New Guinea (Papua Island)

Geography
Location	Melanesia
Coordinates	5°30′S 141°00′E / 5.5°S 141°E / -5.5; 141Coordinates: 5°30′S 141°00′E / 5.5°S 141°E / -5.5; 141
Archipelago	Malay archipelago
Area	786,000 km2 (303,500 sq mi)
Area rank	2nd
Highest elevation	4,884 m (16,024 ft)
Highest point	Puncak Jaya
Country
Indonesia
Provinces	Papua West Papua
Papua New Guinea
Provinces	Central Simbu Eastern Highlands East Sepik Enga Gulf Madang Morobe Oro Southern Highlands Western Western Highlands West Sepik Milne Bay National Capital District
Demographics
Population	~ 7.5 million (as of 2005)
Density	8 /km2 (21 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Papuan and Austronesian

New Guinea (also known by other names) is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km². Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago.^[1]

Overview[link]

Geologically, New Guinea is a part of the same tectonic plate as Australia. When world sea levels were low, the two shared shorelines (which now lie 100 to 140 metres below sea level), ^[2] combining with lands now inundated into the tectonic continent of Sahul,^[3][4] also known as Greater Australia.^[5] The two landmasses became separated when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the end of the last glacial period.

Anthropologically it is considered part of Melanesia.^{[citation needed]} Politically, the western half of the island comprises two Indonesian provinces: Papua and West Papua. The eastern half forms the mainland of the country of Papua New Guinea. New Guinea has a population of about 7.5 million who inhabit a land with a hot humid rainy climate. The constantly dripping rain forests cover a high mountain-dominated interior with features rapidly descending to the sea coast. It has a very low population density of only 8 inh/km².

New Guinea is differentiated from its drier, flatter,^[6] and less fertile^[7][8] southern counterpart, Australia, by its much higher rainfall and its active volcanic geology, with its highest point, Puncak Jaya, reaching an elevation of 4,884 m (16,023 ft). Yet the two land masses share a similar animal fauna, with marsupials, including wallabies and possums, and the egg-laying monotreme, the spiny anteater, or echidna. Other than bats and some two dozen indigenous rodent genera,^[9] there are no pre-human indigenous placental mammals. Pigs, several additional species of rats, and the ancestor of the New Guinea Singing Dog were introduced with human colonization.

The human presence on the island dates back at least 40,000 years to the oldest human migrations out of Africa. Research indicates that the highlands were an early and independent center of agriculture, with evidence of irrigation going back at least 10,000 years.^[10] Given the time depth of its inhabitation and its highly fractured landscape, an unusually high number of languages are spoken on the island, with some 1,000 languages (a figure higher than that of most continents) having been catalogued out of an estimated world-wide pre-Columbian total of 6,000 human dialects. Most are classified as Papuan languages, a generally accepted geographical term which a minority of authors hold to be a genetic one. A number of Austronesian languages are spoken on the coast and on offshore islands.

In the 16th century Spanish explorers discovered the island and called it Nueva Guinea. In recent history western New Guinea was included in the Dutch East Indies colony. The Germans annexed the northern coast of the eastern half of the island as German New Guinea in their pre–World War I effort to establish themselves as a colonial power, whilst the south eastern portion was reluctantly claimed by Britain. Following the Treaty of Versailles, the German portion was awarded to Australia (which was already governing the British claim, named the Territory of Papua) as a League of Nations mandate. The eastern half of the island was granted independence from Australia as Papua New Guinea in 1975. The western half gained independence from the Dutch in 1961, but became part of Indonesia soon afterwards in controversial circumstances.^[11]

Names[link]

The island has been known by various names.

The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West.^[12] Its etymology is unclear;^[12] one theory is that it is from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore that controlled parts of the island's coastal region.^[13] The name came from papo (to unite) and ua (negation), which mean not united or, territory that geographically far away and thus not united.^[13]

Ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning 'frizzly-haired', referring to the highly curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas.^[14] Another possibility, (put forward by Sollewijn Gelpke in 1993) is that it comes from the Biak phrase sup i papwa which means 'the land below [the sunset]' and refers to the islands west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera. Whatever the origin of the name Papua, it came to be associated with this area, and more especially with Halmahera, which was known to the Portuguese by this name during the era of their colonisation in this part of the world.

