Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea ( formerly the Gulf of Guinea) refers to the part of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by the coasts of West Africa to the north and east.

Geography

In the north and east borders the Gulf of Guinea to the coast land of the regions of Upper and Lower Guinea and to the south by the Angola Basin. According to the definition of the International Hydrographic Organization, he is limited by the Cape Palmas in Liberia and the Cape Lopez in Gabon.

In the Gulf of Guinea are the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, which form an independent state, and Bioko and Annobón belonging to Equatorial Guinea. They were created by a volcanic hot spot that produced also the Mount Cameroon on the African mainland.

In the Gulf of Guinea to the Equator crosses the Prime Meridian.

History

After a contentious Greek report of antiquity is believed today that even the Punic Phoenician sailors to the 470 BC reached the Gulf in an expedition under Hanno.

The coast of Upper Guinea has four sections, still named derived from the colonial era: Pepper Coast (now Liberia), Ivory Coast ( Côte d' Ivoire), Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the Slave Coast (now Togo, Benin and the western part of Nigeria ). Show the name, which was "goods" in which part of the coast traded and shipped preferred.

Between 1884 and 1919 excluded the " protected areas " German West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea. Other neighboring colonial territories were among France, Britain, Portugal and Spain.

As Bight of Biafra the adjoining Cameroon and the Niger Delta in Nigeria innermost part of the Gulf was called until 1973, after the Biafran war possessed the Nigerian rulers a renamed " Bay of Bonny ". Another part is the Bight of Benin.