mi) of coastline and a total land border of 3,400 km (2,100 mi). It lies mostly between latitudes 7° and 13°N , and longitudes 7° and 15°W , with a smaller area that is west of 15°. Guinea is divided into 4 regions: Maritime Guinea , also known as Lower Guinea or the Basse-Coté lowlands, populated mainly by

2750-804: Is subordinate to the Minister of Defence. In addition, regime security forces include the National Police Force (Sûreté Nationale). The Gendarmerie, responsible for internal security, has a strength of several thousand. The army, with about 15,000 personnel, is by far the largest branch of the armed forces and is mainly responsible for protecting the state borders, the security of administered territories, and defending Guinea's national interests. Air force personnel total about 700. Its equipment includes several Russian-supplied fighter planes and transports. The navy has about 900 personnel and operates several small patrol craft and barges. Homosexuality

2860-542: The border between Senegal and Mauritania . It has a drainage basin of 270 000  km ( 100 000  sq mi), a mean flow of 680 m /s (24,000 cu ft/s), and an annual discharge of 21.5 km (5.2 cu mi). Important tributaries are the Falémé River , Karakoro River , and the Gorgol River . The river divides into two branches once it passes Kaédi The left branch, called

2970-635: The Atlantic . In Kaedi it accepts the Gorgol from Mauritania. Flowing through Boghé it reaches Richard Toll where it is joined by the Ferlo coming from inland Senegal's Lac de Guiers . It passes through Rosso and, approaching its mouth, around the Senegalese island on which the city of Saint-Louis is located, to then turn south. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a thin strip of sand called

3080-687: The Bambuk -Buré goldfield district, which is practically surrounded on all sides by rivers - the Senegal river to the north, the Falémé River to the west, the Bakhoy to the east and the Niger and Tinkisso to the south. The 1413 portolan chart of Mecia de Viladestes gives perhaps the most detailed depiction of the early state of European knowledge about the Senegal River prior to the 1440s. Viladestes labels it "River of Gold" (" riu del or ") and locates it

3190-520: The Battle of Kirina in c.  1235 . The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa (Emperors), including Kankou Moussa , who made a hajj to Mecca in 1324. After his reign, the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century. The Songhai Empire expanded its power in about 1460. It continued to prosper until a civil war, over succession, followed

3300-547: The Democratic Party of Guinea the country's only legal political party, and for the next 24 years, the government and PDG were one. Touré was re-elected unopposed to four 7-year terms as president, and every 5 years voters were presented with a single list of PDG candidates for the National Assembly. On 22 November 1970, Portuguese forces from neighbouring Portuguese Guinea staged Operation Green Sea ,

3410-558: The Doué , runs parallel to the main river to the north. After 200 km (120 mi) the two branches rejoin a few kilometers downstream of Podor . In 1972 Mali , Mauritania and Senegal founded the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) to manage the river basin. Guinea joined in 2005. As of 2012 , only very limited use was made of the river for the transportation of goods and passengers. The OMVS have looked at

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3520-425: The Falémé River , Karakoro River , and the Gorgol River . Downstream of Kaédi the river divides into two branches. The left branch called the Doué runs parallel to the main river to the north. After 200 km (120 mi) the two branches rejoin a few kilometres downstream of Pondor . The long strip of land between the two branches is called the Île á Morfil . In 1972 Mali, Mauritania and Senegal founded

3630-522: The Langue de Barbarie before it pours into the ocean itself. The river has two large dams along its course, the multi-purpose Manantali Dam in Mali and the Maka-Diama Dam downstream on the Mauritania-Senegal border, near the outlet to the sea, preventing access of salt water upstream . In between Manantali and Maka-Diama is the Félou Hydroelectric Plant which was originally completed in 1927 and uses

3740-482: The Langue de Barbarie or the island of Saint-Louis ). The first town, by the mouth of the Senegal, is called " isingan " (arguably the etymological source of the term "Senegal"). East of that, the Senegal forms a riverine island called " insula de bronch " ( Île à Morfil ). By its shores lies the city of " tocoror " ( Takrur ). Above it is a depiction of the Almoravid general Abu Bakr ibn Umar (" Rex Bubecar ") on

