GUINEA, the name of a maritime section of western Africa. It extends from the neighborhood of the Senegal to the vicinity of Cape Negro, the stream being in lat. 16° n. and long. 16° 33' w., and the headland in lat. 15° 41' s. and about long. 11° 40' e. and by the equator, which thus intersects it, it is divided into Upper or northern, and Lower or southern Guinea. This vast region forms the coasts of the Mandingoes, Ashanti, Dahomey, Benin, Biafra, Loango, Congo, Angola. and Benguela, connecting with the Atlantic even more distant territories by means of its rivers, more especially by the Senegal. the Gambia, tie Niger, the Old Calabar, the Zaire or Congo, and • the Coanza. Guinea was first visited in 1364 by some French merchant adventurers of Rouen and Dieppe, and first colonized by the Portuguese in 1481, who have retained nominal possession of the whole of Lower Guinea, the chief states of which are Loango (q.v.), Congo (q.v.), Angola (q.v.), and Benguela (q.v.). The Dutch, French, English, Danes, and even the Germans, also established various settlements, or rather factories, particularly in Upper Guinea, the coast of which is now divided into Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, and Slave Coast.. Besides the articles thus designated, the soil yields indigo, pepper, cotton, sugar, and palm-oil. The factories were chiefly established to secure the slave-trade, and after its suppression their commercial importance ceased. Great Britain has ultimately endeavored to make a humane and Christian use of its acquisitions. While keeping a naval squadron off the west African shores to intercept
the slavers, it was needful to provide for the liberated cargoes of black men and women. The Sierra Leone (see FREE TOWN and SIERRA LEONE) and Gambia settlements were created for this purpose, and here the Wesleyans have many chapels and sc..00is for the natives. For the American settlement, see LIBERIA and MoxuoviA. In 1872 the Dutch gave up to England all their possessions on the Gold coast. In return for this cession, England consented to annul the treaties prohibiting Dutch conquests in Sumatra on the straits of Malacca. But the king of Ashanti (q.v.) immediately laid claim to Elmira, the capital of the former Dutch possessions, and after a series of intrigues and dip lomatic complications, invaded (April, 1873) the territory now under the English pro tectorate. He was at first successful; but the arrival of sir Garnet Woiseley (Oct., 1873), followed by some British regiments, soon changed the aspect of affairs, and the Ashanti king was forced to retire into his own country, and after numerous defeats, had to suffer the humiliation of seeing his capital. Coomassie (q.v.), reduced to ashes, Feb. 6, 1874. By the treaty which followed his submission, the king of Ashanti renounced all claim either di tribute or homage from any of the tribes within the limits of the Gold coast.