Map of the Gulf of Guinea, showing the chain of islands formed by the Cameroon line of volcanoes. The Cameroon line is a Geologic fault or Rift zone that extends along the border region of eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon, from Mount

The Gulf of Guinea is the part of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Africa. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude ) is in the gulf. The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth 's surface with the plane perpendicular to the The Prime Meridian is the meridian (line of Longitude) at which longitude is defined to be 0° Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi ( Φ) gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body north or south of the Longitude (ˈlɒndʒɪˌtjuːd or ˈlɒŋgɪˌtjuːd symbolized by the Greek character Lambda (λ is the east-west Geographic coordinate measurement According to the International Hydrographic Organization, the Gulf's oceanic border is the rhumb line that runs from Cape Palmas in Liberia to Cape Lopez in Gabon (IHO Special Publication 23, Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd ed. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO was originally established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB See also Great circle Small circle Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, West Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire Cape Lopez is a 55 km-long Peninsula on the coast of west central Africa, in the country of Gabon. Gabon (gəˈbɒn or /gaˈbõ/ in French) is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Republic (1953), #34). Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

The Gulf derives its name from the former names of the coasts of Africa. The south coast of West Africa, north of the Gulf of Guinea, was historically called "Upper Guinea. West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. " The west coast of Southern Africa, to the east, was historically called "Lower Guinea. Southern Africa is the Southernmost Region of the African Continent, variably defined by Geography or Geopolitics. " The name "Guinea" is still attached to the names of three countries in Africa: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Equatorial Guinea, as well as New Guinea in Melanesia. Guinea, officially Republic of Guinea (pronounced /ˈgɪni/ République de Guinée is a country in West Africa, formerly known as French Guinea The Republic of Guinea-Bissau (ˈgɪni bɨˈsaʊ República da Guiné-Bissau ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɐ giˈnɛ biˈsau is a country in Western Africa, and one of the smallest The Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( República de Guinea Ecuatorial,) is a country in Central Africa. New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) means "islands of the black-skinned people"

Among the many rivers that drain into the Gulf of Guinea are the Niger and the Volta. "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there The Niger River (ˈnaɪdʒɚ NYE-jer) is the principal River of western Africa, extending about 4180 km (2600 miles The Volta is a River in western Africa that drains into the Gulf of Guinea. The coastline on the gulf includes the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Bonny. The Bight of Benin is a bight (a type of bay on the western African coast that extends eastward for about 400 miles (640 km from Cape St The Bight of Bonny (also known as the Bight of Biafra) is a bight off the West African coast in the easternmost part (beyond the Bight of Benin to the West

The Niger River in particular deposited organic sediments out to sea over millions of years which became crude oil. The Niger River (ˈnaɪdʒɚ NYE-jer) is the principal River of western Africa, extending about 4180 km (2600 miles The Gulf of Guinea region, along with the Congo River delta and Angola further south, are expected to provide around a quarter of the United States' oil imports by 2015. The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. A delta is a Landform where the mouth of a River flows into an Ocean, Sea, Estuary, Lake or another river Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central The United States of America —commonly referred to as the 2015 ( MMXV) will be a Common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. This region is now regarded as one of the world's top oil and gas exploration hotspots.

Name

The origin of the name Guinea is thought to be a corruption of an area in the region, although the specifics are disputed. Bovill (1995) gives a thorough description <http://journal.oraltradition.org/files/articles/12ii/2_Hale.pdf>

The name Guinea is usually said to have been a corrupt form of the name Ghana, picked up by the Portuguese in the Maghrib. The present writer finds this unacceptable. The name Guinea has been in use both in the Maghrib and in Europe long before Prince Henry’s time. For example, on a map dated about 1320 by the Genoese cartographer Giovanni di Carignano, who got his information about Africa from a fellowcountryman in Sijilmasa [ancient trading city in North Africa], we find Gunuia, and in the Catalan atlas of 1375 as Ginyia. Sijilmasa (or Sijilmassa) was a Mediaeval trade centre in the western Maghreb. A passage in Leo [Africanus] (vol. III, 822) points to Guinea having been a corrupt form of Djenne [2,000 year old city in central Mali on Niger river], less famous than Ghana but nevertheless for many centuries famed in the Maghrib as a great market and a seat of learning. Djenné (also Dienné or Jenne) is a historically and commercially important small city in the Niger Inland Delta of central Mali. The relevant passage reads: “The Kingdom of Ghinea . . . called by the merchants of our nation Gheneoa, by the natural inhabitants thereof Genni and by the Portugals and other people of Europe Ghinea. ” But it seems more probable that Guinea derives from aguinaou, the Berber for Negro. Marrakech [city in southeastern Morocco] has a gate, built in the twelfth century, called the Bab Aguinaou, the Gate of the Negro (Delafosse, Haut-Sénégal-Niger, II, 277-278). The modern application of the name Guinea to the coast dates only from 1481. In that year the Portuguese built a fort, São de Mina (modern day Elmina), on the Gold Coast, and their king, John II, was permitted by the Pope [Sixtus II or Innocent VIII] to style himself Lord of Guinea, a title that survived until the recent extinction of the monarchy.