3850-467: The Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) to manage the river basin. Guinea joined in 2005. At the present time, only very limited use is made of the river for the transport of goods and passengers. The OMVS have looked at the feasibility of creating a navigable channel 55 m (180 ft) in width between the small town of Ambidédi in Mali and Saint-Louis , a distance of 905 km (562 mi). It would give landlocked Mali

3960-609: The Republic of Guinea ( French : République de Guinée ), is a coastal country in West Africa . It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sierra Leone and Liberia to the south. It is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry , after its capital Conakry , to distinguish it from other territories in

4070-751: The Semefé (Bakoye) and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea ; they form a small part of the Guinea–Mali border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali. From there, the Senegal river flows west and then north through Talari Gorges near Galougo and over the Gouina Falls , then flows more gently past Kayes , where it receives the Kolimbiné . After flowing together with the Karakoro , it prolongs

4180-630: The Susu ethnic group; the cooler, more mountainous Fouta Djallon that run roughly north–south through the middle of the country, populated by Fulas; the Sahelian Haute-Guinea to the northeast, populated by Malinké ; and the forested jungle regions in the southeast, with several ethnic groups. Guinea's mountains are the source for the Niger, the Gambia, and Senegal Rivers, and rivers flowing to

4290-722: The UN Security Council 1972–73. In 1977, a declining economy and a ban on all private economic transactions led to the Market Women's Revolt , a series of anti-government riots started by women working in Conakry's Madina Market . Touré vacillated from supporting the Soviet Union to supporting the United States. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw some economic reforms. After the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as French president, trade increased and

4400-501: The United Nations . According to a February 2009 U.S. Department of State statement, Guinea's foreign relations, including those with its West African neighbours, had improved steadily since 1985. The Department's October 2018 statement indicated that although "the U.S. condemned" Guinea's "2008 military coup d'etat," the U.S. had "close relations" with Guinea before the coup, and after "Guinea's presidential elections in 2010,

4510-563: The Western Sahara and emerged into an inlet, which they excitedly believed to be the mouth of the Senegal River. The name they mistakenly bestowed upon the inlet - "Rio do Ouro" - is a name it would remain stuck with down to the 20th century. Realizing the mistake, Henry kept pressing his captains further down the coast, and in 1445, the Portuguese captain Nuno Tristão finally reached the Langue de Barbarie , where he noticed

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4620-435: The eponymous region , such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea . Guinea has a population of 14 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi). Formerly French Guinea , it achieved independence in 1958. Guinea has a history of military coups d'état . After decades of authoritarian rule, it held its first democratic election in 2010. As it continued to hold multi-party elections,

4730-466: The 1367 chart of Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano and carried on in the 1375 Catalan Atlas , the 1413 chart of the Catalan converso Mecia de Viladestes , etc. the "River of Gold" is depicted (if only speculatively), draining into the Atlantic Ocean somewhere just south of Cape Bojador . The legend of Cape Bojador as a terrifying obstacle, the 'cape of no return' to European sailors, emerged around

4840-608: The 1460s, was already calling it the "Senega" [ sic ], and it is denoted as Rio do Çanagà on most subsequent Portuguese maps of the age. Cadamosto relates the legend that both the Senegal and the Egyptian Nile were branches of the Biblical Gihon River that stems from the Garden of Eden and flows through Ethiopia . He also notes that the Senegal was called "the Niger" by the ancients - probably

4950-524: The 2021 coup, and some of Guinea's allies condemned the coup. The African Union and West Africa's regional bloc ( ECOWAS ) both threatened sanctions, while some analysts expect the threats to be of limited effect because Guinea is not a member of the West African currency union and is not a landlocked country. ECOWAS promptly suspended Guinea's membership and demanded the unconditional release of President Condé, while sending envoys to Conakry to attempt

5060-468: The Atlantic ocean. The 1351 Medici-Laurentian Atlas shows both the Egyptian Nile and the western Nile stemming from the same internal mountain range, with the note that " Ilic coligitur aureaum ". The portolan chart of Giovanni da Carignano (1310s-20s) has the river with the label, iste fluuis exit de nilo ubi multum aurum repperitur . In the more accurately-drawn portolan charts , starting with

