History of Guinea

Information about History of Guinea

Empires

The modern state of Guinea did not come into existence until 1958 but the history of the area stretches back much further. West Africa saw many empires rise and fall in the period before European intervention and Guinea fell within many of them. The Ghana Empire is believed to be the earliest of these which grew on trade but contracted and ultimately fell due to the hostile influence of the Almoravides. It was in this period that Islam first arrived in the region.

The Sosso kingdom (12th to 13th centuries) briefly flourished in the void but the Islamic Mandinka Mali Empire came to prominence when Soundiata Kéïta defeated the Sosso ruler, Soumangourou Kanté at the semi-historical Battle of Kirina in c. 1235. The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa (Emperors), the most famous being Kankou Moussa, who made a famous hajj to Mecca in 1324. Shortly after his reign the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century.

The most successful of these was the Songhai Empire which surpassed the Mali Empire in both territory and wealth. It continued to prosper until a civil war over succession followed the death of Askia Daoud in 1582. The weakened empire fell to invaders from Morocco at the Battle of Tondibi just 3 years later. The Moroccans proved unable to rule the kingdom effectively, however, and it split into many small kingdoms. Fulani Muslims migrated to Fouta Djallon in Central Guinea and established an Islamic state from 1735 to 1898 with a written Constitution and alternate rulers.

Colonial Era

The slave trade came to the coastal region of Guinea with European adventurers in the 16th century. Slavery had always been part of every day life but the scale increased as slaves were exported to work elsewhere in the triangular trade. Some sources suggest that more than half of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa were removed.

Guinea's colonial period began with French military penetration into the area in the mid-19th century. French domination was assured by the defeat in 1898 of the armies of Samory Touré, Mansa (or Emperor) of the Ouassoulou state and leader of Malinké descent, which gave France control of what today is Guinea and adjacent areas.

France negotiated Guinea's present boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the British for Sierra Leone, the Portuguese for their Guinea colony (now Guinea-Bissau), and Liberia. Under the French, the country formed the Territory of Guinea within French West Africa, administered by a governor general resident in Dakar. Lieutenant governors administered the individual colonies, including Guinea.

Independence

In 1958 the French Fourth Republic collapsed due to political instability and its failures in dealing with its colonies, especially Indochina and Algeria. The founding of a Fifth Republic was supported by the French people, while France's colonies were given the choice between more autonomy in a new French Community and immediate independence. The other colonies chose the former but Guinea — under the leadership of Ahmed Sékou Touré whose Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) had won 56 of 60 seats in 1957 territorial elections — voted overwhelmingly for independence. The French withdrew quickly, and on October 2, 1958, Guinea proclaimed itself a sovereign and independent republic, with Sékou Touré as president.

De Gaulle withdrew the French administration, with much of the French population following, which took much of the country’s infrastructure and large amounts of capital. Guinea quickly aligned itself with the Soviet Union and adopted socialist policies. This alliance was short lived, however, as Guinea moved towards a Chinese model of socialism. Despite this, however, the country continued to receive aid and investment from capitalist countries such as the U.S.. Even the relationship with France improved after the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as president — trade increased and the two countries exchanged diplomatic visits.

Under Touré, Guinea became a one-party dictatorship, with a closed, socialized economy and no tolerance for human rights, free expression, or political opposition, which was ruthlessly suppressed. Originally credited for his advocacy of cross-ethnic nationalism, Touré gradually came to rely on his own Malinké ethnic group to fill positions in the party and government. Alleging plots and conspiracies against him at home and abroad, Touré’s regime targeted real and imagined opponents, imprisoning many thousands in Soviet-style prison gulags, where hundreds perished. The regime's repression drove more than a million Guineans into exile, and Touré's paranoia ruined relations with foreign nations, including neighboring African states, increasing Guinea's isolation and further devastating its economy.

Sékou Touré died on March 26, 1984 after a simple heart operation in the United States, and was replaced in an interim role by Prime Minister Louis Lansana Beavogui. Beavogui’s rule was brief, however, and a military junta headed by Lansana Conté and Diarra Traoré seized power on April 3, 1984 in a bloodless coup. Conté assumed the role of president with Traoré as his prime minister.

Conté immediately denounced the previous regime’s record on human rights, released 250 political prisoners and encouraged approximately 200,000 more to return from exile. He also turned away from socialism, but this did little to alleviate poverty and the country showed no immediate signs of moving towards democracy.

In 1992, Conté announced a return to civilian rule, with a presidential poll in 1993 followed by elections to parliament in 1995 (in which his party - the Party of Unity and Progress - won 71 of 114 seats.) Despite this, Conté's grip on power remained tight. In September 2001 the opposition leader Alpha Condé was imprisoned for endangering state security, though he was pardoned 8 months later. He subsequently spent a period of exile in France. In 2001 Conté organized and won a referendum to lengthen the presidential term and in 2003 begun his third term after elections were boycotted by the opposition. In January 2005, Conté survived a suspected assassination attempt while making a rare public appearance in the capital Conakry. His opponents claim that he is a "tired dictator" [1] whose departure is inevitable whereas his supporters believe he is winning a battle with dissidents. As of 2005 Guinea still faces very real problems and according to the International Crisis Group is in danger of becoming a failed state. [2]

In 2000 Guinea became embroiled in the instability which had long blighted the rest of West Africa as rebels crossed the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone and it seemed for a time that the country was headed for civil war. [3] Conté blamed neighbouring leaders coveting Guinea's natural resources, though these claims were strenuously denied. [4] In 2003 Guinea agreed plans with her neighbours to tackle the insurgents.