When the Spanish and Portuguese explorers arrived in the island via Spice Islands, they also referred to the island as Papua.^[13] However the name New Guinea would later be used by Westerners starting with Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545, referring to the similarities of the indigenous people's appearance with the natives of Guinea region of Africa.^[13] The Dutch who arrived later under Lemaire and Schouten called it Schouten island, but later this name is used only to refer to islands to the north of the coast of Papua proper, the Schouten Islands or Biak Island. When the Dutch colonized it as part of Netherlands East Indies, they called it Nieuw Guinea.^[13]

The name Irian was used in the Indonesian language to refer the island and Indonesian province, as "Irian Jaya province". The name was promoted in 1945 by Marcus Kaisiepo,^[12] brother of the future governor Frans Kaisiepo. It is taken from the Biak language of Biak Island, and means to rise, or rising spirit. This name of Irian is the name used in the Biak language and other languages such as Serui, Merauke and Waropen languages.^[13] The name was used until 2001 when the name Papua was used again for the island and the province. The name Irian, which was originally favored by natives, is now considered to be a name imposed by authority of Jakarta.^[12]

Political divisions[link]

Political divisions of New Guinea

The island of New Guinea is divided politically into roughly equal halves across a north-south line:

• The western portion of the island located west of 141°E longitude, (except for a small section of territory to the east of the Fly River which belongs to Papua New Guinea) was formerly a Dutch colony, the Dutch East Indies, and after decolonization is now two Indonesian provinces:
  • West Papua with Manokwari as its capital.
  • Papua with the city of Jayapura as its capital.
• The eastern part forms the mainland of Papua New Guinea, which has been an independent country since 1975. It was formerly the Territory of Papua and New Guinea governed by Australia, consisting of the Trust Territory of New Guinea (northeastern quarter, formerly German New Guinea), and the Territory of Papua (southeastern quarter). The country consists of four regions:
  • Papua, consisting of Western, Gulf, Central, Oro (Northern) and Milne Bay provinces.
  • Highlands, consisting of Southern Highlands, Enga Province, Western Highlands, Simbu and Eastern Highlands provinces.
  • Momase, consisting of Morobe, Madang, East Sepik and Sandaun (West Sepik) provinces.
  • Islands, consisting of Manus, West New Britain, East New Britain and New Ireland provinces, and the Bougainville Autonomous Province.

People[link]

Dani tribesman in the Baliem Valley

The current population of the island of New Guinea is about 7.5 million. Many believe human habitation on the island dates to as early as 40,000 B.C.,^[15] and first settlement possibly dated back to 60,000 years ago has been proposed. The island is presently populated by very nearly a thousand different tribal groups and a near-equivalent number of separate languages, which makes New Guinea the most linguistically diverse area in the world. Ethnologue's 14th edition lists 826 languages of Papua New Guinea and 257 languages of Irian Jaya, total 1073 languages, with 12 languages overlapping. They fall into one of two groups, the Papuan languages and the Austronesian languages. The separation was not merely linguistic; warfare among societies was a factor in the evolution of the men's house: separate housing of groups of adult men, from the single-family houses of the women and children, for mutual protection against the other groups. Pig-based trade between the groups and pig-based feasts are a common theme with the other peoples of southeast Asia and Oceania. Most societies practice agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering.

Kurulu Village War Chief at Baliem Valley

The great variety of the island's indigenous populations are frequently assigned to one of two main ethnological divisions, based on archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence: the Papuan and Austronesian groups.^[16]

Current evidence indicates that the Papuans (who constitute the majority of the island's peoples) are descended from the earliest human inhabitants of New Guinea. These original inhabitants first arrived in New Guinea at a time (either side of the Last Glacial Maximum, approx 21,000 years ago) when the island was connected to the Australian continent via a land bridge, forming the landmass known as Sahul. These peoples had made the (shortened) sea-crossing from the islands of Wallacea and Sundaland (the present Malay Archipelago) by at least 40,000 years ago, subsequent to the dispersal of peoples from Africa (circa) 50,000 - 70,000 years ago.^{[citation needed]}

Korowai tribesman

The ancestral Austronesian peoples are believed to have arrived considerably later, approximately 3,500 years ago, as part of a gradual seafaring migration from Southeast Asia, possibly originating in Taiwan. Austronesian-speaking peoples colonized many of the offshore islands to the north and east of New Guinea, such as New Ireland and New Britain, with settlements also on the coastal fringes of the main island in places. Human habitation of New Guinea over tens of thousands of years has led to a great deal of diversity, which was further increased by the later arrival of the Austronesians and the more recent history of European and Asian settlement through events like transmigration.

