Guinea vs Guinea-Bissau
Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are neighbouring West African countries that both take their name from the same historical region, "Guinea" — a term Europeans once applied broadly to the coast south of the Sahara — with Guinea-Bissau adding its capital's name to distinguish itself.
| 🇬🇳 Guinea | 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau | |
|---|---|---|
| Capital | Conakry | Bissau |
| Continent | Africa | Africa |
| Population | 14,200,000 | 2,200,000 |
| Area | 245,857 km² | 36,125 km² |
| Currency | Guinean Franc | West African CFA Franc |
| Main language | French | Portuguese |
Guinea's population is roughly 6× Guinea-Bissau's.
Guinea is the larger of the two by a wide margin in both area and population, a former French colony where French remains the official language. Guinea-Bissau is smaller, a former Portuguese colony where Portuguese is official but Guinea-Bissau Creole is more widely spoken day to day.
A third country, Equatorial Guinea, sits roughly 3,000 km away in Central Africa and shares only the name — it was colonised by Spain and is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa, which makes the "three Guineas" a genuine geography-quiz trap rather than a two-country mix-up.