Guinea

Guinea (the Republic of Guinea), a former French colony, is a country in West Africa. It has a population of 11,780,000 (2015 estimate). From medieval times, the area that is now Guinea was on the western and southern fringes of the major empires in West Africa such as the Sosso Kingdom and the Mandinka Mali Empire, and finally the Songhai Empire. Around 85% of the population are Muslim, 9% are Christian, and the remaining 6% follow indigenous animist beliefs.

The Europeans came to the region during the 16th century in search of slaves for the American colonies. The French gradually came to establish more and more connections in the region, and when they defeated Samori Touré in 1898, the French set up a colony, initially called ...