There are four geographic regions: Lower Guinea, the Fouta Djallon, Upper Guinea, and the Forest Region. Lower Guinea includes the coast and coastal plain. The coast has undergone recent marine submergence and is marked by rias, or drowned river valleys, that form inlets and tidal estuaries. Numerous offshore islands are remnants of former hills.

Immediately inland the gently rolling coastal plain rises to the east, being broken by rocky spurs of the Fouta Djallon highlands in the north at Cape Verga and in the south at the Kaloum Peninsula. Between 30 and 50 miles (48 and 80 km) wide, the plain is wider in the south than the north. Its base rocks of granite and gneiss (coarse-grained rock containing bands of minerals) are covered with laterite (red soil with a high content of iron oxides and aluminum hydroxide) and sandstone gravel.

The Fouta Djallon highlands rise sharply from the coastal plain in a series of abrupt faults. More than 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km) of the highlands' total extent of 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km) lie above 3,000 feet (900 metres). Basically an enormous sandstone block, the Fouta Djallon consists of level plateaus broken by deeply incised valleys and dotted with sills and dikes, or exposed structures of ancient volcanism resulting in resistant landforms of igneous rock, such as the Kakoulima Massif, which attains 3,273 feet (998 metres) northeast of Conakry. The highest point in the highlands, Mount Loura (Tamgué), rises to 5,046 feet (1,538 metres) near the town of Mali in the north.

Upper Guinea is composed of the Niger Plains, which slope northeastward toward the Sahara. The flat relief is broken by rounded granite hills and outliers of the Fouta Djallon. Composed of granite, gneiss, schist (crystalline rock), and quartzite, the region has an average elevation of about 1,000 feet (305 metres).

The Forest Region, or Guinea Highlands, is a historically isolated area of hills in the country's southeastern corner. Mount Nimba (5,748 feet 【1,752 metres】), the highest mountain in the region, is located at the borders of Guinea, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. The rocks of this region are of the same composition as those of Upper Guinea.

The Fouta Djallon is the source of western Africa's three major rivers. The Niger River and several tributaries, including the Tinkisso, Milo, and Sankarani, rise in the highlands and flow in a general northeasterly direction across Upper Guinea to Mali. The Bafing (Bafing River) and Bakoye Rivers, headwaters of the Sénégal River, flow northward into Mali before uniting to form the main river. The Gambia River flows northwestward before crossing Senegal and The Gambia.

The Fouta Djallon also gives rise to numerous smaller rivers, such as the Fatala, Konkouré, and Kolenté, which flow westward across the coastal plain to enter the Atlantic. The Forest Region generally drains to the southwest through Sierra Leone and Liberia. The St. Paul River enters the Atlantic at Monrovia, Liberia, and the Moa River has its mouth at Sulima, Sierra Leone.

The most common soils are laterites formed of iron and hydrated aluminum oxides and other materials that often concretize into hard iron-rich conglomerates. In the northeast, sandy brown soils predominate, while along the coast black, heavy clay soils accumulate in the backwaters. There are alluvial soils along the major rivers. Soil conservation is extremely important because most soils are thin, and the heavy rainfall causes much erosion.

The climate of Guinea is tropical with two alternating seasons—a dry season (November through March) and a wet season (April through October). The arrival of the migratory intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in June brings the heaviest rainfall of the wet season. As the ITCZ shifts southward in November, the hot, dry wind known as the harmattan blows from the northeast off the Sahara.

On the coast a period of six months of dry weather is followed by six months of rain. The average rainfall at Conakry is 170 inches (4,300 mm) a year, and the average annual temperature is about 81 °F (27 °C). In the Fouta Djallon, January afternoon temperatures range between 86 and 95 °F (30 and 35 °C), while evening temperatures dip to 50 °F (10 °C). Rainfall varies between 63 and 91 inches (1,600 and 2,300 mm) annually, and the average annual temperature is about 77 °F (25 °C).

