Papua New Guinea is a wild, rugged region, with limited communications. The climate is tropical, and the largely mountainous country is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The highest point is Mt. Wilhelm (14,793 ft/4,509 m), in the Bismarck Mts. in central Papua New Guinea. The native population is largely Melanesian and Papuan but is divided into many distinct cultures. Some 800 different languages are spoken in the region; Melanesian Pidgin (Tok Pisin) is the lingua franca. About two thirds of the population is Christian, with Roman Catholics and Lutherans the largest churches; the rest follow traditional beliefs.
Subsistence agriculture supports most of the population; sweet potatoes constitute the main food crop. Agricultural exports (notably palm oil, coffee, cocoa, coconut products, rubber, and tea) are increasing, but mineral and oil deposits account for the majority of export earnings. Copper, gold, and silver are mined, oil production began in 1992, and there are undeveloped natural gas reserves. Timber is another import source of revenue, but logging, largely by foreign companies, is often done without regard for laws designed to promote sustainable yields from the country's rain forests. Pearl-shell and tortoise fisheries dot the coast, and crayfish and prawns are exported. Most industry involves the processing of agricultural and wood products; there is also petroleum refining, construction, and some tourism. Machinery and transportation equipment, manufactured goods, food, fuels, and chemicals are imported. Australia is by far the largest trading partner, followed by Singapore and Japan.
Papua New Guinea is a parliamentary democracy governed under the constitution of 1975. The monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the head of state and is represented by the governor-general. The government is headed by the prime minister, who is appointed by the governor-general. The unicameral National Parliament consists of 109 members who are popularly elected for five-year terms. Administratively, the country is divided into 20 provinces.
Papua, the southern section of the country, was annexed by Queensland in 1883 and the following year became a British protectorate called British New Guinea. It passed to Australia in 1905 as the Territory of Papua. The northern section of the country formed part of German New Guinea from 1884 to 1914 and was called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. Occupied by Australian forces during World War I, it was mandated to Australia by the League of Nations in 1920 and became known as the Territory of New Guinea. Australian rule was reconfirmed by the United Nations in 1947.
In 1949 the territories of Papua and New Guinea were merged administratively, but they remained constitutionally distinct. They were combined in 1973 as the self-governing country of Papua New Guinea. Full independence was gained in 1975. In the late 1980s a violent secessionist movement broke out on Bougainville. A cease-fire, monitored by Australian troops, went into effect in 1998, and a peace accord that granted the island broad autonomy was signed three years later.
Proposed cuts in defense forces as result of economic reforms demanded by Australia and international organizations sparked a weeklong mutiny in 2001; the government rescinded the cuts and promised to review the mutineers' concerns over foreign economic influences. Sir Michael Somare, of the National Alliance party, has been prime minister since 2002. In 2004, Australian police officers were deployed in Papua New Guinea as part of an aid package designed to help end gang violence and restore law and order in the country, but after the supreme court ruled the following year that the officers' immunity from prosecution and other aspects of the deployment were unconstitutional Australia withdrew the contingent.
In late 2006 Papua New Guinea's government and its relations with Australia were roiled by the Moti affair. Julian Moti, an Australian lawyer of Fijian descent had been appointed attorney general in the Solomon Islands, was wanted in Australia on child sex charges, and Australia sought Moti's extradition from Papua New Guinea, where Moti was arrested (Sept., 2006) while in transit. Moti managed to flee with apparent help from PNG officials. An investigation into the incident implicated the prime minister in Moti's flight from PNG, a charge Somare denied; Somare subsequently disbanded the board of inquiry, which issued its report to Somare in Mar., 2007. Elections in June-July, 2007, returned Somare to office, leading a reorganized coalition. The defense minister rejected the board of inquiry report in Oct., 2007, on the grounds that the board had not been legally constituted.
