32 Facts About Guinea

Guinea -ee), officially the Republic of Guinea (French: Republique de Guinee), is a coastal country in West Africa.

French, the official language of Guinea, is a language of communication in schools, in government administration, and the media.

Guinea's economy is mostly dependent on agriculture and mineral production.

The English term Guinea comes directly from the Portuguese word Guine which emerged in 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 Azenegues or Moors.

Land that is Guinea belonged to a series of African empires until France colonized it in the 1890s, and made it part of French West Africa.

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Guinea declared its independence from France on 2 October 1958.

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 French withdrew, and on 2 October 1958, Guinea proclaimed itself a sovereign and independent republic, with Sekou Toure as president.

Subsequently, Guinea aligned itself with the Soviet Union and adopted socialist policies.

Guinea's opponents claimed that he was a "tired dictator", whose departure was inevitable, whereas his supporters believed that he was winning a battle with dissidents.

In 2000, Guinea became embroiled in the instability which had blighted the rest of West Africa, as rebels crossed the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In 2003, Guinea agreed to plans with her neighbours to tackle the insurgents.

Guinea fell ill on 2 December 2013 and died on 6 December.

Guinea's mountains are the source for the Niger, the Gambia, and Senegal Rivers, and rivers flowing to the sea on the west side of the range in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

Republic of Guinea covers 245, 857 square kilometres of West Africa, about 10 degrees north of the equator.

Guinea is divided into 8 administrative regions which are subdivided into 33 prefectures.

President of Guinea is normally elected by popular vote for a 5-year term; the winning candidate must receive 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.

Guinea's opposition was backed by the Fula ethnic group, who account for around 33.

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 the United Nations.

The African Union and West Africa's regional bloc, 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.

Guinea has one of the world's highest rates of female circumcision according to Anastasia Gage, an associate professor at Tulane University, and Ronan van Rossem, an associate professor at Ghent University.

Guinea is one of the emerging regional producers of apples and pears.

Under French rule, and at the beginning of independence, Guinea was an exporter of bananas, pineapples, coffee, peanuts, and palm oil.

Possibilities for investment and commercial activities exist in all these areas, and Guinea's "poorly developed infrastructure and rampant corruption continue to present obstacles to large-scale investment projects".

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Guinea includes a proviso in its agreements with international oil companies, requiring its partners to generate power for nearby communities.

In 2006, Guinea signed a production sharing agreement with Hyperdynamics Corporation of Houston to explore an offshore tract, and was then in partnership with Dana Petroleum PLC.

However, the Matakong route would be entirely within Guinea and tied to an agricultural development corridor for citizens along the route.

Some vehicles in Guinea are more than 20 years old, and cabs are any 4-door vehicle which the owner has designated as being for hire.

The violence ended after the Guinea military imposed a curfew, and President Conde made a televised appeal for calm.

Children, particularly girls, are kept out of school to assist their parents with domestic work or agriculture, or to be married: Guinea has "one of the highest rates" of child marriage in the world.

Guinea has the second highest prevalence of female genital mutilation in the world.