In Upper Guinea rainfall drops to about 59 inches (1,500 mm) a year. During the dry season temperatures of more than 104 °F (40 °C) are common in the northeast. In the Forest Region at Macenta, there may be 106 inches (2,700 mm) of rain annually. Only the months of December, January, and February are relatively dry, each having less than one inch of precipitation. At low altitudes, temperatures resemble those of the coastal areas.

The coast is fringed with mangrove trees, and the coastal plain supports stands of oil palms. The Fouta Djallon is mostly open, with trees growing along the wider stream valleys. In Upper Guinea, the savanna grassland comprises several species of tall grasses that reach heights of 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 metres) during the rainy season. Deciduous trees grow in scattered clumps, but few have commercial value; baobabs and shea trees furnish fruit and oil. The Forest Region contains several extensive patches of rainforest, with teak, mahogany, and ebony trees; agriculture, however, has diminished the forests and resulted in a shift largely toward open savanna.

Guinea is not rich in African big game. Baboons and hyenas are common, while an occasional wild boar, several types of antelope, and a rare leopard may be sighted. A few hippopotamuses and manatees inhabit the rivers of both Lower and Upper Guinea. Poisonous snakes include mambas, vipers, and cobras, along with pythons and a variety of harmless snakes. Crocodiles and several varieties of fish are found in most rivers.

Until recent urbanization and movement toward regional towns, the Fulani (Fulbe, Fula, or Peul) of the Fouta Djallon tended to live in small hillside hamlets of 75 to 95 persons each, with the lower classes occupying the valleys. In the heart of the highlands the countryside was thickly settled with hamlets every few miles, while in the east the land was less settled. In Lower Guinea, villages were grouped together at the bases of hills, in the open plain, or in a valley floor. Village solidarity was more marked in this area than in the highlands, and each village contained between 100 and 200 people.

The majority of the Malinke (Mandingo) people of Upper Guinea lived in moderately large villages of about 1,000 inhabitants located near permanent water sources, the adjacent soils of which were used for cultivation. The villages were tightly grouped; there were empty brush areas in which farming was unprofitable.

In the Forest Region the effects of human occupation, especially in the southwest, have become apparent only since the mid-20th century. Among the Kisi people on the Sierra Leone and Liberian borders, rice was grown on most hillsides and in every low-lying and swampy area. Villages tended to be small and rarely contained more than 150 people; they were often tucked inside groves of kola, mango, and coffee trees. Farther east among the Loma and Kpelle people, fire-cleared land was used to plant vegetables and rice. Larger villages were usually located on remote hillside terraces that are often surrounded by secondary forest growth.

Guinea's main urban centre is Conakry. The old city, located on Tumbo Island, retains the segregated aspect of a colonial town, while the Camayenne (Kaloum) Peninsula community, which has grown up since the 1950s, has a few buildings of the colonial period. From the tip of the peninsula, an industrial zone has a growing salaried population that is truly urbanized.

The second largest town, Kankan, in Upper Guinea, is a commercial, educational, administrative, and Muslim religious centre of some importance. Labé, located well into the Fouta Djallon, serves as a market town and an administrative and educational centre. Nzérékoré, in the Forest Region, serves the same functions as Labé. Other important towns are the trading centres of Kindia and Mamou and the industrial settlements of Boké, Fria, and Kamsar.

The four major geographic regions largely correspond to the areas inhabited by the major linguistic groups. In Lower Guinea the major language of Susu has gradually replaced many of the other indigenous languages and is a lingua franca for most of the coastal population. In the Fouta Djallon the major language is Pulaar (a dialect of Fula, the language of the Fulani), while in Upper Guinea the Malinke (Maninkakan) language is the most widespread. The Forest Region contains the linguistic areas, from east to west, of Kpelle (Guerzé), Loma (Toma), and Kisi.

Besides the diplomatic community and a growing number of expatriate teachers and technical advisers, the number of non-Guinean residents has increased considerably since the mid-1980s. This community includes Lebanese and Syrian traders and a growing number of French engaged in agriculture, business, and technical occupations.

More than eight-tenths of the population is Muslim, and a small but influential percentage is Christian, mostly Roman Catholic. A minority of Guineans continue to follow local traditional religious practices.

