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50 free Guinea trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Guinea trivia quiz is about the West African republic often called Guinea-Conakry, not Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea or Papua New Guinea. It covers the empires of Mali and Wassoulou, the Islamic state of the Fouta Djallon, French rule, the famous 1958 vote for immediate independence and Sékou Touré's long dictatorship, the coups of 1984, 2008 and 2021, and the 2013 outbreak that started the West African Ebola epidemic. It also visits the country's riches: the world's biggest bauxite reserves, the Simandou iron mountains, the water tower of West Africa and Mount Nimba's viviparous toads. The first questions suit anyone who can tell the Guineas apart; the last ones test people who know which rivers rise in the highlands and what the currency was called in the 1970s. Every question is multiple choice with a short explanation after you answer. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital of Guinea, whose name distinguishes the country from its neighbours?
Conakry
The city began on tiny Tombo Island and spread along the 36-kilometre Kaloum Peninsula.
Q 02Guinea declared independence from France on 2 October of which year?
1958
It had voted overwhelmingly for immediate independence in the referendum of 28 September.
Q 03In the 1958 French referendum, Guinea was the only African colony to do what?
Vote for immediate independence
The French left in fury, reportedly unscrewing light bulbs and burning medicines rather than leave them behind.
Q 04Who was Guinea's first president, ruling from 1958 until his death in 1984?
Ahmed Sékou Touré
He was re-elected unopposed to four seven-year terms and ran the notorious Camp Boiro prison.
Q 05Guinea's first president was the great-grandson of which 19th-century empire builder?
Samori Touré
Samori's Wassoulou Empire fought France for years; his 1898 defeat gave France control of Guinea.
Q 06Guinea is the world's second-largest producer of which mineral, the ore of aluminium?
Bauxite
It also holds more than four billion tonnes of high-grade iron ore at Simandou, plus diamonds, gold and uranium.
Q 07The Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea are nicknamed what because so many rivers rise there?
The water tower of West Africa
The Gambia, Senegal and a major Niger tributary all begin in the massif.
Q 08The sources of the Niger, Gambia and Senegal rivers all lie in which country's highlands?
Guinea
The Niger then flows north-east into Mali before its great bend toward the sea.
Q 09Guinea's highest point, Mount Nimba, rises to about what height?
1,752 m
It shares the summit with Ivory Coast, and the surrounding reserve is home to viviparous toads and tool-using chimpanzees.
Q 10The West African Ebola epidemic began in December 2013 in which Guinean village?
Meliandou
The first case is believed to have been Emile Ouamouno, a two-year-old boy who died on 6 December.
Q 11In 2021 a military faction overthrew which Guinean president and suspended the constitution?
Alpha Condé
The African Union suspended Guinea and only reinstated it in January 2026.
Q 12On 28 September 2009, junta soldiers killed 157 people gathered in the capital for what?
A protest against Camara's presidential bid
Moussa Dadis Camara had seized power hours after Lansana Conté's death in December 2008.
Q 13Colonels Lansana Conté and Diarra Traoré seized power in a bloodless coup in which year?
1984
It came days after Sékou Touré died following heart surgery in the United States.
Q 21The Guinean novelist Camara Laye is best known for which autobiographical novel?
The African Child
L'Enfant noir drew on his childhood in Kouroussa; he later went into voluntary exile.
Q 22Guinean singer Mory Kanté, of the Mandinka griot tradition, was a master of which instrument?
Kora
He was sent to Mali at seven to learn it, and later scored a global hit with 'Yé ké yé ké'.
Q 23Bembeya Jazz National, one of Guinea's most important bands, was formed in 1961 in which town?
Beyla
It was originally called Orchestre de Beyla and rose to fame with 1960s Afropop.
Q 14Guinea's flag is a red, yellow and green triband partly modelled on that of which country?
Ghana
Sékou Touré was a close associate of Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah.
Q 15Between 1971 and 1985 Guinea's currency was called what?
Syli
It replaced the first Guinean franc at ten francs to the syli, and the franc returned in 1985.
Q 16Guinea's largest ethnic-linguistic groups are the Susu, the Pular-speaking Fula and which third?
Maninka
They dominate Maritime, Middle and Upper Guinea respectively; the forest region is far more diverse.
Q 17Roughly what share of Guineans are Muslim?
About 90%
The ARDA put it at 86.8% in 2023, with 9.4% following animist beliefs.
Q 18The Islamic state that Fulani Muslims founded in the Fouta Djallon in 1727 was notable for having what?
A written constitution and alternating rulers
It lasted until France occupied its capital, Timbo, in 1896.
Q 19Guinea's population at the July 2025 census was over how many?
17.5 million
About a fifth of them, some 3.4 million, live in the capital.
Q 20In which year did Guinea achieve its best result, runner-up at the Africa Cup of Nations?
1976
They lost the title to Morocco by a single point and have never reached a World Cup.
Q 24The djembe, the goblet drum widespread in Guinea, takes its name from a Bambara saying meaning what?
Everyone gather together in peace
The name comes from Malinke jembe; it is rope-tuned and played with bare hands.
Q 25Britain ceded the island on which Guinea's capital was founded to France in which year?
1887
In 1885 the two island villages had fewer than 500 people between them.
Q 26Sundiata Keita's 1235 victory over the Sosso at Kirina gave rise to which great state spanning Guinea?
Mali Empire
Its emperor Mansa Musa made his fabled hajj to Mecca in 1324.
Q 27The country is divided into four geographic regions: Maritime, Upper, Forest and which highland region?
Middle Guinea
Middle Guinea is the Fouta Djallon massif.
Q 28The country's official name from 1978 until 1984 was what?
People's Revolutionary Republic
It reverted to Republic of Guinea after Sékou Touré's death.
Q 29The Simandou range in south-eastern Guinea has the potential to host what?
Africa's largest integrated iron ore mine
The project includes a 650 km railway to the coast at Matakong and was mired in a Rio Tinto bribery scandal.
Q 30Which of these countries does NOT border Guinea?
Ghana
The neighbours are Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.