The geography of Guinea-Bissau is that of low coastal plains bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The country borders Senegal in the north and Guinea in the southeast.
The geography of Guinea-Bissau is that of low coastal plains bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The country borders Senegal in the north and Guinea in the southeast.
The terrain of Guinea-Bissau is mostly low coastal plain with swamps of Guinean mangroves rising to Guinean forest-savanna mosaic in the east. [1] A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 1,203km² of tidal flats in Guinea-Bissau, making it the 28th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area. [2]
Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid impact occurred 400 km of the west-African coast. The 2022 discovered Nadir buried Crater has a diameter of 9 km. The impact caused an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude and created a 1 km high tsunami. The combined forces could be an explanation for the extremely scarred coastline of Guinea-Bissau.
The lowest point on Guinea-Bissau is at sea level at the Atlantic Ocean. [1] The highest point in Guinea-Bissau is Dongol Ronde with an elevation of 277 m (909 ft). [1] The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Africa authored in 1992 cites Fouta Djallon at 262 m (860 ft) as the highest. [3]
Natural resources found in Guinea-Bissau include fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone and unexploited deposits of petroleum. [1] 10.67% of the land is arable and 235.6 square kilometres are irrigated. [1]
Natural hazards include a hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze that may reduce visibility during the dry season and brush fires. [1] Severe environmental issues include deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing and overfishing. [1]
Near the Senegal border there have been historic sightings of the painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus, but that endangered canid may now be extirpated in that locale. [4]
Guinea-Bissau's climate is tropical. This means it is generally hot and humid. It has a monsoonal-type rainy season (June to November) with southwesterly winds and a dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds. [1]
Guinea-Bissau is warm all year around and there is little temperature fluctuation; it averages 26.3 °C (79.3 °F). The average rainfall for the capital city Bissau is 2,024 millimetres (79.7 in) although this is almost entirely accounted for during the rainy season which falls between June and September/October. From December through April, the country receives very little rainfall.
| Climate data for Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (1974–1994) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 36.7 (98.1) | 38.3 (100.9) | 38.9 (102.0) | 41.1 (106.0) | 39.4 (102.9) | 35.6 (96.1) | 33.3 (91.9) | 32.8 (91.0) | 33.9 (93.0) | 34.4 (93.9) | 35.0 (95.0) | 35.6 (96.1) | 41.1 (106.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 31.1 (88.0) | 32.8 (91.0) | 33.9 (93.0) | 33.3 (91.9) | 32.8 (91.0) | 31.1 (88.0) | 29.4 (84.9) | 30.0 (86.0) | 30.0 (86.0) | 31.1 (88.0) | 31.7 (89.1) | 30.6 (87.1) | 31.5 (88.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 24.4 (75.9) | 25.6 (78.1) | 26.6 (79.9) | 27.0 (80.6) | 27.5 (81.5) | 26.9 (80.4) | 26.1 (79.0) | 26.4 (79.5) | 26.4 (79.5) | 27.0 (80.6) | 26.9 (80.4) | 24.8 (76.6) | 26.3 (79.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 17.8 (64.0) | 18.3 (64.9) | 19.4 (66.9) | 20.6 (69.1) | 22.2 (72.0) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.2 (72.0) | 18.9 (66.0) | 21.1 (70.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 12.2 (54.0) | 13.3 (55.9) | 15.6 (60.1) | 16.7 (62.1) | 17.2 (63.0) | 19.4 (66.9) | 19.4 (66.9) | 19.4 (66.9) | 19.4 (66.9) | 20.0 (68.0) | 15.0 (59.0) | 12.8 (55.0) | 12.2 (54.0) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 0.5 (0.02) | 0.8 (0.03) | 0.5 (0.02) | 0.8 (0.03) | 17.3 (0.68) | 174.8 (6.88) | 472.5 (18.60) | 682.5 (26.87) | 434.9 (17.12) | 194.8 (7.67) | 41.4 (1.63) | 2.0 (0.08) | 2,022.8 (79.63) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 248 | 226 | 279 | 270 | 248 | 210 | 186 | 155 | 180 | 217 | 240 | 248 | 2,707 |
| Source 1: Sistema de Clasificación Bioclimática Mundial [5] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: World Climate Guides (sunshine only) [6] | |||||||||||||
This is a list of the extreme points of Guinea-Bissau, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
Fouta Djallon in Guinea, the highest point in Guinea-Bissau being only 262m
Burkina Faso is a landlocked Sahel country that shares borders with six nations. It lies between the Sahara desert and the Gulf of Guinea, south of the loop of the Niger River, mostly between latitudes 9° and 15°N, and longitudes 6°W and 3°E. The land is green in the south, with forests and fruit trees, and semi-arid in the north. Most of central Burkina Faso lies on a savanna plateau, 198–305 metres (650–1,001 ft) above sea level, with fields, brush, and scattered trees. Burkina Faso's game preserves – the most important of which are Arly, Nazinga, and W National Park—contain lions, elephants, hippopotamus, monkeys, common warthogs, and antelopes. Previously the endangered painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus occurred in Burkina Faso, but, although the last sightings were made in Arli National Park, the species is considered extirpated from Burkina Faso.
