Guinea

The name 'Guinea' appears in every historical era, either geographically or in the form of currency. Although today, the Republic of Guinea is an independent country in west Africa, there have been a couple of other 'Guineas' existing throughout history and even now. Listing down all the Guineas history has witnessed: 

• Spanish Guinea - today's Equatorial Guinea
• Portuguese Guinea - today's Guinea-Bissau
• Danish Guinea - Danish Gold Coast, part of today's Ghana
• French Guinea - Republic of Guinea
• Swedish Guinea - Swedish Gold Coast, part of today's Ghana
• New Guinea - a combined name for the Irian Jaya province of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea
• Papua New Guinea - independent nation in Oceania
• British Guinea - Territory of Papua, part of today's Papua New Guinea 
• German New Guinea - part of today's Papua New Guinea
• German Guinea - later dropped the 'Guinea' part and renamed it as German Togoland, which is today's Togo. 

On older maps, one would find the name 'Guinea' stretched from today's Senegal to Nigeria. If we go back to the 16th century, the oldest names in this region would be as following: 

• Caput Viride (Cape Verde, Senegal)
• Regnã Gambræ (The Gambia)
• Casamansa regio (Casamance, part of Senegal)
• Ginega (probably Guinea)
• Regnum Melli (the Malian empire; although the borders of the empire never touched any seacoast)
• Imepriū Nebeorum 
• Æthiopia (Ethiopia, but on certain older maps, this region is mentioned as a huge chunk of West Africa). 

The above translation is from a 1540 dated map originally mapped by Willibald Pirckheimer, a German Renaissance lawyer, who like many others had marked incorrect territories on the African continent. In the same century, according to a map dating 1570 by Abraham Ortelius, a Brabantian (part of Belgium and Netherlands) cartographer mentions the name Gvinea to the westernmost region south of Melli. In any case, the region below the Niger River has always been known as Guinea, although the mouths of the river on these maps was near Senegal, which is geographically incorrect. 

The European colonisation on ports of the African coast dates as back as 1445 when the Portuguese landed at Île de Gorée, in today's Dakar region, Senegal. The port has an amazing history in itself as it was colonised by the Portuguese (1444 - 1588, 1629), followed by the Dutch (1588 - 1629, 1629 - 1664), the English (1664 - 1677, 1758 - 1763, 1779 - 1783), the French (1677 - 1758, 1763 - 1779, 1783 - 1960) before it became part of independent Senegal in 1960. The port has been an opening point for the Europeans to the Guinea region and thus started the colonisation of African kingdoms inch by inch. 

As it is well-known that on the arrival of the Europeans, Africa was divided into various indigenous factions and kingdoms that was based on the population of local tribes. In the 15th century, the Mali Empire was the largest one surrounded by smaller kingdoms such as Jolof, Zafunu, Ghana (the Ghana Empire's location was in today's Mali), Wagadugu etc. The coast of West Africa would soon be settled with European settlements, particularly the coast of today's Ghana which was famously known as the Gold Coast. The Portuguese were the first ones to arrive in this region and till the 16th century, Portugal had its footholds present all across the African coast. The islands of Santo António (São Tomé) and Principe (which is an independent nation today), Formosa (later renamed as Fernão do Po or Fernando Po), Ano Bom (Annobon), all lying near the Nigerian coast, were colonised by the Portuguese in the 15th-16th centuries. 

At this point, Portugal had claimed over territories all across the globe, from Brazil to India. Although the major African colonies under Portugal later were Angola and Mozambique, the Portuguese were the earliest to arrive at the continent (and in Asia as well). Till the 18th century, the sole dominating European power in the Guinea region (and the entire African continent as well) would be the Portuguese and while other imperial powers such as the French, Dutch and British were rising in Asian territories, they still had to wait for their opening in Africa. With time, the indigenous kingdoms of the Guinea region expanded and changed with certain names remaining prominent throughout the 19th century. Interestingly, Africa is the first continent where a non-European power also saw its establishments. Although the ports of Liberia had been approached by the French in the 14th century, its name on colonial maps would be known as Costa da Pimenta or Costa dos Grãos, referring to the Grain Coast in Portuguese. As the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America is formed in 1816, the first 88 black settlers arrived at Sierra Leone in 1820. The following year, the Cape Mesurado Colony is created following which the town of Christopolis (later renamed in 1824 as Monrovia) is established. The American colonies of Monrovia, New Georgia, Caldwell, Millsburg, Marshall, Bexley, Bassa Cove and Edina together formed the independent nation of Liberia in 1847, which was later recognized by the UK (in 1848) and the USA (1862) respectively. 

By this time, colonial powers such as the French had expanded in northern Africa around the coast of Algeria. While Algeria, Southern Territories and Senegal were the largest African colonies under the French, the British had its stronghold only in South Africa under the Cape Colony. The coast of Bassam (Grand Bassam, in Ivory Coast) was another French territory in the Guinea region. With the fall of the Malian Empire, independent states such as Mane, Kaabu, Futa Jallon, Kong, Ashanti, Daho, Mossi States etc. sprung all around this region, soon to be conquered by one imperial power, the French. Towards the end of the 19th century, the French had almost covered major African states of this region with coasts of Sierra Leone and Gold Coast (or Ghana) left to the British. The only Portuguese remains in this region would be the colony of Portuguese Guinea (originally settled as Guiné de Cabo Verde, later with territorial changes it was known as Colónia da Guiné). 

