Editing Conakry (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Timeline of Conakry}}
[[File:Konakry-Vue générale.jpg|thumb|left|The city in 1912]]
Conakry was originally settled on the small [[Tombo Island]] and later spread to the neighboring [[Kaloum Peninsula]], a {{convert|36|km|mi|adj=mid|-long|sp=us}} stretch of land {{convert|0.2|to|6|km|mi|frac=8|sp=us}} wide. The city was essentially founded after Britain ceded the island to France in 1887.<ref>{{cite book|first=Roman Adrian|last=Cybriwsky|title=Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=USA|year=2013|page=89|isbn=978-1-61069-247-2}}</ref> In 1885, the two island villages of Conakry and Boubinet had fewer than 500 inhabitants. Conakry became the capital of [[French Guinea]] in 1904, and prospered as an export port, particularly after a railway (now closed) to [[Kankan]] opened up the interior of the country for the large-scale export of [[peanut|groundnut]].

In the decades after independence, the population of Conakry boomed, from 50,000 inhabitants in 1958 to 600,000 in 1980, to over two million today.<ref name="Manning" /> Its small land area and relative isolation from the mainland, while an advantage to its colonial founders, has created an infrastructural burden since independence.<ref name="World Bank" />

[[File:Conakry - französischer Gouverneurspalast - 1956.jpg|thumb|left|Conakry – French Governor's Palace in 1956]]

In 1970, conflict between Portuguese forces and the belligerent [[African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde|PAIGC]] independence campaigners in neighbouring [[Portuguese Guinea]] (now [[Guinea-Bissau]]) spilled into the Republic of Guinea when a group of 350 Portuguese troops and Guinean loyalists landed near Conakry, [[Portuguese invasion of Guinea, 1970|attacked the city]] and freed 26 Portuguese [[prisoners of war]] held by the PAIGC before retreating, having failed to overthrow the government or kill the PAIGC leadership.<ref name="Time" />

[[Camp Boiro]], a feared concentration camp during the rule of [[Sekou Toure]], was located in Conakry.<ref>{{cite book |title=La Guinée peut-elle être changée? |first=Alsény René |last=Gomez |publisher=Editions L'Harmattan |year=2010 |isbn=978-2-296-11963-5}}</ref>

According to human rights groups, 157 people died during the [[2009 Guinea protest]] when the military junta opened fire against tens of thousands of protesters in the city on 28 September 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8280603.stm |work=BBC News |title=Guinea massacre toll put at 157 |date=29 September 2009 |access-date=21 March 2012 |archive-date=2 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002232605/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8280603.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>