Large swathes of New Guinea are yet to be explored by scientists and anthropologists. The Indonesian province of West Papua is home to an estimated 44 uncontacted tribal groups.^[17]

Biodiversity and ecology[link]

With some 786,000 km² of tropical land — less than one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the Earth's surface — New Guinea has an immense biodiversity, containing between 5 and 10 percent of the total species on the planet. This percentage is about the same amount as that found in the United States or Australia. A high percentage of New Guinea's species are endemic, and thousands are still unknown to science: probably well over 200,000 species of insect, between 11,000 to 20,000 plant species, and over 650 resident bird species. Most of these species are shared, at least in their origin, with the continent of Australia, which was until fairly recent geological times, part of the same landmass (see Australia-New Guinea for an overview). The island is so large that it is considered 'nearly a continent' in terms of its biological distinctiveness.

In the period from 1998 to 2008, conservationists have found 1,060 new species in New Guinea, they were 218 kinds of plants, 43 reptiles, 12 mammals, 580 invertebrates, 134 amphibians, 2 birds and 71 fish.^[18]

The Western Crowned Pigeon is native to New Guinea.

The floristic region of Malesia

Biogeographically, New Guinea is part of Australasia rather than the Indomalayan realm, although New Guinea's flora has many more affinities with Asia than its fauna, which is overwhelmingly Australian. Botanically, New Guinea considered part of Malesia, a floristic region that extends from the Malay Peninsula across Indonesia to New Guinea and the East Melanesian Islands. The flora of New Guinea is a mixture of many tropical rainforest species with origins in Asia, together with typically Australasian flora. Typical southern hemisphere flora include the conifers Podocarpus and the rainforest emergents Araucaria and Agathis, as well as tree ferns and several species of Eucalyptus.

New Guinea has 284 species and six orders of mammals: monotremes, three orders of marsupials, rodents and bats; 195 of the mammal species (69%) are endemic. New Guinea has 578 species of breeding birds, of which 324 species are endemic. The island's frogs are one of the most poorly known vertebrate groups, currently totalling 282 species, but this number is expected to double or even triple when all species have been documented. New Guinea has a rich diversity of coral life and 1,200 species of fish have been found. Also about 600 species of reef-building coral — the latter equal to 75 percent of the world’s known total. The entire coral area covers 18 million hectares off a peninsula in northwest New Guinea.

Ecoregions[link]

Terrestrial[link]

According to the WWF, New Guinea can be divided into twelve terrestrial ecoregions:^[19]

• Central Range montane rain forests
• Central Range sub-alpine grasslands
• Huon Peninsula montane rain forests
• New Guinea mangroves
• Northern New Guinea lowland rain and freshwater swamp forests
• Northern New Guinea montane rain forests
• Southeastern Papuan rain forests
• Southern New Guinea freshwater swamp forests
• Southern New Guinea lowland rain forests
• Trans Fly savanna and grasslands
• Vogelkop montane rain forests
• Vogelkop-Aru lowland rain forests

Freshwater[link]

The WWF and Nature Conservancy divide New Guinea into five freshwater ecoregions:^[20]

• Vogelkop–Bomberai
• New Guinea North Coast
• New Guinea Central Mountains
• Southwest New Guinea–Trans-Fly Lowland
• Papuan Peninsula

Marine[link]

The WWF and Nature Conservancy identify several marine ecoregions in the seas bordering New Guinea:^[21]

• Papua
• Bismarck Sea
• Solomon Sea
• Southeast Papua New Guinea
• Gulf of Papua
• Arafura Sea

History[link]

Early history[link]

The continent of Sahul before the rising ocean sundered Australia and New Guinea after the last ice age

The first inhabitants of New Guinea arrived at least around 40,000 years ago, having travelled through the south-east Asian peninsula. These first inhabitants, from whom the Papuan people are probably descended, adapted to the range of ecologies and in time developed one of the earliest known agricultures. Remains of this agricultural system, in the form of ancient irrigation systems in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, are being studied by archaeologists. This work is still in its early stages so there is still uncertainty as to precisely what crop was being grown, or when/where agriculture arose. Sugar cane was cultivated for the first time in New Guinea around 6000 B.C.^[22]

The gardens of the New Guinea Highlands are ancient, intensive permacultures, adapted to high population densities, very high rainfalls (as high as 10,000 mm/yr (400 in/yr)), earthquakes, hilly land, and occasional frost. Complex mulches, crop rotations and tillages are used in rotation on terraces with complex irrigation systems. Western agronomists still do not understand all practices, and it has been noted that native gardeners are as or more successful than most scientific farmers in raising certain crops.^[23] There is evidence that New Guinea gardeners invented crop rotation well before western Europeans.^[24] A unique feature of New Guinea permaculture is the silviculture of Casuarina oligodon, a tall, sturdy native ironwood tree, suited to use for timber and fuel, with root nodules that fix nitrogen. Pollen studies show that it was adopted during an ancient period of extreme deforestation.