Life expectancy has consistently improved since independence, and by the early 21st century the average life expectancy was 49 years for men and 50 years for women. The population of Guinea is young, with more than two-fifths of the people under age 15.

Immigration increased slightly after 1984, and beginning in the 1990s Guinea experienced an influx of refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia, which were marred by civil unrest; by 2002 Guinea was home to some 150,000 refugees. Emigration, which was high in the 1970s and early 1980s—especially from the Fouta Djallon and Upper Guinea—decreased in the 1980s. At its peak this out-migration consisted of one-sixth of the working-age male population, leaving an imbalance of aged, children, and women. Emigration was directed toward the neighbouring countries, with a small percentage going to Europe or North America.

The heaviest regional population concentration is in the Fouta Djallon. Conakry, the Camayenne Peninsula, and, to a lesser extent, the industrial enclaves of Boké, Fria, and Kamsar suffer from rapid population growth caused primarily by continuing migration from the rural areas to the urban centres. Except for the Fouta Djallon, population poses no serious immediate threat to development because there is no pressure on the land and no landholding class.

Agriculture and other rural activities account for 80 percent of the country's employment, with less than 10 percent in industrial employment (including mining). The rest of the wage and salary earners are in the service and governmental sectors. In general, salaries are low, and the need for extra-salary means in order to eke out a livelihood remains the norm.

The shortage of trained personnel is serious, and finances suffer from misappropriation and tax evasion. Many of the processing industries have been held back by inadequate supplies of raw materials. Internal production is not sufficiently high, in agriculture particularly, and the shortage of investment capital is persistent.

Guinea has from one-third to one-half of the world's known reserves of bauxite, plus significant reserves of high-grade iron ore at Mount Nimba and the Simandou Mountains. Alluvial gold is taken from the Niger and its tributaries, and diamond production is substantial and largely of gem-quality stones. The southeastern rain forest has some valuable species of tropical hardwoods, and both river and ocean fisheries yield large catches of food fish. Hydroelectric potential is considerable because of the high rainfall and deep gorges of the Fouta Djallon but has been only partially developed, largely to meet the demands of the alumina sector.

Guinea is an agricultural nation. The high plateaus of the Fouta Djallon are little more than part-time pastures, with hillsides given over to the growing of peanuts (groundnuts) and fonio (a sorghumlike grain). Along the streams and rivers, rice, bananas, tomatoes, strawberries, and citrus fruits are grown commercially. Most families have truck gardens, and tsetse-resistant Ndama cattle, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, chickens, and Muscovy ducks are raised.

In Lower Guinea, oil and coconut palms, rice, bananas, vegetables, salt, and fish are important elements of trade. A number of large-scale plantations produce a good quantity of bananas and pineapples. Except for poultry and a few goats, there are relatively few domestic animals. In Upper Guinea, grains and cassava (manioc) are important food crops; vegetables, tobacco, and karite (shea butter) are traded locally; and domestic animals are common.

In the Forest Region, rice is the chief food crop, along with cassava, peanuts, and corn (maize). Gardens of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tobacco are scattered in the shade of fruit trees, and coffee trees, kola nuts, and oil palms are important cash crops. Goats and fowl are the most common domestic animals.

Experiments conducted in the early 1970s with large-scale cooperative agricultural production were unsuccessful. Relatively low government farm prices and the high cost and scarcity of consumer goods caused many producers to return to subsistence agriculture or to resort to smuggling. The production of coffee, formerly the major cash crop, declined. Food imports of staples such as rice, once exported, remain necessary. The production of other cash crops, such as palm kernels, peanuts, pineapples, bananas, and citrus fruit, has improved only marginally since 1984, though considerable potential for expansion exists.

Commercial fishing continues to grow with the introduction of U.S., French, Japanese, and other internationally financed and operated fishing ventures. Individual small-scale riverine and marine fishing, producing fresh, dried, and smoked fish for local markets, remains important.

Forestry is hampered by the lack of adequate transportation. Mixed government and private-investment sawmills and plywood plants function below capacity because of insufficient supplies of timber, transportation difficulties, and inadequate capital and managerial input.

