Geography of Guinea

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A map showing Guinea's cities and administrative divisions. Un-guinea.png
A map showing Guinea's cities and administrative divisions.
Location of Guinea LocationGuinea.svg
Location of Guinea

Guinea is a country on the coast of West Africa and is bordered by Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Contents

Guinea is divided into four geographic regions: Maritime Guinea (Lower Guinea) a coastal plain running north to south behind the coast; the pastoral Fouta Djallon highlands (Middle Guinea); the northern savanna (Upper Guinea); and a southeastern rain-forest region (Forest Guinea).

Location

Guinea lies in western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. Its geographic coordinates are 11°00′N10°00′W / 11.000°N 10.000°W / 11.000; -10.000 .

Area and boundaries

Area
  • Total: 245,857 km²
    • country rank in the world: 77th
  • Land: 245,717 km²
  • Water: 140 km²
Area comparative
  • Australia comparative: slightly larger than Victoria
  • Canada comparative: slightly more than 1/2 the size of the Yukon
  • United Kingdom comparative: approximately the size of the United Kingdom
  • United States comparative: slightly smaller than Oregon
  • EU comparative: slightly larger than Romania

Guinea's land boundaries span a total of 4,046 km: with Ivory Coast 816 km, Guinea-Bissau 421 km, Liberia 590 km, Mali 1,062 km, Senegal 363 km, and Sierra Leone 794 km. It has a 320-km coastline, and claims an exclusive economic zone of 200  nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi), with a territorial sea of 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi).

Climate

The coastal region of Guinea and most of the inland have a tropical climate, with a monsoonal-type rainy season lasting from April to November, relatively high and uniform temperatures, southwesterly winds, and high humidity.

The capital Conakry's year-round average high is 32 °C (89.6 °F), and the low is 21 °C (69.8 °F). Conakry's average annual rainfall is almost 3,800 mm (149.6 in). Sahelian Upper Guinea has a shorter rainy season and greater daily temperature variations. There is a dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds.

Climate data for Conakry (1961-1990)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)32.2
(90.0)
33.1
(91.6)
33.4
(92.1)
33.6
(92.5)
33.2
(91.8)
31.8
(89.2)
30.2
(86.4)
29.9
(85.8)
30.6
(87.1)
30.9
(87.6)
32.0
(89.6)
32.2
(90.0)
31.9
(89.4)
Daily mean °C (°F)26.1
(79.0)
26.5
(79.7)
27.0
(80.6)
27.4
(81.3)
27.5
(81.5)
26.5
(79.7)
25.5
(77.9)
25.2
(77.4)
25.6
(78.1)
26.3
(79.3)
27.0
(80.6)
26.6
(79.9)
26.4
(79.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)19.0
(66.2)
20.2
(68.4)
21.2
(70.2)
22.0
(71.6)
20.7
(69.3)
20.2
(68.4)
20.4
(68.7)
20.8
(69.4)
20.7
(69.3)
20.4
(68.7)
21.0
(69.8)
20.1
(68.2)
20.6
(69.1)
Average rainfall mm (inches)1
(0.0)
1
(0.0)
3
(0.1)
22
(0.9)
137
(5.4)
396
(15.6)
1,130
(44.5)
1,104
(43.5)
617
(24.3)
295
(11.6)
70
(2.8)
8
(0.3)
3,784
(149.0)
Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm)00029182727221761129
Average relative humidity (%)71706870748185878581797377
Mean monthly sunshine hours 223224251222208153109871351892072142,222
Source: NOAA [1]

Rivers and water

Guinea's topography. Guinea Topography.png
Guinea's topography.

The Niger River, the Gambia River, and the Senegal River are among the 22 West African rivers that have their origins in Guinea.

Ecoregions

Resources and environment

The country's natural resources include bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, gold, uranium, hydropower, fish, and salt. It has 12.21% arable land, and 2.85% of the land is permanent crops. 949.2 km2 (2003) of land is irrigated. Guinea's total renewable water resources total 226 km3.

Environmental issues

Current environmental issues in Guinea include: deforestation; inadequate supplies of potable water; desertification; soil contamination and erosion; and overfishing and overpopulation in forest regions. Poor mining practices have led to environmental damage.

Guinea is party to the following international environmental agreements: Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling.

Terrain

Its terrain is generally flat coastal plain, hilly to mountainous interior. The country's lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean (0 m), and highest is Mont Nimba (1,752 m).

A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 549km² of tidal flats in Guinea, making it the 47th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area. [2]

This is a list of the extreme points of Guinea, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinea</span> Country in West Africa

Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, 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, Cote 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 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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in Guinea</span> Transport systems and services in Guinea

Transport in Guinea is composed by a variety of systems that people in the country use to get around as well as to and from domestic and international destinations. The railway from Conakry to Kankan ceased operating in the mid-1980s. Most vehicles in Guinea are 20+ years old, and cabs are any four-door vehicle which the owner has designated as being for hire. Domestic air services are intermittent. Conakry International Airport is the largest airport in the country, with flights to other cities in Africa as well as to Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Guinea-Bissau</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labé</span> Place in Labé Region, Guinea

Labé is the main city and administrative capital of the Fouta Djallon region of Guinea. It has a population of about 200,000. It is the second largest city in the country after the capital Conakry in terms of economic importance. Labé is situated some 450 kilometres or 280 miles northeast of Conakry close to the geographic centre of Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinée forestière</span> Forrested region of Guinea