Largely tropical, New Guinea has vast, rugged mountain ranges such as the Owen Stanley and the Bismarck mts., and many parts of the interior remain quite isolated even today. Jaya Peak (16,503 ft/5,030 m) in Papua is the highest point. The lower courses of the large rivers (the Fly, Sepik, Mamberamo, and Purari) are generally swampy, with a few grassy plains. The inhabitants are Melanesians, Negritos, Papuans, and Malay Indonesians. The fauna consists largely of marsupials and monotremes, with venomous snakes among the reptiles. The island is known for its many unique species of butterflies and birds of paradise. There are mangrove and sandalwood forests. Near Tembagapura are the world's largest copper mines. In addition to copper, gold, silver, and manganese are mined and oil is extracted.
New Guinea is believed to have been settled by people migrating from Southeast Asia sometime before 40,000 years ago. The island's relatively close location to Australia makes New Guinea the likely source for the ancestors of the aborigines on the neighboring continent. A complex patchwork of tribes and peoples, speaking many languages, developed over time, and local agriculture apparently arose independently of outside influence, sometime between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago.
The island was sighted by the Portuguese explorer Antonio d'Abreu in 1511 and was named for its resemblance to the Guinea coast of W Africa. During the next two centuries, the island was visited by Europeans from many nations. In 1828 the Dutch formally annexed the western half of the island, and in 1885 the British proclaimed a protectorate over the southeastern coast and the adjacent islands under the name of British New Guinea; in the same year, the Germans took possession of the northeast. Australia obtained control of British New Guinea in 1905 and renamed it the Territory of Papua.
During World War I, Australian forces occupied the German-controlled region in the northeast, which was mandated to Australia by the League of Nations in 1920. Renamed the Territory of New Guinea, this area became a UN trust territory under Australian control after World War II. The island was the scene of bitter fighting between Japanese and Allied forces. In 1949 the territories of Papua and New Guinea were merged administratively, and in 1973 they were united into a self-governing country. Full independence was gained in 1975. Netherlands New Guinea was transferred to Indonesian administration in 1963 and became a province in 1969, but there has been ongoing resistance to Indonesian rule by many Papuans. Indonesian legislation in 2001 granted Papua limited local autonomy, but national control remains strong there, and the province was subsequently divided into two.
The country is largely a low-lying coastal plain and has many rivers, some with wide swampy estuaries. The chief towns are Gabú, Oio, Cacheu, and Bolama. About half of the inhabitants adhere to traditional beliefs, and 45% are Muslim; there is a small Christian minority. The population is comprised mainly of five ethnic groups: the Balante, the Fulani, the Mandjack, the Mandinka, and the Papel. Portuguese is the official language, but Crioulo (a Portuguese creole) and a number of African languages are also spoken.
Guinea-Bissau is one of the world's poorest nations. Farming and fishing are the leading occupations; cashew nuts are the main cash crop, and rice, corn, beans, cassava, and cotton are grown for domestic use. The country's mineral resources, including phosphates, bauxite, granite, and limestone, are largely unexploited; however, prospecting for offshore petroleum deposits has begun. Industrial activity is mostly limited to the processing of agricultural products. Cashew nuts are by far the largest export; fish, seafood, peanuts, palm kernels, and timber are also exported. Imports include foodstuffs, machinery, transportation equipment, and petroleum products. The main trading partners are India, Italy, Senegal, Nigeria, and Portugal.
Guinea-Bissau operates under the constitution of 1984 as amended. The president, who is the head of state, is popularly elected for a five-year term; there are no term limits. The prime minister, who is the head of government, is appointed by the president. The unicameral legislature consists of the 100-seat National People's Assembly, whose members are popularly elected for four-year terms. Administratively, Guinea-Bissau is made up of nine regions.
The area that became Portuguese Guinea was first visited by the Portuguese in 1446-47, and in the 16th cent. it was an important source of slaves sent to South America. The territory was administered as part of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands possession until 1879, when it became a separate colony. In 1951 it was constituted an overseas province.
In 1956, Amilcar Cabral founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). After some years of sporadic violence, the PAIGC launched a war of independence in Portuguese Guinea in the early 1960s; in 1973 it declared the province, renamed Guinea-Bissau, independent of Portugal. A government was established and elections for a national assembly were held in PAIGC-controlled areas. Following the coup in Portugal (1974), the new Portuguese government initiated negotiations with the PAIGC.