5170-534: The Bambuk-Buré goldfields). It is connected by many streams to the southerly "mountains of gold" (labelled " montanies del lor ", the Futa Djallon / Bambouk Mountains and Loma Mountains of Sierra Leone). It is evident the Senegal river morphs east, unbroken, into the Niger River - the cities of " tenbuch " ( Timbuktu ), " geugeu " ( Gao ) and " mayna " ( Niamey ? or a misplaced Niani ?) are denoted along

5280-548: The Egyptian Nile River or drawn from the same source (variously conjectured to some great internal lakes of the Mountains of the Moon , or Ptolemy 's Gir (Γειρ) or the Biblical Gihon stream). Arab geographers Abd al-Hassan Ali ibn Omar (1230), Ibn Said al-Maghribi (1274) and Abulfeda (1331), label the Senegal as the "Nile of Ghana " (Nil Gana or Nili Ganah). As the Senegal River reached into

5390-479: The Mediterranean coast. There is an unlabeled depiction of a black African man on a camel traveling from " Uuegar " (prob. Hoggar ) to the town of "Organa" (" ciutat organa ", variously identified as Kanem or Ouargla or possibly even a misplaced depiction of Ghana - long defunct, but, on the other hand, contemporaneous with the depicted Abu Bakr). Nearby sits its Arab-looking king (" Rex Organa ") holding

5500-603: The Portuguese captain Lourenço Dias opened regular trade contact on the Senegal River, with the Wolof statelets of Waalo (near the mouth of the Senegal River) and Cayor (a little below that), drumming up a profitable business exchanging Mediterranean goods (notably, horses) for gold and slaves. Chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara , writing in 1453, still called it the "Nile River", but Alvise Cadamosto , writing in

5610-535: The Senegal (albeit still trying to respect Classical sources), shows two parallel rivers running east to west, both of them sourced from the same great internal lake (which, Fra Mauro asserts, is also the same source as the Egyptian Nile). Mauro names the two parallel rivers differently,calling one " flumen Mas ("Mas River"), the other the " canal dal oro " ("Channel of Gold"), and makes the note that " Inne larena de questi do fiume se trova oro de paiola " ("In

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5720-541: The Senegal was taken up in the 1420s by the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator , who invested heavily to reach it. In 1434, one of Henry's captains, Gil Eanes , finally surpassed Cape Bojador and returned to tell about it. Henry immediately dispatched a follow-up mission in 1435, under Gil Eanes and Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia . Going down the coast, they turned around the al-Dakhla peninsula in

5830-399: The Senegal, the Niger and the Gambia as three separate, parallel rivers. Portuguese chronicler João de Barros (writing in 1552) says the river's original local Wolof name was Ovedech (which according to one source, comes from "vi-dekh", Wolof for "this river"). His contemporary, Damião de Góis (1567) records it as Sonedech (from "sunu dekh", Wolof for "our river"). Writing in 1573,

5940-619: The Spanish geographer Luis del Marmol Carvajal asserts that the Portuguese called it Zenega , the 'Zeneges' (Berber Zenaga ) called it the Zenedec , the 'Gelofes' ( Wolofs ) call it Dengueh , the 'Tucorones' ( Fula Toucouleur ) called it Mayo , the 'Çaragoles' ( Soninke Sarakole of Ngalam ) called it Colle and further along (again, Marmol assuming Senegal was connected to the Niger),

6050-442: The United States re-established strong diplomatic relations with the government." The statement indicated support for the "legislative elections in 2013 and a second presidential election in 2015" as signs of "democratic reform." A March 2021 report by the U.S. Department of State blasted extensive human rights violations by the government, security forces and businesses in Guinea. The report cited extensive international criticism of

6160-562: The abundance of the gold which is collected in his lands". Curiously, there is a defiant gold-bannered town south of the river, labelled " tegezeut " (probably the Ta'adjast of al-Idrisi), and might be an ichoate reference to Djenné . East of Mali, the river forms a lake or "Island of Gold" shown here studded with river-washed gold nuggets (this is what the Pizzigani brothers called the island of " Palolus ", and most commentators take to indicate