Guinea depends heavily upon mineral exports to maintain a favourable trade balance. The bauxite deposits at Fria, Kindia, and Sangaredi in the Boké region are exploited by international consortia in which the Guinea government holds major shares. Similarly mixed foreign and domestic plants produce the bauxite and alumina that provide nine-tenths of Guinea's export earnings.

The iron-ore deposits of Mount Nimba are exploited under a shipping agreement with the government of Liberia. Mining of gem-quality diamonds has increased greatly since 1984, and gold production has risen substantially as well.

Food-processing plants run at less than full capacity because agricultural production is insufficient and capital and managerial input are inadequate. Most industry consists of the manufacturing of light consumer goods and the primary processing of agricultural products. Heavy industry and manufacturing is not part of the economic planning for Guinea.

Since 1984 the government of Guinea has pursued a slow process of economic reform aimed at reestablishing a free-market system. In 1986 Guinea began a process to link its currency with the French franc again after having maintained a nonconvertible currency since 1960. The government has also actively sought closer economic ties with France and other Western nations.

In mid-1985 a new banking law was passed allowing the establishment of new commercial banks to replace the publicly owned institutions (with the exception of an Islāmic bank established in 1983) that had existed under the Touré government. In December 1985 three new banks involving French participation began operation. They are the Banque Internationale pour l'Afrique en Guinée (BIAG), the Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie de la Guinée (BICI-GUI), and the Société Générale de Banques en Guinée (SGBG). The central bank is the Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée.

The Guinean investment code follows fairly classical lines, offering a variety of inducements to domestic and international investors in productive sectors. Benefits include waivers of import duties on capital equipment and deductions of various peripheral tax liabilities such as statutory employers' contributions. Compared with many other African nations, the extent of these investor benefits is modest.

Government revenue is derived chiefly from mining concessions, import and export duties, excise taxes, a petroleum-products tax, and taxes on commercial transactions and production. There are also various other surtaxes, stamp duties, and registration fees. Business and other licenses and personal-property, building, dwelling, and vehicle taxes are handled by the prefecture administrations. Taxes on salaries and wages contribute little revenue because few people are salaried and because many wage earners work within the government.

Trade figures are limited and sketchy. During the Touré regime smuggling of both imports and exports brought on by an unrealistic exchange rate and poor returns to agricultural producers selling in the domestic market made accurate trade figures impossible. Estimates prepared by the World Bank show that, while Guinea recorded a substantial surplus on visible trade in the 1980s, its export base was narrow and largely dependent on the mining industry for international trade earnings. Exports of gold and diamonds, in particular, have shown substantial growth since 1984.

Among the principal markets for Guinean bauxite and alumina are France and the United States, while France is the largest supplier of imports. A growing balance of payments deficit has characterized the economy in spite of merchandise surpluses in the 1980s. With virtually no private capital inflow, the government has been forced to simply fall behind in debt service payments and make stringent cutbacks in both investments and the yearly operating budget.

Guinea's transportation system is largely based upon the road and railway from Conakry to Kankan. This forked axis is intersected at Mamou by a road north to Senegal. East of Kouroussa the road branches northeastward through Siguiri to Bamako, Mali. The main road continues northeast of the railhead at Kankan to Sikasso, Mali. The regional centres, like pods strung out on a vine, lie along thin lines of communication that, in turn, radiate feeder routes.

The railroad from Conakry to Kankan is a single-track metric line. Two other railways serve the bauxite mining areas, including a line linking Conakry to the Fria bauxite mines. The Boké Railway runs between Kamsar and Sangaredi.

The port facilities of Conakry are extensive. There is a channel 26 to 66 feet deep and dock space with modern loading equipment. The Sangaredi bauxite mine company maintains its own ore-exporting port at Kamsar. Coastal shipping, however, is limited.

The Gbessia international airport at Conakry serves jets of all sizes. Air Guinée operates a somewhat irregular schedule of weekly domestic flights to the hard-surfaced airports at Kankan, Labé, and Faranah and maintains occasional service to Bamako, Mali; Dakar, Senegal; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Monrovia, Liberia; and several small, unsurfaced domestic landing strips.