Guinée forestière is a forested mountainous region in southeastern Guinea, extending into northeastern Sierra Leone. It is one of four natural regions into which Guinea is divided and covers 23% of the country. It includes all of the Nzérékoré administrative region, and shares a border with Sierra Leone and Liberia. Its rocky topology contains several mountain ranges and has an average elevation of 460m. Forested Guinea contains important areas of biological diversity such as the UNESCO World Heritage site Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve and biosphere reserve Ziama Massif. The Guéckédou prefectures also recorded the initial case of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Meliandou, a rural village. The virus subsequently spread to urban areas and neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Upper Guinea is a geographical term used in several contexts:

  1. Upper Guinea is one of the four geographic regions of the Republic of Guinea, being east of Futa Jalon, north of Forest Guinea, and bordering Mali. The population of this region is mainly Malinke.
  2. In a larger sense, it refers to a large plain covering eastern Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and extending into north western Côte d'Ivoire. Mostly forming the upper watershed of the River Niger, it is sparsely populated and is home to the Haut Niger National Park.
  3. Upper Guinea can also refer to the interior part of the wider Guinea region, bordering the Sahel. The interior regions are largely defined by the watersheds of rivers that arise from Fouta Djallon, including the Niger, Senegal, Faleme and others. The term was widely applied during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries to describe a coastal region and its related hinterland with which Europeans traded.
  4. In biogeography, Upper Guinea refers the region of tropical rainforest extending from southwestern Guinea through Sierra Leone, Liberia, southeastern Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and southwestern Ghana. The Dahomey Gap, a drier region of Ghana, Togo, and Benin where the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic extends to the Gulf of Guinea, separates Upper Guinea from the tropical rainforests of Lower Guinea further east. The Upper Guinea forests are also recognized as an endemic bird area.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nzérékoré Region</span> Region of Guinea

The Nzérékoré Region is a region in the southern part of Guinea. Its capital and largest city is Nzérékoré. It is one of the eight regions of Guinea. It is bordered by the countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and the Guinean regions of Kankan and Faranah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pular language</span> Indigenous language widely spoken in Guinea and surrounding countries

Pular (𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤢𞤪) is a Fula language spoken primarily by the Fula people of Fouta Djallon, Guinea. It is also spoken in parts of Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. There are a small number of speakers in Mali. Pular is spoken by 4.3 million Guineans, about 55% of the national population. This makes Pular the most widely spoken indigenous language in the country. Substantial numbers of Pular speakers have migrated to other countries in West Africa, notably Senegal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trans–West African Coastal Highway</span> Planned highway in West Africa

The Trans–West African Coastal Highway or TAH 7 is a transnational highway project to link 12 West African coastal nations, from Mauritania in the north-west of the region to Nigeria in the east, with feeder roads already existing to two landlocked countries, Mali and Burkina Faso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Guinea</span> Overview of and topical guide to Guinea

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Guinea:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinea Highlands</span> Mountain in West Africa

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Africa Coast to Europe (cable system)</span> Optical-fiber submarine cable system

Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) is an optical-fiber submarine cable system serving 24 countries on the Europe, west coast and south Africa, managed by a consortium of 20 members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinean mangroves</span> Coastal tidal mangrove swamp ecoregion on West African coast

The Guinean mangroves are a coastal ecoregion of mangrove swamps in rivers and estuaries near the ocean of West Africa from Senegal to Sierra Leone.

<i>Mylothris chloris</i> Species of butterfly

Mylothris chloris, the western dotted border or common dotted border, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Senegal, the Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The habitat consists of open woodland and dense savanna, but may also be found in disturbed rainforest areas and suburban gardens.

<i>Bebearia sophus</i> Species of butterfly

Bebearia sophus, the Sophus forester, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and possibly Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Angola. The habitat consists of low to montane forests.

<i>Deudorix lorisona</i> Species of butterfly

Deudorix lorisona, the coffee playboy, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The habitat consists of dense savanna and forests.

<i>Axiocerses harpax</i> Species of butterfly

Axiocerses harpax, the common scarlet, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kouroukoro</span> Town in Guinea

Kouroukoro is a town located in northwestern Guinea, and the capital is Kouroussa. It has an estimated population of a few thousands. The town and surrounding area is a center of Malinke culture. Kouroukoro was a district in upper Guinea, Republic of Guinea, West Africa. From early 2021 Kouroukoro was upgraded by the government to the rank of Sub-Prefecture i.e. it now has other districts that are under it politically. They are Districts of Niemen, Saramadia, Kankaya and of course Kouroukoro. It is part of the Prefecture of Kouroussa Kouroukoro lies about 500 km from the capital Conakry, about 50 km from the prefecture of Dabola and about 95 km from the prefecture of Kouroussa

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic groups in Sierra Leone</span> Ethnic groups living within the country of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is home to about sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language. In Sierra Leone, membership of an ethnic group often overlaps with a shared religious identity.

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.

References

  1. "Conakry Climate Normals 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  2. Murray, N.J.; Phinn, S.R.; DeWitt, M.; Ferrari, R.; Johnston, R.; Lyons, M.B.; Clinton, N.; Thau, D.; Fuller, R.A. (2019). "The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats". Nature. 565 (7738): 222–225. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0805-8. PMID   30568300. S2CID   56481043.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.