History of Guinea
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[edit] Empires
The modern state of Guinea did not come into existence until 1898 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 shortlived, 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 USA, 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 announcd a return to civilian rule, with a presidential poll (which he won) 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 organised 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Elizabeth Blunt. Civil war fears in Guinea. BBC News. October 23, 2000.
- Guinea head blames neighbours. BBC News. January 6, 2001.
- Stopping Guinea’s slide. International Crisis Group, Africa Report No. 94. June 14, 2005.
[edit] External links
- André R. Lewin. Sékou Touré’s “No”. African Geopolitics. 2005.
- Bad government, bad neighbour. The Economist. July 21, 2005.
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