Geography of Guinea-Bissau
The geography of Guinea-Bissau is that of low coastal plains bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The country borders Senegal in the north and Guinea in the southeast.
Terrain and ecology
The terrain of Guinea-Bissau is mostly low coastal plain with swamps of Guinean mangroves rising to Guinean forest-savanna mosaic in the east. A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 1,203km² of tidal flats in Guinea-Bissau, making it the 28th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid impact occurred 400 km off the west-African coast. The 2022 discovered Nadir buried Crater has a diameter of 9 km. The impact caused an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude and created a 1 km high tsunami. The combined forces could be an explanation for the extremely scarred coastline of Guinea-Bissau.
The lowest point on Guinea-Bissau is at sea level at the Atlantic Ocean. The highest point in Guinea-Bissau is Dongol Ronde with an elevation of. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Africa authored in 1992 cites Fouta Djallon at as the highest.
Natural resources found in Guinea-Bissau include fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone and unexploited deposits of petroleum. 10.67% of the land is arable and 235.6 square kilometres are irrigated.
Natural hazards include a hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze that may reduce visibility during the dry season and brush fires. Severe environmental issues include deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing and overfishing.
Near the Senegal border there have been historic sightings of the painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus, but that endangered canid may now be extirpated in that locale.
Climate
Guinea-Bissau's climate is tropical. This means it is generally hot and humid. It has a monsoonal-type rainy season with southwesterly winds and a dry season with northeasterly harmattan winds.Guinea-Bissau is warm all year around and there is little temperature fluctuation; it averages. The average rainfall for the capital city Bissau is although this is almost entirely accounted for during the rainy season which falls between June and September/October. From December through April, the country receives very little rainfall.
Information from the CIA World Factbook
; Location; Geographic coordinates
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; Area:
; Area comparative
; Land boundaries
;* Total: 762 km
;* Border countries: Guinea 421 km, Senegal 341 km
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;* Territorial sea:
;* Exclusive economic zone:
; Terrain
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; Irrigated land
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Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Guinea-Bissau, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.- Northernmost point – the northern section of the border with Senegal*
- Easternmost point – unnamed location on the border with Guinea immediately south-west of the Guinean village of Sofan, Gabú Region
- Southernmost point – unnamed headland on Ilha Cataque, Tombali Region
- Westernmost point - Cape Roxo at the point where the border with Senegal enters the Atlantic Ocean, Cacheu Region
- Highest point in Guinea-Bissau - unnamed location in the southeastern region, elevation approximately 300 meters above sea level.
- Lowest point in Guinea-Bissau - Atlantic Ocean coastline, elevation 0 meters.The country has a long, low coast with mangroves, estuaries, and tidal flats.
- *''Note: Guinea-Bissau does not have a northernmost point, the border here being formed by a parallel of latitude.''