In more recent millennia another wave of people arrived on the shores of New Guinea. These were the Austronesian people, who had spread down from Taiwan, through the South-east Asian archipelago, colonising many of the islands on the way. The Austronesian people had technology and skills extremely well adapted to ocean voyaging and Austronesian language speaking people are present along much of the coastal areas and islands of New Guinea. This Austronesian migrants are considered ancestors of most people in insular Southeast Asia form Sumatra, Java to Borneo and Sulawesi, and coastal new Guinea.^[25]

Pre-colonial history[link]

Group of natives at Mairy Pass. Mainland of British New Guinea in 1885.

Papuans on the Lorentz River, photographed during the third South New Guinea expedition in 1912-13.

The western part of the island was in contact with kingdoms in other parts of modern-day Indonesia. Negarakertagama mentioned region of Wanin in eastern Nusantara as part of Majapahit's tributary. This has been identified with the Onin Peninsula, part of the Bomberai Peninsula near the city of Fakfak.^[26][27] The sultans of Tidore, in Maluku Islands, claimed sovereignty over various coastal part of the island.^[28] During Tidore's rule, the main exports of the island during this period were resins, spices, slaves and the highly priced feathers of the Bird-of-Paradise.^[28] Sultan Nuku, one of the most famous Tidore sultans who rebelled against Dutch colonization, called himself "Sultan of Tidore and Papua",^[29] during his revolt in 1780s. He commanded loyalty from both Moluccan and Papuan chiefs, especially those of Raja Ampat Islands. Following Tidore's defeat, much of the territory it claimed in western part of New Guinea come under Dutch rule as part of Dutch East Indies.^[29]

European contact[link]

The first European contact with New Guinea was by Portuguese and Spanish sailors in the 16th century. In 1526-27 the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Meneses saw the western tip of New Guinea and named it ilhas dos Papuas. In 1545 the Spaniard Yñigo Ortiz de Retez sailed along the north coast of New Guinea as far as the Mamberamo River near which he landed, naming the island 'Nueva Guinea'. The first map showing the whole island (as an island) was published in 1600 and shows it as 'Nova Guinea'. In 1606 Spanish navigator Luís Vaz de Torres explored the southern coast of New Guinea from Milne Bay to the Gulf of Papua including Orangerie Bay which he named Bahía de San Lorenzo. His expedition also discovered Basilaki Island naming it Tierra de San Buenaventura, which he claimed for Spain in July 1606.^[30] On October 18 his expedition reached the western part of the island in present-day Indonesia, and also claimed the territory for the King of Spain.

New Guinea from 1884-1919. The Netherlands controlled the western half of New Guinea, Germany the north-eastern part, and Britain the south-eastern part.

A successive European claim occurred in 1828, when the Netherlands formally claimed the western half of the island as Netherlands New Guinea. In 1883, following a short-lived French annexation of New Ireland, the British colony of Queensland annexed south-eastern New Guinea. However, the Queensland government's superiors in the United Kingdom revoked the claim, and (formally) assumed direct responsibility in 1884, when Germany claimed north-eastern New Guinea as the protectorate of German New Guinea (also styled Kaiser-Wilhelmsland). The first Dutch government posts were established in 1898 and in 1902 Manokwari on the north coast, Fak-Fak in the west and Merauke in the south at the border with British New Guinea.

The Germans, the Dutch and the British tried to suppress warfare and headhunting, which was once common between the villages of the populace.^[31]

In 1905 the British government renamed their territory as the Territory of Papua, and in 1906 transferred total responsibility for it to Australia. During World War I, Australian forces seized German New Guinea, which in 1920 became the Territory of New Guinea, a League of Nations mandated territory of Australia. The Australian territories became collectively known as The Territories of Papua and New Guinea (until February 1942).

Before about 1930, European maps showed the highlands as uninhabited forests.^{[citation needed]} When first flown over by aircraft, numerous settlements with agricultural terraces and stockades were observed. The most startling discovery took place on 4 August 1938, when Richard Archbold discovered the Grand Valley of the Baliem River which had 50,000 yet-undiscovered Stone Age farmers living in orderly villages. The people, known as the Dani, were the last society of its size to make first contact with the rest of the world.^[32]

Since World War II[link]

Australian soldiers display Japanese flags they captured at Kaiapit, New Guinea in 1943.

