GUINEA HIGHLANDS

French Dorsale Guinenne, mountainous plateau extending from the southern Fouta Djallon highlands through southeastern Guinea, northern Sierra Leone and Liberia, and northwestern Cte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The source of the Niger, the longest and most important river of western Africa, the highlands form the divide between the streams that flow northward to the Niger and those that flow southward to the Atlantic coast. The Niger itself rises in Guinea near the Sierra Leone border at an elevation of 2,500 feet (750 m) and less than 200 miles (320 km) from the Atlantic; several of its major tributaries (including the Milo, the Sankarani, and the Bago rivers) also originate in the Guinea Highlands. Composed of granitic gneisses and quartzite, the well-watered plateau averages more than 1,500 feet in elevation and is covered with variegated rain forest and humid savanna. Several mountain ranges rise above its surface, including the Nimba Range (Mount Nimba, 5,748 feet ) and Sierra Leone's Loma Mountains (Mount Loma Mansa, 6,390 feet ) and Tingi Mountains (Sankanbiriwa, 6,080 feet ), where its highest peaks are to be found. The plateau is inhabited by tribal groups who cultivate rice, fonio (a crabgrass cereal), corn (maize), oil palm, coffee, and kola nuts. Large iron-ore deposits in the Nimba Range have been worked since the early 1960s. History Early history Hunting and gathering populations occupied the area of Guinea at least 30,000 years ago, and farming has been practiced there for about 3,000 years. About 1,000 years ago Susu and Malinke (Maninka) people began to encroach on the Baga, Koniagi (Coniagui), and Nalu (Nalou) populations who had been living in the area for more than 1,000 years. The towns and villages of Upper Guinea were incorporated into the Mali empire from the mid-13th century, and by the 16th century the Fulani (Fulbe) had established domination over the Fouta Djallon. The Portuguese presence on the coast dates from the 15th century, and the slave trade continued to affect Guinea until the mid-19th century. British and French trading interests on the coast played minor roles in the historical evolution of the Guinean interior until the almamy (ruler) of Fouta Djallon placed his country under French protection in 1881. The independent Malinke state ruled by Samory Tour resisted the French military until 1898, and isolated small groups of Africans continued to resist the French until the end of World War I. Colonial era The French protectorate of Rivires du Sud was detached from Senegal as a separate colony in 1890. As French Guinea it became part of the Federation of French West Africa in 1895. Treaties with Liberia and Great Britain largely established the present boundaries by World War I. Under the 1946 constitution of the French Fourth Republic a small number of French-educated Africans in Guinea were allowed to vote for deputies to the French National Assembly. In the 1958 referendum on the constitution for the French Fifth Republic only Guinea, under the influence of Skou Tour, who later became the country's first president, voted against membership in the French Community and became independent.