With time, the French would be the dominating power and the colony of French West Africa would be established in 1895 (known in French as Afrique Occidental Française). By the 1960s, most of the French territories of West Africa gained independence and individual republics such as Guinea, Upper Volta (later, Burkina Faso), Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Dahomey (later, Benin), Togo and Ghana emerged. The Portuguese were, once again, the last to leave with the independence of Guinea-Bissau in 1974. 

Coming back to the incorrect mapping of the Guinea region in the 17th century, the coast was a labyrinth of fertile land, rivers and rich natural resources that attracted every colonial power. Some of the oldest settlements that have existed on post-medieval maps can be identified as Madinga (referring to the Mandinka tribe), Gago, Dauma (possibly Dahomey, former name of Benin), Labore, C.d.3 Pontas (Cape Three Points, Ghana), Xabanda etc. A more clear name of Guinea appears slowly as we move to the 18th century with territories such as Grein Cust (Grain Coast), Quaqua Cust (Quaqua Coast), Gout Cust (Gold Coast). A clearer version of the Guinea region is mentioned on a 1787 dated map by S. Boulton who mentions the following regions that remained prominent throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. 

• Mandinga Kingdom of Great Acanis (spread across today's Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin and parts of Niger) 
• Manou (in today's Republic of Guinea)
• Mitombo (in today's Republic of Guinea)
• Grain Coast or Malagueta (the coast of Liberia)
• Tooth Coast (the coast of Ivory Coast / Cote D' Ivoire)
• The Gold Coast (the coast of Ghana and Togo)
• Slave Coast (the coast of Togo, Benin and Nigeria)
• Kingdom of Dahomey (spread through Benin, Togo and Nigeria)

On another map, one would find the territory of Windward Coast marking the coast of Sierra Leone and Liberia. In the early 19th century, new establishments such as Sangwin (in Liberia), Bassam (Grand Bassam, in Ivory Coast), Tabou (in Ivory Coast), St. George de Mina (Elmina Castle, in Ghana), Whydah (Ouidah, in Benin), Accara (Accra, the capital of Ghana), Lagos (former capital of Nigeria), Cape St. Paul (in Anloga, Ghana), Cape Formosa (near Brass River, Nigeria), New Calabar (in Nigeria) etc. would appear. 

During the 1840s, a clearer demarcation between the territories of Soudan (referring to multiple West African nations), Upper Guinea, Lower Guinea (referring to Cameroon and parts of Congo, DRC and Angola), Senegambia, Liberia and other territories would appear on several maps. As we approach the end of the 19th century, the Guinea region is now clearly divided into kingdoms such as Wagore, Beaure, Liberia, Wangara, Ashantee, Dahomey, etc. and important harbours such as Monrovia, Tradetown, Cape Palmas, Cape Three Points, King George Town, Christiansborg, Apollnia etc. would appear. And finally, with the establishment of French West Africa in 1895, the borders were now much sharper and the name 'Guinea' would fade out among newly acquired European colonies. 

Technically, if one would have to list down the indigenous tribes of the Guinea region, it would be anything but Guinea. The controversial etymology of 'Guinea' points to two directions - either a rough translation of 'land of black people' in Berber language or from the city of Djenné, Mali. But in any case, it's the Guiné de Cabo Verde, the earliest Portuguese reference to the Cape Verde Peninsula of Senegal, from where every other European started using the term 'Guinea' as a suffix to their colonies. The ambiguity of Papua New Guinea is more of an error that the Spanish sailor Íñigo Ortiz de Retez wrongly named it Nueva Guinea in 1546 as he misinterpreted the resemblance between the Papua and African people. To brief up the various indigenous people living in the Guinea coast region, they are as follows arranged country-wise:

• The Gambia - Malinke
• Senegal - Wolof, Fulani, Malinke, Serer, Diola
• Mali - Soninke, Malinke, Fulani, Songhai, Tuareg
• Guinea-Bissau - Balante
• Guinea - Fulani, Susu, Yalunka, Malinke
• Sierra Leone - Koranko, Temne, Creoles
• Liberia - Kru, Kpelle, Vai, Creoles
• Ivory Coast - Dida, Guro, Kpelle, Baule, Senufo, Anyi
• Burkina Faso - Bambara, Mossi, Grus, Lobi, Dagomba, Gurma
• Ghana - Ashanti, Fante, Ga, Anyi, Ewe
• Togo - Ewe, Tribu, Tem
• Benin - Fon, Egba, Baris
• Nigeria - Yoruba, Edo, Ijaw, Ibibio, Efik, Ekoi, Kossi-Koko, Bamileke, Tiv, Chamba, Angas, Bauchi, Jarawa, Hausa, Zerma, Kamberi, Nupe, Gbari

Below here is a resketched map of the Guinea coast dating 1690, originally mapped by Nicolaes Visscher II (1649 - 1702).