6270-399: The armies of Samori Touré , Mansa (or Emperor) of the Ouassoulou state and leader of Malinké descent, in 1898 gave France control of what today is Guinea and adjacent areas. France negotiated Guinea's present boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the British for Sierra Leone , the Portuguese for their Guinea colony (now Guinea-Bissau ), and Liberia . Under the French,

6380-476: The capital of a local kingdom. The location Senegany is depicted in 1351 Genoese map known as the Medici Atlas (Laurentian Gaddiano portolan). This town ("Isingan") is fantastically depicted in the 1413 portolan map of Majorcan cartographer Mecia de Viladestes . The name itself might be of Berber Zenaga origin, speculatively related to 'Ismegh' ('black slave', analogous to the Arabic 'abd ) or 'sagui nughal' ('border'). Some sources claim 'Isinghan' remained

6490-538: The civil administration with its military counterpart. The United Nations , European Union , African Union , ECOWAS (which suspended Guinea's membership), and La Francophonie denounced the coup, and called for President Condé's unconditional release. Similar responses came from some neighboring and Western countries (including the United States ), and from China (which relies on Guinea for half of its aluminum ore, facilitated by its connections to President Condé). Despite these, on 1 October 2021, Mamady Doumbouya

6600-426: The coast of Africa, albeit without communication with Atlantic (it ends in a lake). It depicts some giant ants digging up gold dust from its sands, with the note " Hic grandes formice auream serican [or servant] arenas " ("Here great ants guard gold sands"). In the mappa mundi made by Pietro Vesconte for the c. 1320 atlas of Marino Sanuto , there is an unnamed river stemming from the African interior and opening in

6710-405: The collection of gold and that the river was wide and deep enough for the largest ships. Nothing more is heard of him either. In 1402, after establishing the first European colony on the Canary Islands , the French Norman adventurers Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle set about immediately probing the African coast, looking for directions to the mouth of Senegal. The project of finding

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6820-415: The colonies the choice of autonomy in a new French Community or immediate independence in the referendum of 28 September 1958. Guinea voted overwhelmingly for independence. It was led by Ahmed Sékou Touré , whose Democratic Party of Guinea-African Democratic Rally (PDG) had won 56 of 60 seats in the 1957 territorial elections. The French later withdrew, and on 2 October 1958, Guinea proclaimed itself

6930-403: The country formed the Territory of Guinea within French West Africa , administered by a governor general resident in Dakar . Lieutenant governors administered the individual colonies, including Guinea. In 1958, the French Fourth Republic collapsed due to political instability and its failures in dealing with its colonies, especially Indochina and Algeria . The French Fifth Republic gave

7040-410: The country in the following weeks. Existing civil and economic unrest in the country temporarily worsened as a result, with several confrontations between protestors and police in Conakry, increased fuel and travel costs, and general price inflation throughout the country. Guinea shares a border with Guinea-Bissau to the northwest , Senegal to the north , Mali to the northeast , Ivory Coast to

7150-403: The country still faces ethnic conflicts, corruption, and abuses by the military and police. In 2011, the United States government claimed that torture by security forces and abuse of women and children (including female genital mutilation ) were ongoing human rights issues. In 2021, a military faction overthrew president Alpha Condé and suspended the constitution. Muslims represent 90% of

7260-412: The country. The National Assembly of Guinea , the country's legislative body, did not meet from 2008 to 2013, when it was dissolved after the military coup in December. Elections have been postponed multiple times since 2007. In April 2012, President Condé postponed the elections indefinitely, citing the need to ensure that they were "transparent and democratic". The 2013 Guinean legislative election

7370-449: The death of Askia Daoud in 1582. The empire fell to invaders from Morocco in 1591, but the kingdom later split into smaller kingdoms. After the fall of some of the West African empires, various kingdoms existed in what is now Guinea. Fulani Muslims migrated to Futa Jallon in Central Guinea, and established an Islamic state from 1727 to 1896 with a written constitution and alternate rulers. The Wassoulou or Wassulu Empire (1878–1898)