In Aug., 1974, an agreement was reached under which Portugal granted (Sept. 10) independence to Guinea-Bissau. Luis de Almeida Cabral (the brother of Amilcar Cabral, who had been assassinated in 1973) became the first president, and Guinea-Bissau was admitted to the United Nations that year. Although Portugal refused to give the Cape Verde Islands and Guinea-Bissau independence together (granting Cape Verde separate independence in 1975), the two maintained the PAIGC as a common political party for five years. Guinea-Bissau remained a single-party state with limited civil rights. Security was a primary concern in the early years of independence, as the regime was weak in Bissau where there was lingering support for the Portuguese.
In 1980 a coup brought João Bernardo Vieira to power. The new regime opposed unification with Cape Verde, but relations between the two nations were normalized in 1983. Although Vieira's regime in the 1980s was characterized by purgings of political enemies and suppression of dissent, he also introduced health reforms and initiatives to increase agricultural production and economic diversity. However, the economy did poorly and the country relied on outside aid to make up for enormous deficits. In 1991 the national assembly officially revoked the PAIGC's status as the sole legal party, and in 1994 Vieira was chosen as president in the country's first free elections.
An army mutiny began in June, 1998, eventually turning into a war in which neighboring Senegal and Guinea intervened on Vieira's behalf, but the coup almost marked the beginning of a period of economic and political troubles. In May, 1999, the military ousted Vieira and installed Malam Bacai Sanhá, the former head of parliament, as interim president. In Dec., 1999, two opposition parties won a majority in parliament, and, after defeating Sanhá in a runoff in Jan., 2000, Party for Social Renewal (PRS) candidate Kumba Yala won the presidency. An army rebellion in Nov., 2000, by former junta leader Gen. Ansumane Mane was crushed and Mane was killed. Yala, hampered by the poor economy and heading an unstable government, was ousted in Sept., 2003, by a military coup that subsequently received the support of many civilian leaders. Businessman Henrique Rosa was appointed president of a transitional national government. Parliamentary elections in Mar., 2004, resulted in a plurality for the PAIGC, and Carlos Gomes Júnior became prime minister with the support of the PRS. In October the chief of the armed forces was killed in a brief mutiny over back pay, but a peaceful end to uprising was negotiated.
Presidential elections were held in June, 2005, and were dominated by the candidacies of former presidents Vieira (who returned from exile), Sanhá, and Yala (who had originally been barred from political activity but was nominated by the PRS and was permitted to run). The month before the election Yala claimed to be the rightful president, revoking his "renunciation of power" and occupying the presidential palace. Although Yala's move came to nothing, it raised tensions in the nation. When he placed third in the June vote Yala claimed to have won nonetheless, but ended up accepting the results even as he denied them. A runoff between Sanhá, who placed first but failed to win a majority, and Vieira in July resulted in a win for Vieira. Sanhá asserted the vote was marred by fraud, and his party, the PAIGC, refused until September to recognize the result. At the end of Oct., 2005, Vieira dismissed Gomes Júnior as prime minister, and then appointed Aristides Gomes, a political ally, to the post. In Mar., 2006, fighting erupted when government troops attempted to oust Casamance rebels from Senegal who had established bases in NW Guinea-Bissau. A no-confidence vote in Gomes's goverment in Mar., 2007, led to the appointment of Martinho N'Dafa Cabi, a PAIGC leader, to the post the next month.
See C. Lopes, Guinea-Bissau: From Liberation Struggle to Independent Statehood (1987); R. Lobban and J. Forrest, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau (2d ed. 1988).
A humid and tropical country, Guinea comprises an alluvial coastal plain, the mountainous Fouta Djallon region, a savanna interior, and the forested Guinea Highlands, which rise to c.5,800 ft (1,770 m) in the Nimba Mts. Guinea's main ethnic groups are the pastoral Fulani and the agrarian Malinké, Susu, and other peoples. Although French is the country's official language, each ethnic group has its own language. About 85% of the population is Muslim; the rest are either Christian or followers of traditional religious beliefs.