Netherlands New Guinea and the Australian territories were invaded in 1942 by the Japanese. The Australian territories were put under military administration and were known simply as New Guinea. The highlands, northern and eastern parts of the island became key battlefields in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. Papuans often gave vital assistance to the Allies, fighting alongside Australian troops, and carrying equipment and injured men across New Guinea. Following the return to civil administration, the Australian section was known as the Territory of Papua-New Guinea (1945–49) and then as Papua and New Guinea. Although the rest of the Dutch East Indies achieved independence as Indonesia on 27 December 1949, the Netherlands regained control of western New Guinea.

During the 1950s the Dutch government began to prepare Netherlands New Guinea for full independence and allowed elections in 1959; the elected New Guinea Council took office on 5 April 1961. The Council decided on the name of West Papua for the territory, along with an emblem, flag, and anthem to complement those of the Netherlands. On 1 October 1962, the Dutch handed over the territory to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority, until 1 May 1963, when Indonesia took control. The territory was renamed West Irian and then Irian Jaya. In 1969 Indonesia, under the 1962 New York Agreement, organised a referendum named the Act of Free Choice, in which Papuan tribal elders reached a consensus to continue union with Indonesia.^{[citation needed]}

Map of New Guinea, with place names as used in English in the 1940s

There has been resistance to Indonesian integration and occupation, both through civil disobedience (such as Morning Star flag raising ceremonies) and via the formation of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM, or Free Papua Movement) in 1965. Amnesty International has estimated more than 100,000 Papuans, one-sixth of the population, have died as a result of government-sponsored violence against West Papuans.^[33]

From 1971, the name Papua New Guinea was used for the Australian territory. On 16 September 1975, Australia granted full independence to Papua New Guinea.

In 2000, Irian Jaya was formally renamed "The Province of Papua" and a Law on Special Autonomy was passed in 2001. The Law established a Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) with representatives of the different indigenous cultures of Papua. The MRP was empowered to protect the rights of Papuans, raise the status of women in Papua, and to ease religious tensions in Papua; block grants were given for the implementation of the Law as much as $266 million in 2004.^[34] The Indonesian courts' enforcement of the Law on Special Autonomy blocked further creation of subdivisions of Papua: although President Megawati Sukarnoputri was able to create a separate West Papua province in 2003 as a fait accompli, plans for a third province on western New Guinea were blocked by the courts. (King, 2004, p. 91) Critics argue that the Indonesian government has been reluctant to establish or issue various government implementing regulations so that the legal provisions of special autonomy could be put into practice, and as a result special autonomy in Papua has failed.^[35]

Geography[link]

New Guinea located with respect to Melanesia

Topographical map of New Guinea.

New Guinea is an island in the north of the continent of Sahul, also known as Greater Australia. It is isolated by the Arafura Sea to the west and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. Sometimes considered to be the easternmost island of the Malay archipelago, it lies north of Australia's Top End, Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York peninsula, and west of the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands Archipelago.

The shape of New Guinea is often compared to that of a bird of paradise, and this results in the usual names for the two extremes of the island: the Bird's Head Peninsula in the northwest (Vogelkop in Dutch, Kepala Burung in Indonesian; also known as the Doberai Peninsula), and the Bird's Tail Peninsula in the southeast (also known as the Papuan Peninsula).

A spine of east–west mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, dominates the geography of New Guinea, stretching over 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from the 'head' to the 'tail' of the island. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4,884 m (16,024 ft) high, and ensuring a steady supply of rain from the equatorial atmosphere. The tree line is around 4,000 m (13,100 ft) elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers—which have been retreating since at least 1936.^[36][37][38] Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges. Except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season.

The highest peaks on the island of New Guinea are:

• Puncak Jaya, sometimes known by its former Dutch name Carstensz Pyramid, is a mist covered limestone mountain peak on the Indonesian side of the border. At 4,884 metres (16,024 ft), Puncak Jaya makes New Guinea the world's fourth highest landmass.
• Puncak Mandala located in Papua, is the second highest peak on the island at 4,760 metres (15,617 ft).
• Puncak Trikora also in Papua is 4,750 metres (15,584 ft).
• Mount Wilhelm is the highest peak on the PNG side of the border at 4,509 metres (14,793 ft). Its granite peak is the highest point of the Bismarck Range.
• Mount Giluwe 4,368 metres (14,331 ft) is the second highest summit in PNG it is also the highest volcanic peak in Oceania.

Another major habitat feature is the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometres, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, and some of the largest expanses of mangrove forest in the world. The southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The northern lowlands are drained principally by the Mamberamo River and its tributaries on the Indonesian side, and by the Sepik on the PNG side; the more extensive southern lowlands by a larger number of rivers, principally the Digul on the Indonesian side and the Fly on the PNG side. These are the island's major river systems, draining roughly northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast, respectively. Many have broad areas of meander and result in large areas of lakes and freshwater swamps. The largest island offshore, Dolak (Frederik Hendrik, Yos Sudarso), lies near the Digul estuary, separated by a straight so narrow it has been named a "creek".