7480-498: The desert end and the treeline begin, and the population change from 'tawny' Sanhaja Berbers to 'black' Wolof people . Bad weather or lack of supplies prevented Tristão from actually reaching the mouth of the Senegal River, but he rushed back to Portugal to report he had finally found the "Land of the Blacks" ( Terra dos Negros ), and that the "Nile" was surely nearby. Shortly after (possibly still within that same year) another captain, Dinis Dias (sometimes given as Dinis Fernandes)

7590-403: The earliest descriptions of the Senegal River. Early Arab geographers believed the upper Senegal River and the upper Niger River were connected to each other, and formed a single river flowing from east to west, which they called the "Western Nile". (In fact, some of the headwaters of the Senegal River are near the Niger River in Mali and Guinea.) It was believed to be either a western branch of

7700-430: The east , Sierra Leone to the southwest and Liberia to the south . The nation forms a crescent as it curves from its southeast region to the north and west, to its northwest border with Guinea-Bissau and southwestern coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The sources of the Niger River , the Gambia River , and the Senegal River are all found in the Guinea Highlands . At 245,857 km (94,926 sq mi), Guinea

7810-405: The feasibility of creating a navigable channel 55 m (180 ft) in width between the small town of Ambidédi in Mali and Saint-Louis , a distance of 905 km (562 mi). It would give landlocked Mali a direct route to the Atlantic Ocean . The aquatic fauna in the Senegal River basin is closely associated with that of the Gambia River basin, and the two are usually combined under

7920-442: The first European to actually enter the Senegal river. He didn't get very far. Venturing ashore at one point along the river bank, Afonso tried to kidnap two Wolof children from a woodsman's hut. But he ran into their father, who proceeded to chase the Portuguese back to their launch and gave them such a beating that the explorers gave up on going any further, and turned back to the waiting caravels. Sometime between 1448 and 1455,

8030-601: The former's course along the Mali–Mauritania border for some tens of kilometers till Bakel where it flows together with the Falémé River , which also has its source in Guinea, subsequently runs along a small part of the Guinea-Mali frontier to then trace most of the Senegal-Mali border up to Bakel. The Senegal further flows through semi-arid land in the north of Senegal, forming the border with Mauritania and into

8140-648: The fringes of various West African empires. The earliest, the Ghana Empire , grew on trade and ultimately fell after repeated incursions of the Almoravids . It was in this period that Islam first arrived in the region by way of North African traders. The Sosso Empire came and stayed from 12th to 13th centuries; later, the Mali Empire came when Soundiata Kéïta defeated the Sosso ruler Soumangourou Kanté at

8250-475: The garb of a Christian bishop (coincidentally, this is the first visual depiction of Prester John on a portolan chart). Uniquely, the Viladestes map shows another river, south of the Senegal, which it labels the " flumen gelica " (poss. angelica ), which some have taken to depict the Gambia River . In the 1459 mappa mundi of Fra Mauro , drawn a half-century later, after the Portuguese had already visited

8360-662: The generic Wolof term bor ("lord"). Curiously, Budomel is reminiscent of Vedamel already used by the Genoese back in the 14th century as an alternative name of the Senegal River. It is almost certain that the Genoese "Vedamel" are corruptions from the Arabic, either Wad al-mal ("River of Treasure", i.e. Gold) or, alternatively, Wad al-Melli ("River of Mali") or even, by transcription error, Wad al-Nill ("River of Nile"). Other etymological theories for "Senegal" abound. A popular one, first proposed by Fr. David Boilat (1853),

8470-406: The heart of the gold-producing Ghana Empire and later the Mali Empire , Trans-Saharan traders gave the Senegal its famous nickname as the "River of Gold". The Trans-Saharan stories about the "River of Gold" reached the ears of Sub-Alpine European merchants that frequented the ports of Morocco and the lure proved irresistible. Arab historians report at least three separate Arab maritime expeditions -

8580-468: The largest are Susu , Pular , and Maninka , which dominate respectively in Maritime Guinea, Fouta Djallon, and Upper Guinea, while Guinée forestière is ethnolinguistically diverse. Guinea's economy is mostly dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the world's second-largest producer of bauxite and has deposits of diamonds and gold. As of the most recent survey in 2018, 66.2% of