Predominantly agricultural, Guinea produces rice, coffee, pineapples, palm kernels, cassava, bananas, and sweet potatoes. Livestock raising (cattle, sheep, and goats) is important in the highlands. The country has about half of the world's bauxite deposits, which are mined jointly by Guinea and international companies. Gold, diamonds, and iron ore are also mined. Minerals account for more than 70% of all exports.
Alumina, made from bauxite, is also a leading export; other exports include fish, coffee, and a variety of agricultural products. The main imports are petroleum products, metals, machinery, transportation equipment, textiles, and grains. Guinea's chief trading partners are Russia, the United States, France, South Korea, Spain, and Belgium. Guinea has some light industry, but inadequate transportation facilities have hampered industrialization. Rail lines connect some large cities, and there are airports at Conakry and Kankan. Expansion of the mineral industry has led to improvement of the road network.
Guinea is governed under the constitution of 1990. The president, who is the head of state, is popularly elected for a seven-year term; there are no term limits. The prime minister, who is the head of government, is appointed by the president. The unicameral legislature consists of the 114-seat People's National Assembly, whose members are popularly elected for five-year terms. Administratively, the country is divided into 33 prefectures and one special zone (the capital).
The northeastern plains of present-day Guinea belonged to medieval Ghana and later to the Mali empire (see under Mali, History). In the early 18th cent., a Fulani feudal state was established in the Fouta Djallon region. European exploration of the Guinean coast began with the Portuguese in the mid-15th cent.; by the 17th cent. French, British, and Portuguese traders were competing for slaves and by the 19th cent. for palm oil, peanuts, and other products. Anger over excessive levies exacted from French traders by local chieftains led France to proclaim a protectorate over the Boké area of Guinea in 1849. After a series of wars and agreements with other tribal chiefs, France took control of much of the rest of Guinea and annexed it under the name Rivières du Sud [rivers of the south]. In 1891 it was constituted as a French colony separate from Senegal, of which it had hitherto been a part. Its name was changed to French Guinea in 1893, and two years later it became part of French West Africa.
Guinean resistance to French rule was not quelled until 1898, however, and sporadic revolts continued into the 20th cent. Little economic development occurred under the colonial regime until just before World War II, when exploitation of Guinea's rich bauxite deposits began. The parallel growth of a radical labor movement led to the rise of Sékou Touré, a union leader who also headed the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG), a branch of the intercolonial Rassemblement Démocratique Africain.
Guinea under Sékou TouréUnder Touré's leadership, Guinea became the only colony to vote against the constitution of the French Community in 1958 and to opt for complete independence, which was achieved on Oct. 2, 1958. France retaliated by severing relations and withdrawing all financial and technical aid. Guinea cultivated close relations with the Soviet Union but expelled the Soviet ambassador in 1961 for alleged interference in the country's internal affairs. Touré also advocated African unity and steered the country into a union (largely symbolic) with Ghana in 1958; Mali joined in 1961.
In the late 1960s, Guinea sought improved relations with the West, although its basic international posture was one of nonalignment. Touré fostered Pan-Africanism, and in 1966, when Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah was deposed, Touré welcomed him to Guinea as joint president. Under Touré, who held the presidency from the date of independence until his death in 1984, Guinea was a one-party Marxist-socialist republic. Touré was also head of the government and the PDG; in 1972 he relinquished the post.
In 1970 the country was invaded from Guinea-Bissau (then Portuguese Guinea) by a small force that included Guinean exiles opposed to Touré. The invasion was unsuccessful, and several political trials and executions followed. Guinea actively supported the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau, and Conakry was the movement's headquarters. In 1973, Guinea took greater control of the foreign-owned bauxite industry. Eventually, Touré's isolationist policies, brutal suppression of political opponents, and economic failures lost him public support. A softening of Touré's policies was evident toward the end of his tenure; he abandoned Marxism, normalized relations with France, and secured aid packages from both France and Arab nations.
The Conté RegimeImmediately after Touré's death, a military coup brought the Military Committee of National Recovery (CMRN) to power under Col. Lansana Conté. In 1989, under domestic and foreign pressure, Conté announced that civilian rule would be restored. Also in 1989, French funds were provided for the construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Konkouré River. A new constitution was approved in 1990, and in 1991 the CMRN was replaced by a transitional government, still under Conté.
