Africa · Independence and the modern states
Guinea
Republic · 1960–2024
Guinea (Guinea-Conakry), on the West African coast, holds a unique place in decolonisation history: in de Gaulle's referendum of 28 September 1958 it was the only French African territory to vote "no" to the French Community, proclaiming independence on 2 October 1958 under Ahmed Sékou Touré, whose Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) had swept the 1957 territorial elections.
- Type
- Republic
- Existed
- 1960–2024
- Shown on the map
- 1960–2024
- Peak area
- 247k km²
- Region
- Africa
Overview
Guinea (Guinea-Conakry), on the West African coast, holds a unique place in decolonisation history: in de Gaulle's referendum of 28 September 1958 it was the only French African territory to vote "no" to the French Community, proclaiming independence on 2 October 1958 under Ahmed Sékou Touré, whose Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) had swept the 1957 territorial elections. France retaliated by withdrawing all aid and personnel and even plotting economic sabotage (Opération Persil). The land had earlier been fringe territory of the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires, home to the theocratic Fulani Imamate of Futa Jallon (1727–1896) and Samori Touré's Wassoulou Empire, whose defeat by France in 1898 completed the colonial conquest formalised as French Guinea in 1891.
Later history and present status
Sékou Touré — "the Elephant" — built a pan-Africanist socialist one-party state, hosting PAIGC guerrillas fighting Portuguese Guinea (which prompted the 1970 Portuguese raid on Conakry, Operation Green Sea) and surviving through Cold War balancing between Moscow and Washington, while internally his regime became a byword for repression, with Camp Boiro's torture chambers and the 1977 Market Women's Revolt against economic controls. He died in March 1984; days later Colonels Lansana Conté and Diarra Traoré seized power in a bloodless coup, releasing political prisoners and abandoning socialism. Conté ruled until his death in December 2008, surviving a 2005 assassination attempt and the 2007 general strike. A junta under Moussa Dadis Camara followed, disgraced by the September 2009 stadium massacre of 157 protesters. Guinea's first genuinely democratic elections brought Alpha Condé to power in 2010; his controversial third term, enabled by a 2020 constitutional referendum, ended when Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya overthrew him on 5 September 2021. Doumbouya won the December 2025 presidential election with 86.72% under a new constitution. Guinea's ~17.5 million people are about 89% Muslim, ethnically dominated by Fulani, Malinké, and Susu; the economy rests on agriculture and the world's second-largest bauxite industry (Guinea holds roughly a quarter of global reserves), yet remains among the poorest countries, with an HDI near the bottom of the index.
Common questions
- What was Guinea?
- Guinea (Guinea-Conakry), on the West African coast, holds a unique place in decolonisation history: in de Gaulle's referendum of 28 September 1958 it was the only French African territory to vote "no" to the French Community, proclaiming independence on 2 October 1958 under Ahmed Sékou Touré, whose Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) had swept the 1957 territorial elections.
- When did Guinea exist?
- Guinea existed 1960–2024. On this map it is drawn 1960–2024.
- How large was Guinea?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Guinea covered about 247,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- What is the present status of Guinea?
- Sékou Touré — "the Elephant" — built a pan-Africanist socialist one-party state, hosting PAIGC guerrillas fighting Portuguese Guinea (which prompted the 1970 Portuguese raid on Conakry, Operation Green Sea) and surviving through Cold War balancing between Moscow and Washington, while internally his regime became a byword for repression, with Camp Boiro's torture chambers and the 1977 Market Women's Revolt against economic controls.
Sources
Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.
- Wikipedia — Guinea en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea
This entry was written from the sources above and last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See Guinea in its world
Open the atlas at 1992 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.
Open the map at 1992 →