Guinea Prefectures

The prefecture is the second tier of Guinea, between the seven regions and the sub-prefectures, and the unit that the state runs its schools, health services and roads from. There are 33 of them, plus the special zone of Conakry, which is drawn as a piece of its own.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Region: the seven regions and Conakry
In the game: 34 prefectures

Start

What you are looking at

The 33 prefectures of Guinea and the capital, the way the map is drawn today. Almost every prefecture is named for the town that heads it, and many of the names are worth learning as places in their own right: Kankan and Siguiri on the Milo and the Niger, Labé and Mamou on the plateau, Boké on the bauxite coast, and Nzérékoré in the forest.

The prefectures nest exactly in the regions, which is how the groups are made: each is in the one region that contains it, and each region answers under the same name in Guinea Regions. Kindia is both a region and a prefecture, and so are Boké, Labé, Mamou, Faranah, Kankan and Nzérékoré; the quiz asks for the prefecture and the region is the group.

Conakry is the exception. It is a special zone with no prefectures beneath it here, a tiny piece on the coast with Coyah and Dubréka on the other side of its borders, and it has a tap area so that it can be found on a phone.

How to place one

Pick one region and learn it. Mamou has only three prefectures, Dalaba, Mamou and Pita, and is the quickest to finish; Nzérékoré has six, the most of any.
Start with the capital and its neighbours. Coyah and Dubréka are the two prefectures next to Conakry, and Forécariah runs on down the coast to Sierra Leone.
Follow the north. Koundara, Gaoual and Mali run along the border with Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, and Siguiri and Mandiana along the border with Mali.
Finish in the forest. Guéckédou, Macenta, Lola, Yomou and Nzérékoré are the prefectures on the borders with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, and Beyla is the one to the east of them.