At 475,440 km2 (183,570 sq mi), Cameroon is the world's 53rd largest country. It is slightly larger than the nation of Sweden and the US state of California. It is comparable in size to Papua New Guinea. Cameroon's landmass is 472,710 km2 (182,510 sq mi), with 2,730 km2 (1,050 sq mi) of water.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the largest country of sub-Saharan Africa, occupying some 2,344,858 square kilometres (905,355 sq mi). Most of the country lies within the vast hollow of the Congo River basin. The vast, low-lying central area is a plateau-shaped basin sloping toward the west, covered by tropical rainforest and criss-crossed by rivers. The forest center is surrounded by mountainous terraces in the west, plateaus merging into savannas in the south and southwest. Dense grasslands extend beyond the Congo River in the north. High mountains of the Ruwenzori Range are found on the eastern borders with Rwanda and Uganda.
Gabon is a country in Central Africa, lying along the Atlantic Ocean, just south of the Bight of Biafra.
Guinea is a country on the coast of West Africa and is bordered by Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Senegal is a coastal West African nation located 14 degrees north of the equator and 14 degrees west of the Prime Meridian. The country's total area is 196,190 km2 of which 192,000 km2 is land and 4,190 km2 is water.
Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa with a North Atlantic Ocean coastline to the west. It lies on the African Plate. The country's main geographical features include wooded hill country, an upland plateau, and mountains in the east. The highest peak is Mount Bintumani, which is 1,948 meters (6,391 ft) above sea level. The coastline has a belt of mangrove swamps. Freetown, the nation's capital city, has one of the world's largest natural harbours. The Rokel River is the largest river in Sierra Leone. It is 400 kilometres (250 mi) long and has a basin with a total area of 10,622 square kilometres (4,101 sq mi).
Togo is a small Sub-Saharan state, comprising a long strip of land in West Africa. Togo's geographic coordinates are a latitude of 8° north and a longitude of 1°10′ east. It is bordered by three countries: Benin to the east, with 644 km (400 mi) of border; Burkina Faso to the north, with 126 km (78 mi) of border; and Ghana, with 877 km (545 mi) of border. To the south Togo has 56 km (35 mi) of coastline along the Bight of Benin of the Gulf of Guinea in the North Atlantic Ocean. Togo stretches 579 km (360 mi) north from the Gulf and is only 160 km (99 mi) wide at the broadest point. In total, Togo has an area of 56,785 km2 (21,925 sq mi), of which 54,385 km2 (20,998 sq mi) is land and 2,400 km2 (927 sq mi) is water.
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The Geba is a river of West Africa that rises in the northernmost area of Guinea in the Fouta Djallon highlands, passes through southern Senegal, and reaches the Atlantic Ocean in Guinea-Bissau. It is about 550 kilometres (340 mi) in total length.
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The Falémé River is a river in West Africa. The Falémé arises in northern Guinea and flows in a north-northeast direction to Mali, forming a short portion of the border between Guinea and Senegal. It turns north and then forms a portion of the border between Mali and Senegal, before joining the Sénégal River 50 km upstream of the town of Bakel in Senegal.
The wildlife of Senegal consists of the flora and fauna of this nation in West Africa. Senegal has a long Atlantic coastline and a range of habitat types, with a corresponding diversity of plants and animals. Senegal has 188 species of mammals and 674 species of bird.
The Guinea Highlands is a densely forested mountainous plateau extending from central Guinea through northern Sierra Leone and Liberia to western Ivory Coast. The highlands include a number of mountains, ranges and plateaus, including the Fouta Djallon highlands in central Guinea, the Loma Mountains in Sierra Leone, the Simandou and Kourandou massifs in southeastern Guinea, the Nimba Range at the border of Guinea, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and the Monts du Toura in western Ivory Coast.
Angola is located on the western Atlantic Coast of Southern Africa between Namibia and the Republic of the Congo. It also is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to the east. The country consists of a sparsely watered and somewhat sterile coastal plain extending inland for a distance varying from 50 to 160 km. Slightly inland and parallel to the coast is a belt of hills and mountains and behind those a large plateau. The total land size is 1,246,700 km2 (481,400 sq mi). It has an Exclusive Economic Zone of 518,433 km2 (200,168 sq mi).
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Maritime Guinea, also known as Lower Guinea, is one of the four natural regions of Guinea. It is located in the west of the country, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Fouta Djallon plateau. Conakry, Guinea's capital and largest city, is located in the region.
