Guinea
The water tower of West Africa, rich in bauxite
Guinea, sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbors, is a country of green highlands on the Atlantic coast of West Africa that serves as the source of some of the region's greatest rivers, earning it the title of the water tower of West Africa. Beneath its hills lie staggering mineral riches, above all the world's largest reserves of bauxite, the ore of aluminum, alongside gold, diamonds, and iron. Its roughly 15 to 17 million people are richly diverse, and the country was the only French colony to reject continued ties with France at independence in 1958.
Guinea divides into four contrasting regions: the coastal Maritime Guinea of mangroves and the capital Conakry, the cool highland Fouta Djallon plateau that gives rise to the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia rivers, the savanna of Upper Guinea sloping toward Mali, and the forested Guinée Forestière in the southeast, where the Nimba range reaches Mont Nimba, the country's highest point at about 1,752 meters. This well-watered relief makes Guinea hugely important to the hydrology of West Africa. Bauxite exports dominate the economy, though much of the population remains poor and reliant on subsistence farming.
Part of the medieval Mali Empire and later home to the Islamic Fouta Djallon theocracy, the region fell to France in the late nineteenth century. In 1958 Guinea, led by Ahmed Sékou Touré, alone voted to break completely with France, choosing immediate independence and enduring decades of isolation and authoritarian rule. After Touré's death the country cycled through military governments and a brief democratic opening before further coups, including the 2021 takeover that ousted President Alpha Condé. Despite political turbulence, Guinea remains central to the region thanks to its rivers and its vast mineral wealth.