8690-493: The last one organized by a group of eight mughrarin ("wanderers") of Lisbon (before 1147) - that tried to sail down the Atlantic coast, possibly in an effort find the mouth of the Senegal. Drawing from Classical legend and Arab sources, the "River of Gold" found its way into European maps in the 14th century. In the Hereford Mappa Mundi (c. 1300), there is a river labelled "Nilus Fluvius" drawn parallel to

8800-677: The mid-15th century to refer to the lands inhabited by the Guineus , a generic term for the black African peoples south of the Senegal River , in contrast to the "tawny" Zenaga Berbers above it, whom they called Azengues or Moors . In 1978, the official name became the People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea. In 1984, the country was renamed the Republic of Guinea after the death of the first president, Ahmed Sékou Touré. The land that

8910-545: The name "Senegal" is probably a derivation of Azenegue , the Portuguese term for the Saharan Berber Zenaga people that lived north of it. A strong challenge to this theory is that "Senegal" is much older, and might derive from "Sanghana" (also given as Isenghan, Asengan, Singhanah), a city described by the Arab historian al-Bakri in 1068 as located by the mouth of the Senegal River (straddling both banks) and

9020-512: The north-east is characterized by dry savanna woodlands. Declining populations of some animals are restricted to uninhabited distant parts of parks and reserves. Species found in Guinea include the following: The Republic of Guinea covers 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi) of West Africa, about 10 degrees north of the equator. It is divided into 4 natural regions: Guinea is divided into 8 administrative regions which are subdivided into 33 prefectures . The capital Conakry with

9130-423: The operation. As of the most recent survey in 2018, 66.2% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty and an additional 16.4% vulnerable to it. The agriculture sector at some point employed approximately 75% of the country. The rice is cultivated in the flooded zones between streams and rivers. The local production of rice is not sufficient to feed the country, so rice is imported from Asia. Guinea

9240-510: The opposition coalition's decision to step down from the elections in protest of the lack of transparency in the preparations for elections. Nine people were killed during the protests, and around 220 were injured. Some deaths and injuries were caused by security forces using live ammunition on protesters. The violence led to ethnic clashes between the Malinke and Fula , who supported and opposed President Condé, respectively. On 26 March 2013,

9350-457: The opposition leader Alpha Condé was imprisoned for endangering state security and pardoned 8 months later. Subsequently, he spent time in exile in France. In 2001, Conté organized and won a referendum to lengthen the presidential term, and in 2003, began his third term after elections were boycotted by the opposition. In January 2005, Conté survived a suspected assassination attempt while making

9460-514: The opposition party backed out of negotiations with the government over the election, saying that the government had not respected them, and had broken all agreements. On 25 March 2014, the World Health Organization stated that Guinea's Ministry of Health had reported an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Guinea. This initial outbreak had 86 cases, including 59 deaths. By 28 May, there were 281 cases, with 186 deaths. It

9570-483: The people of Bagamo' ( Bambara of Bamako ?) called it Zimbala (Jimbala?) and the people of Timbuktu called it the Yça . The 16th-century chronicler João de Barros asserts the Portuguese renamed it "Senegal" because that was the personal name of a local Wolof chieftain who frequently conducted business with the Portuguese traders. But this etymology is doubtful (e.g. the ruler of Senegalese river state of Waalo bears

9680-610: The population is affected by multidimensional poverty , and an additional 16.4% are vulnerable to it. The country was at the core of the Western African Ebola virus epidemic . Guinea is named after the Guinea region which lies along the Gulf of Guinea . It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel . The English term Guinea comes directly from the Portuguese word Guiné which emerged in

9790-618: The population. The country is divided into four geographic regions: Maritime Guinea on the Atlantic coast, the Fouta Djallon or Middle Guinea highlands, the Upper Guinea savanna region in the northeast, and the Guinée forestière region of tropical forests. French, the official language of Guinea, is a language of communication in schools, government administration, and the media. More than 24 indigenous languages are spoken, and