In 1993, Conté won the presidency in the country's first multiparty presidential election, which was boycotted by some opposition groups and marred by accusations of fraud, as well as by scores of killings in the election campaign. An army revolt was put down in 1996. Conté was reelected in 1998, but the vote was denounced by opposition groups as rigged. From the mid- to late 1990s, Guinea received close to 400,000 refugees from the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Beginning in the late 1990s, Guinea saw the gradual suspension of foreign aid to Conté's government. The loss of aid has hurt Guinea's economy.
In 2000-2001, Guinean villages along the borders of Liberia and Sierra Leone were raided by foreign rebels, and the Guinean army counterattacked across the border in retaliation. The constitution was amended in 2001 to permit the president to run for a third term; at the same time the presidential term was extended from five years to seven. In Dec., 2003, Conté was reelected; opposition candidates boycotted the election. Fighting erupted between ethnic groups in the Forest Region (SE Guinea) in mid-2004; the hostilities were aggravated by an influx of combatants from nearby Liberia, and the region remained unsettled through 2005. Meanwhile, in Jan., 2005, there was an attempt to assassinate Conté, apparently as part of a failed coup. Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor was later accused of backing the plot in revenge for Conté's support for the rebels who forced Taylor from power.
Rising prices and discontent led unions to call a five-day general strike in Feb., 2006, which ended when the government made concessions. In Apr., 2006, the ailing Conté removed his prime minister, Cellou Dalien Diallo, from office for "serious misconduct," in an apparent power struggle over reform; a reorganization of the government, which would have strengthened Diallo's position, had been announced, but it was reversed by Conté. Continued economic problems and the failure of the government to deliver on its February concessions led to a new general strike in June; the nine-day strike was marked by violence, and again ended only after government concessions.
Antigovernment strikes and demonstrations, also marked by violence, erupted again in early 2007. An 18-day strike in January ended when the president agreed to appoint a new prime minister, but when he appointed his chief of staff a second strike was called in February. Conté then agreed to appoint a prime minister acceptable to the labor unions, and Lansana Kouyaté, a diplomat, was named to the post and a new government was appointed in March. Two months later there was more than a week of rioting in the capital by soldiers, who demanded better pay and housing and the replacement of the defense minister. Legislative elections due before June, 2007, were subsequently delayed into 2008, and Conté worked to diminish the new government's powers. In May, 2008, Conté replaced Kouyaté with Ahmed Tidiane Souaré, a political ally. The move sparked a brief army mutiny over promised but unpaid pay hikes, but it ended after the government promised the army its back pay and fired the defense minister.
See C. Riviere, Guinea (1977); T. E. O'Toole, Historical Dictionary of Guinea (2d ed. 1987).
Río Muni, located just north of the equator, is made up of lowland along the coast, which gradually rises in the interior to c.3,600 ft (1,100 m). Río Muni includes three major rivers—the Campo, which forms part of the northern boundary; the Benito, located in the center; and the Muni, which forms part of the southern boundary. There are forests of okume, mahogany, and walnut along the coast and the rivers. Bioko is made up of three extinct volcanoes, the loftiest of which is c.9,870 ft (3,010 m) high. The island has abundant fertile volcanic soil. Corisco and the Elobey islands are located near the the Muni estuary.
Most of the people in Equatorial Guinea belong to the Bantu ethnolinguistic group. The main ethnic group in Río Muni, where most of the population lives, is the Fang. The population of Bioko is primarily made up of the Bubi (the oldest of the modern-day inhabitants), descendants of slaves from W Africa liberated by the British in the 19th cent., and Nigerians and Fangs who migrated there in the 20th cent. Spanish and French are the official languages, but Fang, Bubi, and other indigenous languages are widely spoken. The population is nominally Christian and predominantly Roman Catholic; some indigenous religions are practiced.