For more than 25 years under President Sékou Touré, Guinea was a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG). In April 1984, after Touré's death, a military group abolished the PDG and all associated revolutionary committees and replaced them with the Military Committee for National Recovery (CMRN). A new constitution in 1991 began a transition to civilian rule. Political parties were legalized in 1992, and Guinea's first multiparty elections were held in 1993. The constitution provides for a civilian president and a unicameral legislature, both elected by universal suffrage.

The government has put a major emphasis on improving the provision of education. In the early 1980s only about one-quarter of primary-school-age children were enrolled in school. Educational facilities at all levels had shown a marked decline in the last decade of the Touré government. Despite improvements, perhaps three-quarters of the population is illiterate in French, and the overall adult literacy rate is below average for western Africa.

Primary education is compulsory for six years beginning at age seven. Secondary education is also offered as a six-year program. Instruction is offered in French and in local languages. Private schools, previously banned, were allowed to reopen in 1984.

The country's post-secondary institutions, particularly the University of Conakry, function on an irregular basis, with assistance from France and other countries for personnel and materials.

Since independence the government has made an effort to improve health care services, but infant and child mortality rates remain among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Equipment and supply shortages and an inadequate number of medical personnel hamper the health care system. Government-run infant clinics and child-care centres are inadequate. Most such social welfare services are either provided by the extended family or are absent.

A severe housing shortage exists in the urbanized areas, though mud and straw construction reduces the problem in rural areas. It is estimated that one-fifth of the country's population lives in Conakry and its environs, where the housing shortage is especially serious.

Until 1984 artistic and literary expressions were limited largely to African themes by the single political party and its leader. As a result Guinean intellectuals exhibit a strong sense of nationalism and a decolonialized state of mind. As greater openness of expression returns, a distinctly Guinean literature is gradually emerging.

A truly autonomous free press has yet to emerge as a major force in Guinean life. One French-language newspaper, Horoya, formerly controlled by the PDG, is published. A number of informal newsletters are also published in indigenous languages. A television service was begun in 1977, and transmissions continue on an irregular basis for short periods each day.

The telephone network is limited and obsolescent; the few telephones in service are almost all in Conakry and other major urban centres. A program to upgrade the telecommunications system was implemented in the late 1980s.

The professional National Guinean Ballet, which emerged after independence, has retained some of the dance and music of the distinct ethnic and regional groups. Creative accomplishments in modern dance and popular music have given Guinean musicians and singers an international reputation.

Handicrafts in Guinea, as elsewhere in Africa, declined sharply during the colonial era with competition from manufactured consumer goods. The lack of tourism and creative marketing since independence has limited the amount of change and innovation in local crafts, so that the leatherwork, wood carving, and jewelry produced in Guinea tend to be more genuinely ethnic than elsewhere in western Africa.

Hunting and gathering populations occupied the area of Guinea at least 30,000 years ago, and farming has been practiced there for about 3,000 years. About 1,000 years ago Susu and Malinke (Maninka) people began to encroach on the Baga, Koniagi (Coniagui), and Nalu (Nalou) populations who had been living in the area for more than 1,000 years. The towns and villages of Upper Guinea were incorporated into the Mali empire from the mid-13th century, and by the 16th century the Fulani (Fulbe) had established domination over the Fouta Djallon.

The Portuguese presence on the coast dates from the 15th century, and the slave trade continued to affect Guinea until the mid-19th century. British and French trading interests on the coast played minor roles in the historical evolution of the Guinean interior until the almamy (ruler) of Fouta Djallon placed his country under French protection in 1881. The independent Malinke state ruled by Samory Touré resisted the French military until 1898, and isolated small groups of Africans continued to resist the French until the end of World War I.

The French protectorate of Rivières du Sud was detached from Senegal as a separate colony in 1890. As French Guinea it became part of the Federation of French West Africa in 1895. Treaties with Liberia and Great Britain largely established the present boundaries by World War I.

Under the 1946 constitution of the French Fourth Republic a small number of French-educated Africans in Guinea were allowed to vote for deputies to the French National Assembly. In the 1958 referendum on the constitution for the French Fifth Republic only Guinea, under the influence of Sékou Touré (Touré, Sékou), who later became the country's first president, voted against membership in the French Community and became independent.