9900-708: The president appoints officials to all other levels of the centralized administration. Former President Alpha Condé derived support from Guinea's second-largest ethnic group, the Malinke . Guinea's opposition was backed by the Fula ethnic group, who account for around 33.4% of the population. Guinea is a member of the African Union , Agency for the French-Speaking Community , African Development Bank , Economic Community of West African States , World Bank , Islamic Development Bank , IMF , and

10010-430: The presidential palace, Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized control of state television and declared that President Alpha Conde 's government had been dissolved and the nation's borders closed. By the evening, the putschists had declared control of all of Conakry and the country's armed forces. According to Guinée Matin , by 6 September, the military fully controlled the state administration and started to replace

10120-400: The recent national elections, which yielded "President Alpha Conde's re-election (despite disputed results) [...] following a controversial March referendum amending the constitution and allowing him to run for a third term." The department condemned the 2021 coup. The U.S. called for "national dialogue to address concerns sustainably and transparently". The United Nations promptly denounced

10230-418: The rule of Alpha Conde on 14 October 2019, against constitutional changes. More than 800 were killed in clashes. After the 2020 Guinean presidential election , Alpha Condé's election to a third term was challenged by the opposition, who accused him of fraud. Condé claimed a constitutional referendum from March 2020 allowed him to run despite the 2-term limit. On 5 September 2021, after hours of gunfire near

10340-618: The same single river. South of them (barely visible) are what seem like the towns of Kukiya (on the eastern shore of the Island of Gold), and east of that, probably Sokoto (called "Zogde" in the Catalan Atlas) and much further southeast, probably Kano . North of the Senegal-Niger are the various oases and stations of the trans-Saharan route (" Tutega " = Tijigja , " Anzica " = In-Zize, " Tegaza " = Taghaza , etc.) towards

10450-403: The same time (possibly encouraged by Trans-Saharan traders who did not want to see their land route sidestepped by sea). The river is frequently depicted with a great river island midway, the "Island of Gold", first mentioned by al-Masudi, and famously called " Wangara " by al-Idrisi and " Palolus " in the 1367 Pizzigani brothers chart. It is conjectured that this riverine "island" is in fact just

10560-541: The sands of both these rivers gold of 'palola' may be found"), and nearer to the sea, " Qui se racoce oro " ("Here gold is collected"), and finally, on the coast, " Terra de Palmear " ("Land of Palms"). It is notable that Fra Mauro knew of the error of Henry the Navigator's captains about the Daklha inlet, which Mauro carefully labels " Reodor " ("Rio do Ouro", Western Sahara), distinctly from the "Canal del Oro" (Senegal River). Christian Europeans soon began attempting to find

10670-711: The sea on the west side of the range in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. The highest point in Guinea is Mount Nimba at 1,752 m (5,748 ft). While the Guinean and Ivorian sides of the Nimba Massif are a UNESCO Strict Nature Reserve , the portion of the so-called Guinean Backbone continues into Liberia , where it has been mined for decades; the damage is evident in the Nzérékoré Region at 7°32′17″N 8°29′50″W  /  7.53806°N 8.49722°W  / 7.53806; -8.49722 . Guinea

10780-541: The sea route to the mouth of the Senegal. The first known effort may have been by the Genoese brothers Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi , who set out down the coast in 1291 in a pair of ships (nothing more is heard of them). In 1346, the Majorcan sailor, Jaume Ferrer set out on a galley with the explicit objective of finding the "River of Gold" ( Riu de l'Or ), where he heard that most people along its shores were engaged in

10890-406: The shores of the river which, at its mouth, is a league wide, and deep enough for the largest ship of the world." The galley of Jaume Ferrer is depicted off the coast on the left, with a quick note about his 1346 voyage. The golden round island at the mouth of the Senegal River is the indication (customary on portolan charts) of river mouth bars or islands - in this case, probably a reference to

11000-549: The title ' Brak ', and Cadamosto gives the personal name of the Senegal river chieftain as "Zucholin"). The confusion may have arisen because Cadamosto says the Portuguese interacted frequently with a certain Wolof chieftain south of the river, somewhere on the Grande Côte , which he refers to as Budomel . "Budomel" is almost certainly a reference to the ruler of Cayor , a combination of his formal title (" Damel "), prefixed by