New Guinea contains many of the world’s ecosystem types: glacial, alpine tundra, savanna, montane and lowland rainforest, mangroves, wetlands, lake and river ecosystems, seagrasses, and some of the richest coral reefs on the planet.

Prior to the 1970s, archaeologists called the single Pleistocene landmass by the name Australasia,^[3] although this word is most often used for a wider region that includes lands like New Zealand that are not on the same continental shelf. In the early 1970s they introduced the term Greater Australia for the Pleistocene continent.^[3] Then at a 1975 conference and consequent publication,^[4] they extended the name Sahul from its previous use for just the Sahul Shelf to cover the continent.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Facsimile of material from "The Discovery of New Guinea" by George Collingridge
• Scientists hail discovery of hundreds of new species in remote New Guinea
• PapuaWeb

Republic of Guinea République de Guinée
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Travail, Justice, Solidarité"  (French) "Work, Justice, Solidarity"
Anthem: Liberté  (French) "Freedom"
Capital (and largest city)		Conakry 9°31′N 13°42′W / 9.517°N 13.7°W / 9.517; -13.7
Official language(s)		French
Vernacular languages		Mandinka, Fula and Susu
Ethnic groups		Fula (Peuhl) 40% Mandingo (Malinke) 30% Susu (Soussou) 20% smaller ethnic groups 10%
Demonym		Guinean
Government		Presidential republic
-	President	Alpha Condé
-	Prime Minister	Mohamed Said Fofana
Legislature		National Assembly
Independence
-	from France	2 October 1958
Area
-	Total	245,857 km2 (78th) 94,926 sq mi
-	Water (%)	negligible
Population
-	July 2009 estimate	10,057,975[1] (81st)
-	1996 census	7,156,407
-	Density	40.9/km2  106.1/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$11.464 billion[2]
-	Per capita	$1,082[2]
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$5.212 billion[2]
-	Per capita	$492[2]
Gini (1994)		40.3 (medium)
HDI (2010)		0.340 (low) (156th)
Currency		Guinean franc (GNF)
Time zone		(UTC+0)
Drives on the		right
ISO 3166 code		GN
Internet TLD		.gn
Calling code		224

Guinea ⁱ/ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea (French: République de Guinée), is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea (Guinée française), it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.^[3] Guinea has almost 246,000 square kilometres (94,981 sq mi) and a population of 10,057,975. It forms a crescent by curving from its western border on the Atlantic Ocean toward the east and the south. Its northern border is shared with Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, the southern one with Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. The Niger River's source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea.

Guinea is geographically divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures. Conakry is the capital, largest city and economic centre. The other major cities in the country include Kankan, Nzérékoré, Kindia, Labe, Guéckédou, Mamou and Boke.

Guinea's 10 million people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. The largest and most prominent groups are the Fula 40%, Mandingo 30%, and Susu 20%.^[1]

Guinea is a predominantly Muslim country at about 85% of the population [1][2][3]. Christians, mostly Roman Catholic, make up about 10%[4] of the population of Guinea and they are largely found in the Guinea forestiere region in southern Guinea.

Guinea is very rich in minerals, including bauxite, diamond, and gold. The country's economy is largey dependent on agriculture and mineral production [5]. The country is the second largest bauxite producer in the world [6].

French is the official language of Guinea and is the language of communication at schools, government administration, the media, and among the country's security forces. Guinea is home to over twenty four indigenous languages. The three most widely spoken languages in Guinea are the Fula, Susu and Mandinka. The Fula language is widely spoken in the Fouta Djallon region in central Guinea. The Mandinka language is widely spoken in Eastern Guinea and part of the Guinea forestiere region and the Susu language is widely spoken in the coastal region of northwestern Guinea.[7]

History[link]

The land that is now Guinea belonged to a series of African empires until France colonized it in the 1890s, and made it part of French West Africa.^[4] Guinea declared its independence from France on 2 October 1958.^[4] From independence until the presidential election of 2010, Guinea was governed by a number of autocratic rulers, which has contributed to making Guinea one of the poorest countries in the world.^[5][6][7]

Monument to commemorate the 1970 military victory over the Portuguese invasion.

Ahmed Sékou Touré reign[link]

Ahmed Sékou Touré became President upon Guinea's independence in 1958, establishing one-party dictatorship, with a closed, socialized economy and no tolerance for human rights, free expression, or political opposition, which was ruthlessly suppressed.^[8][9][10] The country was named the People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea.

