Geography of Guinea
|This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2013)|
Guinea is divided into four geographic regions: A lowland belt running north to south behind the coast (Lower Guinea), which is part of the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion; the pastoral Fouta Djallon highlands (Middle Guinea); the northern savanna (Upper Guinea); and a southeastern rain-forest region (Forest Guinea).
Guinea is in western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. Its geographic coordinates are . Guinea's total area is 245,857 km², comprising 245,857 km² of land and 0 km² of water.
Guinea's land boundaries span a total of 3,399 km: with Côte d'Ivoire 610 km, Guinea-Bissau 386 km, Liberia 563 km, Mali 858 km, Senegal 330 km, and Sierra Leone 652 km. It has a 320-km coastline, and claims an exclusive economic zone of 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi), with a territorial sea of 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi).
The coastal region of Guinea and most of the inland have a tropical climate, with a monsoonal-type rainy season lasting from April to November, relatively high and uniform temperatures, southwesterly winds, and high humidity.
The capital Conakry's year-round average high is 29 °C (84.2 °F), and the low is 23 °C (73.4 °F). Conakry's average annual rainfall is 4,300 mm (169.3 in). Sahelian Upper Guinea has a shorter rainy season and greater daily temperature variations. There is a dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds.
Rivers and water
Resources and environment
The country's natural resources include bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, gold, uranium, hydropower, and fish. It has 2% arable land but no permanent cropland; 22% of its area is permanent pasture, and 59% is forest or woodland as of 1993. 930 km² (1993 est.) of land is irrigated.
Current environmental issues in Guinea include: deforestation; inadequate supplies of potable water; desertification; soil contamination and erosion; and overfishing and overpopulation in forest regions.
Guinea is party to the following international environmental agreements: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands.
Its terrain is generally flat coastal plain, hilly to mountainous interior. The country's lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean (0 m), and highest is Mont Nimba (5748ft).
This is a list of the extreme points of Guinea, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
- Northernmost point – the northern section of the border with Senegal, Boké Region*.
- Easternmost point – the confluence of the Gben river and the Férédougouba river on the border with Cote d'Ivoire, Nzérékoré Region.
- Southernmost point – unnamed location on the border with Liberia immediately south of the village of Gonon, Nzérékoré Region.
- Westernmost point – Ile du Noufrage, Boké Region.
- Westernmost point (mainland) – the point at which the border with Guinea-Bissau enters the Rio Compony estuary.
- *Note: Guinea does not have a northern-most point, this section of the border being formed by a straight latitudinal line