11110-476: The two countries exchanged diplomatic visits. Sékou Touré died on 26 March 1984 after a heart operation in the United States, and was replaced by Prime Minister Louis Lansana Beavogui , who was to serve as interim president, pending new elections. PDG was due to elect a new leader on 3 April 1984. Under the constitution, that person would have been the only candidate for president. Hours before that meeting, Colonels Lansana Conté and Diarra Traoré seized power in

11220-459: The world's reserves. Its mineral wealth includes more than 4-billion tonnes of high-grade iron ore, and diamond and gold deposits, and uranium . Senegal River Senegal River at Dagana, Senegal The Senegal River ( Wolof : Dexug Senegaal , Arabic : نهر السنغال , romanized :  Nahr as-Siniġāl , French : Fleuve Sénégal ) is a 1086-kilometre-long (675 mi) river in West Africa ; much of its length marks part of

11330-439: Was headed towards a civil war. Conté blamed neighbouring leaders for coveting Guinea's natural resources, and these claims were denied. In 2003, Guinea agreed to plans with her neighbours to tackle the insurgents. The 2007 Guinean general strike resulted in the appointment of a new prime minister. Conté remained in power until his death on 23 December 2008. Several hours after his death, Moussa Dadis Camara seized control in

11440-601: Was held on 24 September. President Alpha Condé 's party, the Rally of the Guinean People (RPG), won a plurality of seats in the National Assembly of Guinea , with 53 out of 114 seats. Cellou Dalein Diallo 's UFDG party won 37 seats, and opposition leaders denounced the official results as fraudulent. The president of Guinea is normally elected by popular vote for a 5-year term; the winning candidate must receive

11550-518: Was known to the early Mediterranean civilizations. It or some other river was called Bambotus by Pliny the Elder (possibly from Phoenician " behemoth " for hippopotamus ) and Nias by Claudius Ptolemy . It was visited by Hanno the Carthaginian around 450 BCE at his navigation from Carthage through the pillars of Herakles to Theon Ochema ( Mount Cameroon ) in the Gulf of Guinea . There

11660-411: Was led by Samori Toure in the predominantly Malinké area of what is now upper Guinea and southwestern Mali (Wassoulou). It moved to Ivory Coast before being conquered by the French. European traders competed for the cape trade from the 17th century onward and made inroads earlier. Guinea's colonial period began with French military penetration into the area in the mid-19th century. The defeat of

11770-454: Was sworn in as interim president. On 11 May 2023, at least 7 people were shot dead in anti-government demonstrations in cities across Guinea. The anti-government movement became involved in peaceful protests and called on rulers to end military rule in Guinea and transition the country to democracy. On 18 December 2023, an explosion occurred at the country's main oil depot in Conakry, killing 24 people and causing extensive fuel shortages in

11880-596: Was that "Senegal" comes from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal , meaning "our canoe" (more precisely, "our pirogue "). Bailot speculates the name probably arose as a misunderstanding, that when a Portuguese captain came across some Wolof fishermen and asked them what the name of the river was, they believed he was asking who their fishing boat belonged to, and replied simply "it is our canoe" ( sunu gaal ). The "our canoe" theory has been popularly embraced in modern Senegal for its charm and appeal to national solidarity ("we're all in one canoe", etc.). More recent historians suggest

11990-453: Was the first known European since antiquity to finally reach the mouth of the Senegal River. However, Dias did not sail upriver, but instead kept sailing down the Grande Côte to the bay of Dakar . The very next year, in 1446, the Portuguese slave -raiding fleet of Lançarote de Freitas arrived at the mouth of the Senegal. One of its captains, Estêvão Afonso , volunteered to take a launch to explore upriver for settlements, thus becoming

12100-666: Was trade from here to the Mediterranean World, until the destruction of Carthage and its west African trade net in 146 BCE. In the Early Middle Ages (c. 800 CE), the Senegal River restored contact with the Mediterranean world with the establishment of the Trans-Saharan trade route between Morocco and the Ghana Empire . Arab geographers, like al-Masudi of Baghdad (957), al-Bakri of Spain (1068) and al-Idrisi of Sicily (1154), provided some of

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