See also

References

External links

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History of Africa
Sovereign statesAlgeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Cte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda So Tom and Prncipe Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Dependencies and
other territories		Canary Islands Ceuta Mayotte Melilla Puntland Runion St. Helena Socotra Somaliland Western Sahara


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French overseas empire
Former
Present
Motto
"Travail, Justice, Solidarité"   (French)
"Work, Justice, Solidarity"
Anthem
Liberté   (French)
"Freedom"
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The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods:
  1. Its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, agriculture was developed, and contact made with the Mediterranean civilizations to the north.

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Ghana Empire or Wagadou Empire (existed c. 750-1076) was located in what is now southeastern Mauritania, Western Mali, and Eastern Senegal.

Etymology

The empire was known to its own citizens, a Mande subgroup known as the Soninke, as Wagadou.
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Almoravids (In Arabic المرابطون al-Murabitun, sing. مرابط Murabit), were a Berber [1]
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Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
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The Sosso are a people of West Africa, found particularly in Guinea.

This group descended from a twelfth- and thirteenth-century Takrur kingdom known as the "Sosso." With the fall of the Ghana Empire, the Sosso expanded into a number of its former holdings, including its
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Mandinka (also known as Mandingo) are a Mande people of West Africa, all descend physically or culturally from the ancient Mali Empire. Mandinka gained their independence from previous empires in the thirteenth century, and founded an empire which stretched across West
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The Mali Empire or Manding Empire or Manden Kurufa was a medieval West African state of the Mandinka from 1235 to 1645. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I.
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Sundiata Keita or Sundjata Keyita or Mari Djata I (c. 1217 - c. 1255) was the founder of the Mali Empire and celebrated as a hero of the Mandé people of West Africa in the semi-historical Epic of Sundiata.

Sundjata is also known by the name Sogolon Djata.
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Soumaoro Kanté was a thirteenth century king of the Sosso people of the Takrur region. Seizing Koumbi Saleh, the capital of the recently-defunct Ghana Empire, Soumaoro Kanté proceeded to conquer several neighboring states, including the Mandinka people in what is now Mali.
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Battle of Kirina (c. 1235) was a confrontation between the Sosso king Sumanguru Kanté and the Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita's forces roundly defeated those of Sumanguru Kanté, guaranteeing the pre-eminence of Keita's new Mali Empire over West Africa.
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MANSA is a scale used to assess quality of life. Its name is short for Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life. It was developed by Priebe et al. in 1999.
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Mansa Musa[1] was a 14th century king (or Mansa) who ruled the Mali Empire between 1312 and 1337. He is remembered for his hajj and as a benefactor of Islamic scholarship.
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Hajj (Arabic: حج, transliteration: Ḥaǧǧ) is the pilgrimage to Mecca in Islam.
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:See also vassal state.
A vassal , in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudalism of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a monarch, usually of slavery support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain
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The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire was a pre-colonial African state centered in eastern Mali. From the early 15th to the late 16th Century, Songhai was one of the largest African empires in history.
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Askia Daoud (also Askia Dawud) was ruler of the Songhai Empire from 1549 to 1582. Daoud peacefully succeeded Askia Ishaq I following that ruler's 1549 death. The Empire continued to expand under Daoud's rule, and saw little internal strife.
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Motto
"Allāh, al Waţan, al Malik"   (transliteration)
"God, Nation, King"
Anthem
Hymne Chérifien
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Battle of Tondibi was the decisive confrontation in Morocco's sixteenth-century invasion of the Songhai Empire. Though vastly outnumbered, the Moroccan forces under Judar Pasha defeated the Songhai Askia Ishaq II, guaranteeing the Empire's downfall.
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Fulbhe (singular Pullo) or Fulani is an ethnic group of people spread over many countries in West Africa, Central Africa and as far as East Africa, and are found in Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, The Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau,
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Fouta Djallon is a highland region in the center of Guinea, West Africa. The indigenous name is Fuuta-Jaloo (sometimes spelled Fuuta Jalon; Fouta Djallon is a French spelling; in English it is sometimes also written Futa Jalon).
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The history of slavery covers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures and throughout human history. Slavery, generally defined, refers to the systematic exploitation of labor for work and services without consent and/or the possession of other persons as
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Triangular trade is a historical term indicating trade between three ports or regions. The trade evolved where a region had an export commodity that was not required in the region from which its major imports came.
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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"


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Samori Ture (also Samory Touré or Samori ibn Lafiya Ture, c. 1830 - 1900) was the founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic military state that resisted French rule in West Africa from 1882 to his capture in 1898.

Early life and career

Born c.
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The Wassoulou Empire was a short-lived (1878–1898) empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army.
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The Malinké or Maninka are a Manding ethnic group (part of Mandé) in Africa.

Approximately 7,750,000 Malinké are scattered throughout West Africa, including:
  • Guinea - 2.8 million
  • Mali - 1.1 million
  • Ivory Coast - 1.0 million
  • Senegal - 1.

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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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Motto
"Unity - Freedom - Justice"
Anthem
High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free


Capital Freetown

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Anthem
"A Portuguesa"


Capital
(and largest city) Lisbon5

Official languages Portuguese1
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