Guinea came to occupy a special position among African states for its unqualified rejection of neocolonial control. Touré's rule grew increasingly more repressive, however. Denied French assistance, Guinea contracted loans and economic and trade agreements with the former Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. When it failed to become a full economic partner in the Soviet bloc, Guinea turned to France and the West for capital and technical assistance in the waning years of Touré's regime. Under Touré's uncertain economic leadership, however, the potentially wealthy country did not prosper.

Throughout Touré's rule, difficulties of economic adjustment and political reorganization caused him to become increasingly obsessed with what he perceived as opposition. Probably the event that had the most negative effect was the Portuguese-backed invasion of Conakry by Guinean dissidents. Such real conspiracies, together with a myriad of imaginary ones, led to show trials, imprisonments, and executions of dissidents and other suspects. Gradually power was concentrated in the hands of Touré and his predominantly Malinke associates. Members of his own family occupied leading government posts, from which illicit earnings were drawn on a large scale. Though the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG), which Touré had led since 1953, retained control, it ceased to enjoy the mass support it had had in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Touré's death in 1984 left party leaders with little grassroots support. The ensuing military coup began with fairly strong support from the general public.

The Military Committee for National Recovery under Col. Lansana Conté, Guinea's second president, endorsed the concept of a pluralist society. Private ownership and international investment were actively supported, while the role of the state in the economy was reduced. In the late 1980s Guinea sought reintegration into French-speaking western Africa and the Franc Zone. The Conté government's move toward political and economic liberalization was slow, however, and civil unrest and protest continued during the 1990s. In 1996 the government survived an attempted military coup. Despite ongoing turbulence, Conté maintained power until his death on Dec. 22, 2008. Soon after the news of his death was made public, a faction of the military launched a coup and announced that they had dissolved the government. The National Council for Democracy and Development (Conseil National pour la Démocratie et le Développement; CNDD), with Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara as president, was created to serve as a transitional government. The CNDD promised to hold elections within one year and vowed to fight rampant corruption.

the forest and coastal areas of western Africa between the tropic of Cancer and the equator. Derived from the Berber word aguinaw, or gnawa, meaning “black man” (hence akal n-iguinamen, or “land of the black men”), the term was first adopted by the Portuguese and, in forms such as Guinuia, Ginya, Gheneoa, and Ghinea, appears on European maps from the 14th century onward.

There is a distinction between Upper and Lower Guinea, which lie westward and southward, respectively, of the line of volcanic peaks that runs northeast from Annobón (formerly Pagalu) Island through São Tomé to Mount Cameroon. The Gulf of Guinea (Guinea, Gulf of) is a part of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to this coastal area. Sections of the coast of Guinea were known by their chief products, such as the Grain Coast (from Cape Mesurado to Cape Palmas, along present-day coastal Liberia), so called because it was the source of the “grains of paradise” (Guinea pepper, Xylopia aethiopica); the Ivory Coast (beyond Cape Palmas and now mostly in Côte d'Ivoire), the Gold Coast (east of Cape Three Points, along present-day Ghana), and the Slave Coast (between the Volta River and the Niger River delta, along present-day Togo, Benin, and Nigeria).

Cape Bojador (latitude 26° N) was rounded by the Portuguese seaman Gil Eannes (Gilianes) in 1434, and some years later the first cargoes of slaves and gold were brought back to Lisbon. A papal bull gave Portugal exclusive rights over the western coast of Africa, and in 1469 Fernão Gomes was granted a trade monopoly, with the provision that 300 miles (480 km) of new coast be explored annually. The equator was reached in 1471 and the Congo River reached by Diogo Cão in 1482. After 1530 other Europeans, including English, Dutch, French, Danish, and Brandenburgers, established trading posts or forts in the area.

European penetration of Guinea was hindered by several factors: the hot, humid, and unhealthy climate; the density of the rain forest; the scarcity of harbours along the generally surf-bound coast; and the difficulties of river navigation.