The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

from Cape Lopez in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

and

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lette ...

) is in the gulf. Among the many rivers that drain into the Gulf of Guinea are the

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesVolta. The coastline on the gulf includes the Bight of Benin and the

Bight of Bonny The Bight of Biafra (known as the Bight of Bonny in Nigeria) is a bight off the West African coast, in the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea. Geography The Bight of Biafra, or Mafra (named after the town Mafra in southern Portugal), betwee ...

Name

The origin of the name Guinea is thought to be an area in the region, although the specifics are disputed. Bovill (1995) gives a thorough description: The name " Guinea" was also applied to south coast of

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

, north of the Gulf of Guinea, which became known as "Upper Guinea", and the west coast of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

, to the east, which became known as "Lower Guinea". The name "Guinea" is still attached to the names of three countries in Africa: Guinea,

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

, and Equatorial Guinea, as well as

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

Geography

The main river shedding its waters in the gulf is the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

. Different definitions of the geographic limits of the Gulf of Guinea are given; the International Hydrographic Organization defines the southwest extent of the Gulf of Guinea as "B line from Cap Lopez (), in Gabon, northwestward to Ihléu Gago Coutinho (Ilhéu das Rôlas) (); and thence a line from Ihléu Gago Coutinho northwestward to Cape Palmas (), in Liberia. File:Carte du golfe de Guinée-18e s..jpg, Old French map of the Gulf of Guinea File:Limites du golfe de Guinée-fr.svg, Different limits of the Gulf of Guinea File:Gulf of Guinea 5.24136E 2.58756N.jpg, Satellite imagery of the Gulf of Guinea showing borders of states on its shores

Islands in the Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea contains a number of islands, the largest of which are in a southwest-northeast chain, forming part of the Cameroon line of volcanoes. Annobón, also known as Pagalu or Pigalu, is an island that is part of Equatorial Guinea. Bobowasi Island is an island off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea that is part of the Western Region of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Bioko Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census and it covers an area of . The island is located of ...

is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

off the

Ambazonian Ambazonia, officially the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, also referred to as Amba Land, is an unrecognised breakaway state in West Africa which claims the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon, though it currently controls almos ...

region of Cameroon in the Gulf of Guinea under the sovereignty of Equatorial Guinea. Corisco is an island belonging to Equatorial Guinea. Elobey Grande and

Elobey Chico Elobey Chico, or Little Elobey, is a small island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea, lying near the mouth of the Mitémélé River. The island is now uninhabited but was once the ''de facto'' colonial capital of the Spanish territory of Río ...

are two small islands belonging to Equatorial Guinea. São Tomé and Príncipe (officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe) is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea that became independent from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in 1975. It is located off the western equatorial coast of Africa and consists of two islands,

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álvar ...

and Príncipe. They are located about apart and about , respectively, off the northwestern coast of

. Both islands are part of an extinct

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

. São Tomé, the sizeable southern island, is situated just north of the Equator.

Maritime security

Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea consists of 18 sovereign states. Multiple institutional mandates address maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Additionally, maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is also addressed by the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC). Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is characterised not only by piracy but by a myriad of maritime crimes despite piracy often dominating the conversation on maritime security. According to the ‘Priority Paper for the Danish Efforts to Combat Piracy and Other Types of Maritime Crime 2019-2022’ piracy and maritime crime are defined as follows:

''Piracy'' can be defined as any illegal act of violence, detention or depredation committed for private ends at high seas against another ship or aircraft.Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. (2019). Priority paper for the Danish efforts to combat piracy and other types of maritime crime 2019-2022. Copenhagen: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Maritime crime may include armed robbery at sea, trafficking of humans or smuggling of illicit goods, drugs and weapons, illegal fishing, fuel theft and more.

The other notable crimes in the Gulf of Guinea are illegal fishing, kidnap for ransom, drug trafficking and oil-bunkering.Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. (2018). Gulf of Guinea Maritime Security Programme, 2019-2021. Copenhagen: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Illegal oil-bunkering consists of the attacking of vessels transporting oil and transferring the oil to the thieves’ own vessel. After which the oil is sold in local and international markets. Kidnapping for ransom is one of the most prevalent maritime crimes in the region. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of crew members that were kidnapped in the Gulf of Guinea increased by 50%, leading the region to account for 90% of global kidnappings at sea.

References

External links