Subsistence farming is the predominant occupation in Equatorial Guinea, although only 5% of the land is arable. Prior to independence, the money economy was based on the production of cocoa (mostly on Bioko) and coffee and timber (in Río Muni). Following severe deterioration of the rural economy, the government has made efforts to increase production of these products to preindependence levels. Other agricultural products include rice, yams, cassava, bananas, and palm oil. Livestock are raised and there is a fishing industry. There is food processing, sawmilling, and the manufacture of basic consumer items. The discovery and exploitation of large offshore oil and natural gas deposits increased economic growth beginning in the late 1990s, but the oil and gas revenue, largely lost to government corruption, has not significantly improved the standard of living in the generally improverished nation. The country also has unexploited deposits of titanium, iron ore, manganese, uranium, and gold. Both Río Muni and Bioko have substantial road networks; there are no railroads. Malabo is the main port.
The value of Equatorial Guinea's exports is considerably higher than the cost of its imports. The United States is the country's largest trading partner, followed by China, Spain, Italy, and France. The main exports are petroleum, methanol, timber, and cocoa; the chief imports are petroleum equpment and other machinery, foodstuffs, and beverages. Equatorial Guinea continues to depend heavily on foreign investment.
Equatorial Guinea is governed under the constitution of 1991 as amended. The president, who is head of state, is popularly elected for a seven-year term; there are no term limits. The government is headed by a prime minister, who is appointed by the president. The unicameral legislature consists of the 100-seat House of People's Representatives, whose members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. However, the legislature has little power, as the constitution vests most authority in the president. Administratively, the country is divided into seven provinces.
Bioko was claimed by (and until 1972 named after) Fernão do Po, a Portuguese navigator, in 1472, and Annobón was also claimed. During the 17th cent. the mainland's indigenous pygmy peoples were displaced by other groups, principally the Fang, who now inhabit the area. In 1778, Portugal ceded the islands, and also the commercial rights to a part of the African coast that included present-day Río Muni, to the Spanish. Hoping to export Africans as slaves to their American possessions, the Spanish sent settlers to the islands, but they died of yellow fever, and by 1781 the region was abandoned by the Europeans.
From 1827 to 1843 the British leased bases at Malabo (then called Port Clarence) and San Carlos from Spain for use by their antislavery patrols, and some freed slaves were settled on Bioko (then called Fernando Po). In 1844 the Spanish reacquired Bioko and began to occupy it. In 1879, a Cuban penal settlement was established there, and some of the convicts remained on the island after being released from prison. The general region of Río Muni was awarded to Spain at the Conference of Berlin in 1885, and its boundaries were defined precisely in a treaty with France in 1900. The islands and Río Muni were grouped together as the colony of Spanish Guinea.
Under the Spanish, economic development was largely confined to Bioko, although some measures were taken in Río Muni beginning in the 1940s. By 1960, about 6,000 Europeans (mostly Spanish) were living in the colony, and they controlled the production of cocoa and timber. In 1959 the colony was reorganized into two overseas provinces of Spain, each under a governor. In a further move to assimilate the region to Spain, three Hispano-Guineans were elected to the Spanish Cortes in 1960. However, nationalists were not satisfied with assimilation and demanded independence.
Independence and BeyondIn 1963, Spain granted the country (renamed Equatorial Guinea) a limited amount of autonomy, and on Oct. 12, 1968, it received complete independence. The first president was Francisco Macías Nguema, a Fang from Río Muni. In 1969, there were violent anti-European demonstrations in Río Muni and most Europeans left the country, thus for a time severely dislocating the economy. In 1970 all political parties were merged into the United National party (PUN), headed by Macías Nguema, who in 1972 was appointed president for life. In 1973 a new constitution was adopted that abolished the nation's two semiautonomous provinces and created a unitary state.
Macías Nguema led a dictatorship characterized by campaigns against intellectuals and all those alleged to be plotting the overthrow of the regime; many were imprisoned, killed, or driven into exile. Nigerian migrant workers demanding higher wages were brutally suppressed, straining relations between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Relations with Cameroon and Gabon were also strained as refugees fled to those countries. Equatorial Guinea severed its diplomatic ties with Spain in 1977. Spanish plantation owners shut down their operations, foreign investment declined, and the nation suffered a severe drop in population, with some 25,000 to 80,000 of the country's inhabitants estimated to have been killed by the government.
