Guinea

The Upper Guinea highlands were part of the medieval Mali Empire, and the Fouta Djalon became, in the eighteenth century, one of West Africa's early Islamic states, a Fula theocracy of learning and cattle. France conquered the region in the late nineteenth century after prolonged resistance led by Samori Touré, and ruled it as French Guinea.

In 1958 Guinea was the only French colony to vote "no" in de Gaulle's referendum on a French Community, choosing immediate independence under Ahmed Sékou Touré. France withdrew abruptly and punitively, stripping the country of equipment and records. Sékou Touré built a paranoid one-party socialist state; tens of thousands died in the Camp Boiro detention centre and up to a quarter of the population fled into exile before his death in 1984.

A second long-serving strongman, Lansana Conté, ruled from 1984 to 2008. A 2008 coup was followed by a 2009 stadium massacre of opposition protesters by the junta. Alpha Condé won the country's first genuinely competitive election in 2010 but engineered a disputed third term in 2020, and in September 2021 the military, led by Mamady Doumbouya, seized power and has governed since under a promised transition. Despite holding the world's largest bauxite reserves and vast iron ore, Guinea remains very poor.

Guinea's main peoples are the Fula (Peul) of the Fouta Djalon, the Maninka (Malinké) of Upper Guinea, the Susu of the coast, and a cluster of smaller peoples in the southeastern "forest region." Most Guineans are Muslim, with Christian and traditional-religion minorities concentrated in the forest.

The country has a rich griot tradition — hereditary musicians and oral historians of the Mande world — and produced some of Africa's most celebrated post-independence bands, such as Bembeya Jazz National, along with kora and balafon masters and the guitarist and singer Mory Kanté. The state ballet and orchestras were a showcase of Sékou Touré's cultural nationalism.

Social life runs on the extended family, respect for elders and religious teachers, long greetings, and hospitality to guests, with tea poured in rounds a common ritual of welcome.

Conakry, a crowded, humid city strung along a narrow peninsula, holds a large share of the population and most formal jobs. The rest of the country is rural: Fula herders and gardeners in the cool highlands, Maninka farmers on the savanna plains, rice growers on the coast, and coffee and cola farmers in the forest.

The economy is dominated by mining — Guinea supplies a large share of the world's bauxite, mostly to China, and is developing the enormous Simandou iron-ore deposit — yet the wealth has done little for most people, and infrastructure, electricity, and public services are weak. Agriculture, informal trade, and remittances sustain most households.

Guinea was also the origin of the 2013–16 West African Ebola epidemic, which began in a forest-region village and killed thousands before it was contained. Daily life outside the mining zones follows the single rainy season, the market, the mosque, and the farming calendar.

Guinean cooking is West African and rice-based. Plain rice is eaten with a sauce — groundnut (mafé), leafy sauce feuille, palm-oil, or okra — usually with fish or a little meat. Riz gras, rice cooked in a rich tomato-and-oil sauce with vegetables, is a common festive dish.

Fonio, a tiny highland grain, is a Fouta Djalon speciality, steamed like couscous; cassava, plantain, and sweet potato feature in the forest region. Grilled fish and brochettes, and bean or wheat fritters, are the street foods of Conakry.

Ginger juice, bissap (hibiscus), and sweet strong tea are the everyday drinks, along with the local Skol beer where alcohol is sold. Mangoes, pineapples, and oranges are abundant in season.

Guinea's scenery is its main draw for the few travellers who reach it. The Fouta Djalon highlands, cool and green, offer some of West Africa's best hiking: plateaus and escarpments around Doucki and Dalaba, the Kambadaga and Ditinn falls, the "Dame de Mali" rock face, and Fula villages amid gardens and orange groves.

Off Conakry, the Îles de Los — Kassa, Room, and Fotoba — are a quick boat trip to palm-fringed beaches once used by the British as a base and, briefly, a place of exile. In the far southeast, the Mount Nimba reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, protects a forested massif full of endemic species, though iron-ore interest threatens it.

Upper Guinea has the old caravan and empire history of Kankan and the sources of the Niger near Faranah, and the forest region around Nzérékoré keeps mask societies and sacred forests. For most visitors, though, Guinea is a country to travel through with patience rather than a developed destination.