Geography of Guinea-Bissau explained

The geography of Guinea-Bissau is that of low coastal plains bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The country borders Senegal in the north and Guinea in the southeast.

Terrain and ecology

The terrain of Guinea-Bissau is mostly low coastal plain with swamps of Guinean mangroves rising to Guinean forest-savanna mosaic in the east. A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 1,203km² of tidal flats in Guinea-Bissau, making it the 28th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area. ^[1]

Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid impact occurred 400 km of the west-African coast. The 2022 discovered Nadir buried Crater has a diameter of 9 km. The impact caused an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude and created a 1 km high tsunami. The combined forces could be an explanation for the extremely scarred coastline of Guinea-Bissau.

The lowest point on Guinea-Bissau is at sea level at the Atlantic Ocean. The highest point in Guinea-Bissau is Dongol Ronde with an elevation of 277m (909feet). The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Africa authored in 1992 cites Fouta Djallon at 262m (860feet) as the highest.^[2]

Natural resources found in Guinea-Bissau include fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone and unexploited deposits of petroleum. 10.67% of the land is arable and 235.6 square kilometres are irrigated.

Natural hazards include a hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze that may reduce visibility during the dry season and brush fires. Severe environmental issues include deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing and overfishing.

Near the Senegal border there have been historic sightings of the painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus, but that endangered canid may now be extirpated in that locale.^[3]

Climate

Guinea-Bissau's climate is tropical. This means it is generally hot and humid. It has a monsoonal-type rainy season (June to November) with southwesterly winds and a dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds.^[4] Guinea-Bissau is warm all year around and there is little temperature fluctuation; it averages 26.3C. The average rainfall for the capital city Bissau is 2024mm although this is almost entirely accounted for during the rainy season which falls between June and September/October. From December through April, the country receives very little rainfall.

Bissagos Islands

See main article: Bissagos Islands.

Information from the CIA World Factbook

Location

Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Senegal

Geographic coordinates

12°N -15°W

Map references

Total: 36,125 km²

- country rank in the world: 134th

Land: 28,120 km²

Water: 8,005 km²

Area comparative

Australia comparative: slightly more than the size of Tasmania

Canada comparative: approximately the size of New Brunswick

United Kingdom comparative: approximately larger than Wales

United States comparative: approximately larger than Maryland

EU comparative: slightly more than the size of Ireland

Land boundaries

Total: 762 km

Border countries: Guinea 421 km, Senegal 341 km

Coastline

350 km

Maritime claims

Territorial sea: 121NaN1

Exclusive economic zone: 200nmi

Terrain

Mostly low coastal plain rising to savanna in east

Elevation extremes:

Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m

Natural resources

Fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, unexploited deposits of petroleum

Land use:

Arable land: 10.67%

Permanent crops: 8.89%

Other: 80.44% (2012 est.)

Irrigated land

223.6 km² (2003)

Total renewable water resources

31 km³

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

Total: 0.18 km³/yr (18%/6%/76%)

Per capita: 135.7 m³/yr (2005)

Natural hazards

Hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze may reduce visibility during dry season; brush fires

Environment—current issues:

Deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; overfishing

Environment—international agreements:

Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands

Signed, but not ratified: None of the selected agreements

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of Guinea-Bissau, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.

Northernmost point – the northern section of the border with Senegal*
Easternmost point – unnamed location on the border with Guinea immediately south-west of the Guinean village of Sofan, Gabú Region
Southernmost point – unnamed headland on Ilha Cataque, Tombali Region
Westernmost point - Cape Roxo at the point where the border with Senegal enters the Atlantic Ocean, Cacheu Region
*Note: Guinea-Bissau does not have a northernmost point, the border here being formed by a straight horizontal line

References

C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/guinea-bissau/

Notes and References

Murray . N.J. . Phinn . S.R. . DeWitt . M. . Ferrari . R. . Johnston . R. . Lyons . M.B. . Clinton . N. . Thau . D. . Fuller . R.A. . The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats . Nature . 2019 . 565 . 7738 . 222–225 . 10.1038/s41586-018-0805-8 . 30568300 . 56481043 .
Book: Sayer, Jeffrey . The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Africa . 1992-06-18 . Springer . 978-1-349-12961-4 . en . "Fouta Djallon in Guinea, the highest point in Guinea-Bissau being only 262m".
C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/guinea-bissau/ U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook