The History of Guinea

Between the 10th and 15th centuries, today’s area of Guinea, at various times, when the region was associated with European commerce, was included in a number of large West African political groupings such as the Ghana, Mali and Songhai empires. During the mid-fifteenth century, Portuguese traders invaded Guinea. Later on, European countries, such as England, France and Poland, came to Guinea to trade gold, ivory and slaves. It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that Guinea became colonized. Its colonial period began with the intrusion of the French military. Domination by the French was undeniable after being defeated by the armies of Almamy Samory Touré, a Malinke descendent, in 1898. This defeat gave France complete control over what is now Guinea and the surrounding areas.

On October 2nd, 1958, Guinea declared itself as an independent republic, ruled by Sékou Touré. Under Touré, Guinea became a one-party dictatorship, resulting in a socialized and closed economic status. Along with the newly instilled economy, Guinea suffered from a lack of tolerance for human rights, free expression and political opposition. Until his death on April 3rd, 1984, Sékou Touré remained in power, along side of the PDG (Democratic Party of Guinea). After Touré’s death, Colonel Lasana Conté made himself president. In September of 2000, the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) rebel army instituted extensive attacks into Guinea from Sierra Leone and Liberia. In November of 2001, the general public, nationwide, voted that the constitution should allow the president to run for an unlimited amount of terms, and that the years during a term should be extended from five to seven. Finally, in 2007, Conté stepped down because a protest against him turned into a violent strike.

Being about the size of Oregon, Guinea is a relatively small country. Its area is 245,860 square kilometers (95,000 square miles). It only consists of about fifteen cities, including the capital, Conakry. In general, the terrain is pretty flat, but getting closer to the interior, it becomes more mountainous. In respect to the generalization of the terrain, the specifics are hardly a comparison. Guinea only has four geographic regions: the narrow coastal belt; pastoral highlands, the source of West Africa’s major rivers; the northern savanna; and the southeastern rain forest. Throughout the entire country, there is one primary climate – tropical.

Today’s Guinea is a constitutional republic; there are three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial, just as it is in the United States. The branches, however, are composed differently than those of the United States. The executive branch is compiled of an elected president (chief of state), a prime minister (head of government), and a cabinet of civilian ministers. The legislative branch is simply an elected National Assembly, fitting 114 seats. Lastly, the judicial branch is merely a supreme court. In opposition to the government, the population in Guinea, today, is 8,444,559 people. The official language spoken by the majority of the population is French.

With respect to the economy, Guinea doesn’t have many natural resources, other than bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, gold, water power, uranium and fisheries. The good thing about the natural resources that they do have is that they are, for the most part, high in value, and bauxite, diamonds and gold are popular in the exports of Guinea. Major markets include the European Union, the United States, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, etc. Guinea is located on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Senegal, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Atlantic Ocean, and Guinea Bissau. Its trade with such diverse societies shows that Guinea is of good use to the world. When referring to currency in Guinea, the value of approximately 4833 Guinean francs are of the same value as one U.S. dollar.

Some points of interest in Guinea, when putting thought into the conversion of U.S. dollars to Guinean francs, should be taken into consideration. The capital, Conakry, for instance, is a beautiful city with cocoanut palm trees throughout it. It’s located on the island of Tumbo. Some others to think about would be the Cathedral, located in the town centre; the National Museum; the Kakimbon Caves in Ratoma, a suburb of Conakry; the Kinkon Falls in Pita, between Dalaba and Labé; and many more historical and beautiful landmarks. Aside from the incredible monuments throughout Guinea, there is great music and good food. Though Guinea is not known for their food, it is part of their culture and it is good, nonetheless. For the most part, Guinean food consists of rice and sauce. The main sauces used are leaf sauce (sweet potato or manioc leaves), peanut sauce, and soup sauce. Fish is also a primary part of the Guinean diet.

Even though there isn’t much of a variety when referring to the food, the music is not only fun to listen to, but it is also highly entertaining to watch as it is being performed. In Guinea, music is typically performed by members of a family. Families that are heavily involved in music in Guinea are known as jelis. They are expected to study the history of music and learn to play multiple instruments. Some traditional instruments used in the past, and still used today, are drums: kora, bala, and koni. The most well-known music of Guinea is from the culture of Maninka.

Lastly, Guinea isn’t the most popular or overrated country in the world, but it has its positive qualities. Guinea supposedly has the most reliable business for foreign investors, traders and companies in West Africa. Guinea is also one of the wettest countries in West Africa. This is seen as a better life style and it provides more food for society. The natural earthiness of Guinea is its best known trait.