GUINEA. - Portuguese G. comprises a small continental strip entirely enclosed within the territory of French G., together with the adjacent Bissagos Archipelago: in all 36,125 sq km with 430,000 inhabitants (mostly Negroes and mulattoes; 1,400 Europeans). It produces peanuts, cotton, rubber, timber and palm oil. The capital of the colony is S. José de Bissan (6,000 inhabitants).
Spanish G. likewise consists of a continental district enclosed within the territory of French Equatorial Africa, together with the islands of Fernando Po, Annobon, Corisco and the two Elobey in the Gulf of G.: in all 26,649 sq km with 175,000 inhabitants (Bantu Negroes, 2,500 whites). It produces cocoa (F. Po), bananas, coffee, coconut palms and timber (R. Muni). The capital is S. Isabel, on the island of F. Po (8,000 inhabitants).
For the maps of the ecclesiastical circumscriptions of Spanish G., v. illustration: AFRICA, cols. 379-380; for those of French and Portuguese G., v. ibid., cols. 381-88.
BIBL.: sources
EVANGELIZATION OF GUINEA
In the 15th century the Portuguese began to establish their dominion over Guinea, which in broader terms comprised the western coasts of Africa, from Cape Verde to Cape Frio. It was divided by the Niger River into northern and southern Guinea. The colonists were immediately followed by the Franciscans.
In 1462 Father Alfonso Bolano was appointed prefect of the Guinea mission. History records the Baptism of two kings in 1489 and 1491. From 1532 Guinea depended on the diocese of Santiago of Cape Verde. The missions were confined to the posts occupied by the Portuguese on the coast and especially at Bissau, Cacheu and Elmina. Other attempts at evangelizing the peoples of Guinea were made in the 17th century. The Jesuits established themselves from 1604 to 1642 in Sierra Leone; they were succeeded by the Spanish Capuchins from 1644 to 1688. The French Capuchins attempted for a short time (from 1635 to 1644) the evangelization of Rufisque and the Gold Coast, where the French had erected a few trading posts. There were also the missions of the Spanish Capuchins in the Kingdom of Arda (Dahomey) from 1659 to 1661 and in the Kingdoms of Benin and Owery from 1651 to 1695. Still at the end of the 17th century the Dominicans are found in the Kingdom of Isigni and the Augustinians in the Kingdom of Ouidah. But all these attempts did not lead to a stable mission. In the 18th century there remained only a few Portuguese stations visited by the missionaries of the Cape Verde Islands and the new apostolic prefecture of Senegal erected in 1765 for the small French colonies of St. Louis of Senegal and Gorée. The present missions in Guinea arose from successive dismemberments of the apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas, created by Gregory XVI in 1842.
Following a resolution of the American bishops at the Plenary Council of Baltimore of 1833, which had turned its thought to the Catholic negroes of the colony of Liberia, the vicar general of the diocese of Philadelphia, Edward Barron (1801-54), accompanied by Father John Kelly and the catechist Pindar, set out in 1841 for Africa and arrived in Feb. 1842 at Cape Palmas. Having come to Europe to seek personnel, Barron was appointed apostolic vicar of the new vicariate of Upper and Lower Guinea and of Sierra Leone, erected on 8 Oct. 1842, commonly called the vicariate of the Two Guineas. Accompanied by seven fathers of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Father Libermann, he returned on 30 Nov. 1843 to Africa; but after the death of nearly all the missionaries Barron resigned (1845). In 1846 the vicariate was entrusted to the aforementioned Congregation of Father Libermann. The apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas comprised all of western Africa between the prefecture of Senegal and the Orange River, without precise limits toward the interior, except for the rights of the bishop of Loanda. Successive dismemberments restricted the vicariate to the territory of Gabon and this name of Gabon was subsequently given to the apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas.
From the vicariate of the Two Guineas were detached: 1. Fernando Po; 2. Sierra Leone, erected as an apostolic vicariate in 1858 and as a diocese in 1950 (v. FRETOWN and BO); 3. Dahomey; 4. Senegambia, erected as an apostolic vicariate in 1863 (v. DAKAR); 5. Gold Coast, erected as an apostolic vicariate in 1879; 6. Cimbebasia (v. WINDHOEK); 7. Upper Nigeria (v. JOS); 8. French Congo (v. BRAZZAVILLE); 9. Lower Nigeria, erected as an apostolic prefecture in 1889 and elevated to a vicariate with the name of Southern Nigeria in 1920; in 1934, the two apostolic prefectures of Benue and Calabar having been detached, it took the name of Onitsha-Owerri; from the prefecture of Calabar, an apostolic vicariate since 1947, the prefecture of Ogoja was detached in 1938; 10. Cameroun (v. FOUMBAN); 11. From 1890 the ancient apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas was restricted to the territory of Gabon and also received this name, which was changed in 1947 to Libreville (v.). v. KANKAN, apostolic prefecture of, and KONAKRY, apostolic vicariate of.
BIBL.: sources