Economic costs were extensive. The state took over farms and other production. Imposition of price controls started an era of pervasive black markets and smuggling even though it was punishable by death.^[11][12] Touré relied on his own Malinke ethnic group to fill positions in the party and government.^[10] Touré's party officials took monopoly of social and economic life. A police and intelligence apparat spied on everyone.^[13] More than a million people fled the repression into neighboring countries.^[10][14] It has been estimated that almost 5,000 people were executed or died from torture or starvation at the Camp Boiro, a Soviet-style concentration camp.^[15][16]

After almost three decades in power, Touré died unexpectedly on 26 March 1984.

Recent history[link]

Following a brief coup d'état, Lansana Conté became the President after Touré. The constitution and parliament were suspended and a committee for national recovery was established. Conté clung to power until his death in 2008.^[17]

On 23 December 2008, Moussa Dadis Camara seized control of Guinea as the head of a junta.^[18] On 28 September 2009, the junta ordered its soldiers to attack people who had gathered to protest any attempt by Camara to become President.^[19] The soldiers went on a rampage of rape, mutilation, and murder.^[20]

On 3 December 2009, an aide shot Camara during a dispute about the rampage of September 2009. Camara went to Morocco for medical care.^[20][21] Vice-President (and defense minister) Sékouba Konaté flew back from Lebanon to run the country in Camara's absence.^[22]

On 12 January 2010 Camara was flown from Morocco to Burkina Faso.^[23] After meeting in Ouagadougou on 13 and 14 January, Camara, Konaté and Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso, produced a formal statement of twelve principles promising a return of Guinea to civilian rule within six months. It was agreed that the military would not contest the forthcoming elections, and Camara would continue his convalescence outside Guinea.^[24] On 21 January 2010 the military junta appointed Jean-Marie Doré as Prime Minister of a six-month transition government, leading up to elections.^[25]

The presidential election was set to take place on 27 June and 18 July 2010,^[26][27] it was held as being the first free and fair election since independence in 1958. The first round took place normally on the 27 June 2010 with ex Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and his rival Alpha Condé emerging as the two runners-up for the second round.^[28] However, due to allegations of electoral fraud, the second round of the election was postponed until 19 September 2010.^[29] A delay until 10 October was announced by the electoral commission (CENI), subject to approval by Sékouba Konaté.^[30] Yet another delay until 24 October was announced in early October.^[31] Elections were finally held on 7 November. Voter turnout was high, and the elections went relatively smoothly.^[32]

16 November 2010, Alpha Condé, the leader of the opposition party Rally of the Guinean People (RGP), was officially declared the winner of a 7 November run-off in Guinea's presidential election. He has promised to reform the security sector and review mining contracts if elected.^[33]

On the night of July 18, 2011, President Condé's residence was attacked in an attempted coup. The attack included a fierce firefight and rocket propelled grenades. The president was unharmed.^[34] Sixteen people have been charged with the attempted assassination. Most of those indicted are close associates of Sékouba Konaté.^[35]

After many delays, the legislative elections are set for July 7, 2012 and political parties will hold as many rallies as needed to ensure that they are free and fair. There is some skepticism that they will occur on that date. The legal voting age is 18.

Regions and prefectures[link]

Satellite image of Guinea

The Republic of Guinea covers 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi) of West Africa about 10 degrees north of the equator. Guinea is divided into four natural regions with distinct human, geographic, and climatic characteristics:

• Maritime Guinea (La Guinée Maritime) covers 18% of the country
• Mid-Guinea (La Moyenne-Guinée) covers 20% of the country
• Upper-Guinea (La Haute-Guinée) covers 38% of the country
• Forested Guinea (Guinée forestière) covers 23% of the country, and is both forested and mountainous

Guinea is divided into seven administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures.

• The capital Conakry with a population of 1,548,470 ranks as a special zone.

Geography[link]

Map of Guinea

At 245,857 km² (94,926 sq mi), Guinea is roughly the size of the United Kingdom and slightly smaller than the US state of Oregon. There are 320 km (200 mi) of coastline and a total land border of 3,400 km (2,100 mi). Its neighbours are Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone. It lies mostly between latitudes 7° and 13°N, and longitudes 7° and 15°W (a small area is west of 15°).

