Guinea - Major Geographic Regions
The government distinguishes four geographic regions, each of which is characterized by different morphological features and a somewhat different climate. Additionally, in each of three regions a different major ethnic group predominates, and in the fourth region are groups having cultural and organizational similarities. The regions include Lower Guinea (also known as Maritime Guinea); Middle Guinea, consisting principally of the central highland area (the Fouta Djallon); Upper Guinea, a region of savannas; and the Forest Region, which includes the Guinea Highlands and rain forests of southeastern Guinea.
Lower Guinea
Lower Guinea stretches inland from the Atlantic Ocean to the main mass of the Fouta Djallon. The coast is of the submerged kind lined by broad marshes through which drowned rivers (estuaries) open onto the sea. This coastal strip is broken at only two points where spurs of resistant rock formations jut into the ocean; one is found at Cape Varga in the north, and the other is the Camayenne (or Kaloum) Peninsula on which Conakry is situated. Tides are high along the entire coast, reaching fifteen or more feet, which results in brackish water in estuaries many miles inland.
Behind the coastal swamps lies an alluvial plain averaging about thirty miles wide but considerably narrower in its central section. Soils tend to be soggy during periods of heavy rain, but the continuous, generally humid heat favors agriculture. Crops consisted of rice, fonio (a variety of millet), and maize (corn); kola trees and oil palms were also widely grown, the latter being a characteristic feature of the landscape. Banana plantations have been developed in the southern part, and pineapples were also cultivated there.
To the east of this plain, the region rises in a series of foothills that merge into the Fouta Djallon. In the south, in particular, these foothills occur in steep steps having escarpments from several hundred to well over 1,000 feet high. The foothills area was included in the maritime region primarily because of the greater ethnic and economic relationships it has with this region than with the Fouta Djallon.
Middle Guinea
The Fouta Djallon highland mass constituting most of Middle Guinea consists of a complex of elevated, relatively level plateaus. About 5,000 square miles of this area are over 3,000 feet above sea level. The plateaus are deeply cut in many places by narrow valleys, many of which run at roughly right angles, giving the region a checkerboard appearance. A number of major valleys extend for long distances, providing important lines of communication; the railroad from Conakry to Kankan runs in part through one of these valleys.
Much of the plateau area is inhabited by the Peul, who raise large numbers of cattle there. Agriculture is frequently difficult because of the hard lateritic soil crust, and the main crops are grown in the valleys. In certain places, as near Labé, soils derived from igneous rocks are rich and permit cultivation of coffee, bitter oranges, and jasmine (used in perfumes). In some areas pineapples are grown, and banana plantations exist in wetter valleys able to provide adequate moisture for growth throughout the dry season.
Upper Guinea
The principal feature of Upper Guinea, which lies to the east of the Fouta Djallon, is the extensive lightly wooded, tall grass savannas. This savanna area is interrupted, however, by a long rocky spur extending eastward along the Mali border, from the Fouta Djallon, for over 100 miles. Shorter spurs are also found east of Dabola, and in the area west of Siguiri rounded granite domes rise above the plain. The southern limit of the region is generally marked by the northwest-southeast trending Guinea Highlands.
The region has an average altitude of about 1,000 feet. Hard lateritic crust underlies much of the savanna, and agriculture is practiced mainly in the river valleys, which in the case of the principal tributaries of the Niger River extend for hundreds of miles. The main crops include wet rice, fonio, groundnuts (peanuts), and sweet potatoes. Cattle raising is an important industry on the savanna but comparatively less so than in the Fouta Djallon.
Forest Region
The Forest Region encompasses the southeastern corner of Guinea. Its major feature is the Guinea Highlands, which have general elevations ranging from about 1,500 feet above sea level in the west to over 3,000 feet in the east; peaks at several points attain 4,000 feet and above. The topography, consisting mainly of rounded and dome-shaped surfaces, contrasts sharply with the plateau terrain of the Fouta Djallon. The difference is emphasized further by the dense rain forest—now largely secondary growth—that is the usual cover in areas below 2,000 feet. Higher areas are more lightly forested, and some detached hills have crests of bare rocks.
The areas around Beyla and Nzérékoré consist of rolling plains. At one time probably covered by rain forest, the plains' present vegetation is mainly derived savanna. Southeast of Nzérékoré are the Nimba Mountains on the Liberian and Ivory Coast frontiers. Guinea's highest point, Mount Nimba (5,748 feet), is in this range.
Agriculture in the Guinea Highlands includes the cultivation of rice, maize, cassava, kola and oil palm trees, bananas, and coffee. Tobacco is also grown in the plains areas, and cattle are also raised. The arbitrary nature of the colonial political division of West Africa is well illustrated in the Forest Region, where the easiest lines of communication to the coast are through neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone rather than through the rest of Guinea. The borders with those two countries also artificially divide peoples.
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