Guinea - Guiana - Guyana

Three names that can be confused, and whose meanings have been confused in historical times, are the names of the countries Guinea (pronounced with two syllables and a hard '-g-', 'GHINN-y', IPA: /ˈgɪ ni/), Guiana (pronounced with a hard '-g-' and three syllables, 'Guy-AHN-ah', /ˈgaɪ ɑ nə/, including Dutch Guiana and French Guiana, and the new spelling Guyana, pronounced the same way as Guiana. None of these should be confused with Ghana.

• Guinea is a region of Africa north of the Gulf of Guinea - on the west coast. It has at different times meant different political units with different boundaries. Now there are three independent countries:
  • The Republic of Guinea, the full official name for what is usually called Guinea, has been the political entity since it ceased to be a French colony called Guinée française (French Guinea) in 1958.
  • Guinea-Bissau, a neighbour of Guinea, was formerly Portuguese Guinea. It carries the name of its capital, Bissau, to avoid confusion with Guinea (the Republic of Guinea), which is sometimes called Guinea-Conakry for the same reason.
  • The Republic of Equatorial Guinea, less formally Equatorial Guinea, had an involved history, involving changes in political ownership of various colonies, which between 1926 and 1959 were united as Spanish Guinea.
• Guiana is a region in South America, on the north-east coast. It is characterised by a geological formation called the 'Guiana shield'. The region includes three political units which have previously included the name 'Guiana' in their titles:
  • Guyana was formerly known as British Guiana. The spelling change may reflect a feeling of independence in 1966. Before then, it had been a British colony since the Dutch ceded it in 1814.
  • There was also a Dutch colony which continued until self-government in 1954, and independence in 1975. At this point, the former Dutch Guiana took the name of Suriname.
  • Guyane française (French Guiana) is an overseas department of France where the Guiana Space Centre (a launch pad for the French/European Space Agency) is found.

The term is sometimes also used to include parts of neighbouring countries: The Guyana Region is an administrative region of Venezuela formerly known as Spanish Guiana; Brazilian Guiana was formerly known as Portuguese Guiana.

The confusion between Guinea (Africa) and Guiana (S. America) may be illustrated by the fact that guinea pigs (rodents of the genus Cavia or family Cavidae) are natives of S. America.

You may want to see guinea (coin).