The country is divided into four main regions: the Basse-Coté lowlands, populated mainly by the Susu ethnic group; the cooler, mountainous Fouta Djallon that run roughly north-south through the middle of the country, populated by Fulas, the Sahelian Haute-Guinea to the northeast, populated by Malinké, and the forested jungle regions in the southeast, with several ethnic groups. Guinea's mountains are the source for the Niger, the Gambia, and Senegal Rivers, as well as the numerous rivers flowing to the sea on the west side of the range in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

The highest point in Guinea is Mount Nimba at 1,750 m (5,740 ft). Although the Guinean and Ivorian sides of the Nimba Massif are a UNESCO Strict Nature Reserve, the portion of the so-called Guinean Backbone continues into Liberia, where it has been mined for decades; the damage is quite evident in the Nzérékoré Region at 7°32′17″N 8°29′50″W / 7.53806°N 8.49722°W / 7.53806; -8.49722.

Economy[link]

Malinke fisher women on the Niger River, Niandankoro, Kankan Region, in eastern Guinea.

Guinea has abundant natural resources including 25% or more of the world's known bauxite reserves. Guinea also has diamonds, gold, and other metals. The country has great potential for hydroelectric power. Bauxite and alumina are currently the only major exports. Other industries include processing plants for beer, juices, soft drinks and tobacco. Agriculture employs 80% of the nation's labor force. Under French rule, and at the beginning of independence, Guinea was a major exporter of bananas, pineapples, coffee, peanuts, and palm oil.

Mining[link]

Richly endowed with minerals, Guinea possesses over 25 billion tonnes (metric tons) of bauxite – and perhaps up to one-half of the world's reserves. In addition, Guinea's mineral wealth includes more than 4-billion tonnes of high-grade iron ore, significant diamond and gold deposits, and undetermined quantities of uranium. Guinea has considerable potential for growth in agricultural and fishing sectors. Soil, water, and climatic conditions provide opportunities for large-scale irrigated farming and agro industry. Possibilities for investment and commercial activities exist in all these areas, but Guinea's poorly developed infrastructure and rampant corruption continue to present obstacles to large-scale investment projects.

Joint venture bauxite mining and alumina operations in northwest Guinea historically provide about 80% of Guinea's foreign exchange. Bauxite is refined into alumina, which is later smelted into aluminium. The Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinea (CBG), which exports about 14 million tonnes of high-grade bauxite annually, is the main player in the bauxite industry. CBG is a joint venture, 49% owned by the Guinean Government and 51% by an international consortium known as Halco Mining Inc., a joint venture of Dadco Mining and Rio Tinto Alcan.^[36] The Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia (CBK), a joint venture between the Government of Guinea and Russki Alumina, produces some 2.5 million tonnes annually, nearly all of which is exported to Russia and Eastern Europe. Dian Dian, a Guinean/Ukrainian joint bauxite venture, has a projected production rate of 1,000,000 t (1,102,311 short tons; 984,207 long tons) per year, but is not expected to begin operations for several years. The Alumina Compagnie de Guinée (ACG), which took over the former Friguia Consortium, produced about 2.4 million tonnes in 2004 as raw material for its alumina refinery. The refinery exports about 750,000 tonnes of alumina. Both Global Alumina and Alcoa-Alcan have signed conventions with the Government of Guinea to build large alumina refineries with a combined capacity of about 4 million tonnes per year.

Graphical depiction of Guinea's product exports in 28 color coded categories.

Diamonds and gold also are mined and exported on a large scale. AREDOR, a joint diamond-mining venture between the Guinean Government (50%) and an Australian, British, and Swiss consortium, began production in 1984 and mined diamonds that are 90% gem quality. Production stopped from 1993 until 1996, when First City Mining, of Canada, purchased the international portion of the consortium. The bulk of diamonds are mined artisanally. The largest gold mining operation in Guinea is a joint venture between the government and Ashanti Goldfields of Ghana. Société Minière de Dinguiraye (SMD) also has a large gold mining facility in Lero, near the Malian border.

Guinea has large reserves of the steel-making raw material, iron ore. Rio Tinto is the majority owner of the $6 billion Simandou iron ore project, which the firm says is the world's best unexploited resource.^[37] Rio Tinto has signed a binding agreement with Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. to establish the joint venture for the Simandou iron ore project. This project is said to be of the same magnitude as the Pilbara in Western Australia^{[citation needed]}. In the 1960s, Thomas Price, then vice president of US-based steel company Kaiser Steel, said, "I think this [the Pilbara] is one of the most massive ore bodies in the world."^[38]

Problems and reforms[link]

The Guinean Government adopted policies in the 1990s to return commercial activity to the private sector, promote investment, reduce the role of the state in the economy, and improve the administrative and judicial framework. Guinea has the potential to develop, if the government carries out its announced policy reforms, and if the private sector responds appropriately. So far, corruption and favouritism, lack of long-term political stability, and the lack of a transparent budgeting process continue to dampen foreign investor interest in major projects in Guinea.^{[citation needed]}