A palm leaf from Africa

Guinea

(A globe with Guinea highlighted on the west coast of Africa. Source: Wikipedia).

Guinea is a country located in West Africa, bordered by the Atlantic sea to the West and Conakry is its capital. Guinea is one of the largest countries on the African continent in terms of area, famous for its picturesque natural diversity, as it includes mountains, valleys, plains and wonderful beaches. Guinea is also the lioness of traditional West African civilization and rich culture. Its rich history dates back to the many powerful empires that reigned in the region before European colonization.

The region was home to many ancient civilizations such as the Mali Empire, the SUSU Empire and others. And in the XV century, European explorers explored the west coast of Africa and established the famous slave trade. Under French occupation in the XIX century, Guinea became part of the French colonization of West Africa. It gained its independence in 1958. Since then, Guinea has gone through several political and economic transformations, but it still occupies an important place on the African continent.

(View of a rocky beach on Iles de los, just off the coast of Conakry. From TripAdvisor).

Which Guinea?

Africa is home to “Guinea”, “Guinea-Bissau”, and “Equatorial Guinea”. Papua New Guinea, in Oceania, also contains “Guinea”. Scholars writing in Arabic long described Africa south of the Sahara as Bilād as-Sūdān, or “Land of the Black People.” Amazigh people, the indigenous inhabitants of the Maghreb, used the Tamazight language to express an equivalent concept, Akal n-Iginawen.

Although the precise origins of the term Guinea remain disputed, scholars generally agree that it originated in Africa before Europeans adopted it. Edward William Bovill argued that Guinea developed from the Tamazight iginawen (singular: aginaw).

When Europeans arrived, Guinea was claimed by France as French-Guinea.

Guinea-Bissau was Portuguese Guinea, and the current name combines the capital city name: Bissau with Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea, as can likely be guessed, is the closest to the equator.

The Guinea was also the name of a gold coin made in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814. It weighed about a quarter of an ounce of gold. The coin got its name from the Guinea region in West Africa, where much of the gold came from. I’ve previously covered this Imitation Spade Guinea, and this Good Old Days Imitation Spade Guinea.

Obverse

The obverse contains four of the most common elements found on coins:

• Country name (At the top, in French) RÉPUBLIQUE DE GUINÉE
• Coat of arms
• Year of issue (divided by the coat of arms)
• Value (at the bottom, in lettering, again in French): UN FRANC GUINÉEN

Guinea’s coat of arms features a white dove. This dove is flying and holds a golden olive branch in its beak. The dove and olive branch are widely known symbols of peace.

Below the dove, there is a ribbon. On this ribbon, you can read the country’s motto in French: Travail, justice, solidarité. This motto means “Work, Justice, Solidarity” in English. These three words represent important values for the people of Guinea.

The coat of arms has changed several times:

• In the original 1958 version, the dove faced right, holding a small green branch. The shield on the coat of arms was red on the left half, green on the right, and contained a yellow elephant facing right inside.
• In the 1984 – 1993 version, the dove faces left and holds a golden branch, which extends down through the shield. At the bottom of the shield is a strip of red, then yellow, then green – the colours of the country and as seen on the flag. The centre of shield no longer has an elephant, but, in front of the olive branch, a crossed rifle and sword.
• In the current version of the coat of arms, the shield is uncoloured, with the gun and sword gone and now the olive branch is more noticeable. The whole design is yellow except for the strip at the bottom of the shield with the country colours. in 2011 this design was updated such that the shield is a lighter, shaded gold colour rather than a single yellow.

The coin, issued in 1985, contains the 1984 – 1993 version of the coat of arms.

Reverse

The reverse contains a palm leaf taking up most of the space, with the value “1 FRANC GUINÉEN in the lower left.

Prior to independence, Guinea, like other French African colonies, used the CFA Franc. CFA was an abbreviation for “colonies françaises d’Afrique”. This acronym has continued in use and is now used as “Communauté financière d’Afrique” (African Financial Community) in both Central and Western African States. We’ve previously covered a Western African States coin.

Following independence, the country adopted the “Franc” as its currency (now the “Old Franc”). 1 Franc = 100 Centimes, similar to previous use under French rule. In 1971, they swapped to the Syli, 100 Cauris = 1 Syli. In 1985, they returned to the Franc (now called the “New Franc”. The 1, 5, 10 and 25 Franc coins all feature the same design.

The Oil Palm

The oil palm is an elegant palm that originated in the Gulf of Guinea. It takes its species name, Elaeis guineensis, from the ancient Greek elaia , which means olive, due to its oil-rich fruits. Since time immemorial, it has been part of a “gathering economy”, picked for food in tropical Africa. It is the leading producer of vegetable oil

The fronds measure between 6 and 9 metres and comprise more than 300 blade-like leaflets on several levels. The fruits, which are very rich in oil, are oval, fleshy drupes grouped together in “bunches” that weigh between 1 and 60 kilos. Ripe bunches from adult palms weigh 15 to 25 kilos on average and comprise 1500 fruits.

Once oil palms are four years old, harvesting can begin. Yields rise up to the age of eight years, stabilize, and then decline after 20 years.

Harvesting takes place every 10 to 15 days. In view of that frequency, mechanization has never proved either technically or economically feasible. Harvesters equipped with appropriate tools observe each palm to spot ripe bunches, cut them and remove them from the plot at the same time as any detached fruits.

When low enough, they are cut with a harvesting knife or machete. If they are too high up, a fixed hooked knife on a pole is used. It is not falling yields that make it necessary to replant after 25 years, but the difficulty of harvesting palms more than 12 metres tall.

(Harvesting palm oil. From cirad.fr).

One thing which grabbed me about this coin was the large palm leaf taking up much of the reverse. Reading about the plant, and that its fronts are 6 – 9 metres long, I can see why the designer took up so much space.

What is your favourite depiction of something, with unexpected accuracy, on a coin? OR your favourite design element which takes up the whole coin?