| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Historically, this region was one of the first parts of sub-Saharan Africa to trade with Europeans. The large amount of trade in ivory, gold, and slaves made the region wealthy, with a number of centralized kingdoms developing in the 18th and 19th centuries. These were much smaller than the large states of the wide open Sahel, but they had far higher population densities and were more centralized and technologically advanced. These kingdoms meant that the region put up more resistance to European incursions than others, and much of Guinea was not colonized until the very end of the 19th century.
The name comes from a Berber languages via Portuguese, it originally meant "land of the blacks."
Guinea is often subdivided into Lower Guinea, one of the most densely populated regions of Africa covering southern Nigeria, Benin, Togo and into Ghana; and Upper Guinea, which is far less densely populated and stretches from the Côte d'Ivoire to Guinea-Bissau.
European traders in the region subdivided the region based on its main exports. The eastern portion by Benin and Nigeria was named the Slave Coast . What is now Ghana was called the Gold CoastThis article resolves the various uses of the name Gold Coast . In general, a Gold Coast is a wealthy area, strip, neighborhood or region fronting an ocean. Places The Gold Coast was the original name for Ghana, during the British colonial period. Gold Co, a name later given to a British colony in the area. West of this was the Ivory Coast, still the name of the nation in that region. Furthest west, the area around modern LiberiaLiberia is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire. The country has recently been afflicted by two civil wars ( 1989 1996 and 1999 2003) that have displaced hundreds of thousands of its citizens and destro and Sierra LeoneThe Republic of Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The country is bordered by Guinea in the north and Liberia in the southeast. Republic of Sierra Leone ( In Detail) (Full size) National motto: Unity Freedom Just was referred to as either the Pepper Coast or the Grain CoastThe area that became Liberia was called the Grain Coast because grain of paradise grew there in abundance. The same area was also known as the Pepper Coast. External links ..