In 1979 the military staged a coup, executing Macías Nguema and installing his nephew, Lt. Col. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, as head of the military and head of state. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo lifted restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church, freed political prisoners, encouraged refugees to return, and restored diplomatic ties with Western nations. Spain and France began to reinvest, and the European Community helped rehabilitate the road system. These efforts met with limited success.
In 1982 a new constitution was approved that called for a more democratic political structure, and a decade later legislation was passed providing for a multiparty democracy. However, by 1993, when legislative elections were held, only one party, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's Democratic Party for Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), held significant power, and the regime was widely denounced for its continued repression of opposition groups. In the 1996 multiparty presidential elections, which were boycotted by major opposition parties, the president won a landslide victory. In the late 1990s, over 100,000 citizens lived in exile abroad, and there was wide dissatisfaction with the slow pace of reform.
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was reelected unopposed in 2002 after opposition candidates, expecting fraud, withdrew. In Mar., 2004, the government foiled an apparent coup attempt involving mainly South African mercenaries; persons involved in the coup attempt were convicted in 2004 and 2008. The national legislative elections two months later occurred in a climate of intimidation that assured a new total victory for the PDGE and its allies; a similar outcome followed the 2008 elections. When police blamed Cameroonians for armed robberies in late 2007, hundreds of Cameroonians faced harassment in Equatorial Guinea; Equatorial Guineans in Cameroon were similarly harassed in revenge.
See M. Liniger-Goumaz, Historical Dictionary of Equatorial Guinea (1988); I. K. Sundiata, Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability (1990); R. Fegley, Equatorial Guinea (1991).
Nematode (Dracunculus medinensis) that is a common parasite of humans and other mammals in tropical Asia and Africa and has been introduced into the West Indies and tropical South America. The female grows to 20–48 in. (50–120 cm) long; the male, which dies upon mating, is only about 0.5–1.1 in. (12–29 mm) long. Both sexes live in the connective tissue of the host animal. Humans become infected when they drink water containing tiny crustaceans (e.g., copepods) that have eaten guinea-worm larvae. The disease the guinea worm carries, called dracunculiasis, can be extremely debilitating and painful.
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Domesticated species (Cavia porcellus) of South American cavy (family Caviidae). It resembles most other cavies in being stout, short-legged, and about 10 in. (25 cm) long. It has small ears, no external tail, and a coat that is black, tan, cream-coloured, brown, white, or a combination of these colours. Hair length and texture vary among varieties. It feeds largely on grass and other green plants. Domesticated in pre-Incan times, it was introduced into Europe in the early 16th century. It is a popular pet and a valuable research animal.
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Vulturine guinea fowl (Acryllium vulturinum)
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Province (pop., 2005 est.: 2,460,700), Indonesia. It includes the western half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands and the Schouten and Raja Ampat island groups. The Maoke Mountains rise to 16,503 ft (5,030 m) at Mount Jaya. Papua was first sighted by the Portuguese in 1511, and it was claimed by the Dutch in 1828. It was transferred to Indonesia in 1963 and was made a province in 1969, with its capital at Jayapura. Rebels led a separatist movement there in the late 1990s, and Papua achieved greater autonomy in 2001. The western portion of the province was later designated as West Papua (Papua Barat) province by the Indonesian government.
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Island, eastern Malay Archipelago, western Pacific Ocean, north of Australia. Divided roughly in half between Indonesia (west) and Papua New Guinea (east), New Guinea is the second largest island in the world (after Greenland). It is about 1,500 mi (2,400 km) long and 400 mi (650 km) wide at its widest point, with an area of about 309,000 sq mi (800,000 sq km). The terrain ranges from lowland rainforest to fertile highlands and a rugged mountainous spine; its climate is tropical. Copper and gold are its chief mineral resources. The majority of the people of New Guinea are subsistence farmers.
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Great inlet of the Atlantic Ocean on the western African coast. It includes the Bights of Benin and Biafra, and its major tributaries are the Volta and Niger rivers. Its natural resources include offshore oil deposits and metal ore deposits. Its coastline forms part of the western edge of the African tectonic plate and corresponds remarkably to the continental margin of South America from Brazil to the Guianas, providing one of the clearest confirmations of the theory of continental drift.
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