Guinea (region)  Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the African coast of West Africa which lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally moist tropical forest or savanna that stretches along the coast and borders the Sahel belt in the north. The etymology of "Guinea" is uncertain. The English term "Guinea" comes directly from the Spanish word "Guinea", which in turn derives from the Portuguese word "Guiné". The Portuguese term emerged in the mid-15th century to refer to the lands inhabited by the "Guineus", a generic term used by the Portuguese to refer to the 'black' African peoples living south of the Senegal River (in contrast to the 'tawny' Sanhaja Berbers, north of it, whom they called "Azenegues"). The term "Guinea" is extensively used in the 1453 chronicle of Gomes Eanes de Zurara. King John II of Portugal took up the title of "Senhor da Guiné" (Lord of Guinea) from 1483. It is believed the Portuguese borrowed "Guineus" from the Berber term "Ghinawen" (sometimes Arabized as "Guinauha" or "Genewah") meaning "the burnt people" (analogous to the Classical Greek "Aithiops", "of the burned face"). The Berber terms "aginaw" and "Akal n-Iguinawen" mean "black" and "land of the blacks", respectively. A competing theory, first forwarded by Leo Africanus in 1526, claims that 'Guinea' is derived from Djenné (which he refers to as "Gheneo, Genni" and "Ghinea"), the great interior commercial city on the Upper Niger River. Djenné dominated the gold and salt trade across West Africa, from the 11th century (fall of Ghana) until the 13th century (when the Mali invasion disrupted its routes and redirected trade to Timbuktu, hitherto just a small Djenné outpost). It is during the period of Djenné dominance that the term "Genewah" really comes forward into usage in Arab sources ("al-Sudan" – Arabic for "blacks" – is used more commonly before). Other theories try to connect "Guinea" to "Ghana", but this is less certain. The Ghana Empire is named after the Medieval trading city of "Ghanah" mentioned already by 11th-century Arab geographers (e.g. al-Bakri), but it is used distinctly from "Genewah" by Arab sources (e.g. they would say "Ghanah in the country of Genewah").