Why the world has so many Guineas
economist.com
economist.com
I don't know the Western origin of the word Guinea but I remember someone jokingly telling a story when we were kids. He used to say when the french colonists docked at the coast, they saw nobody. They went deep into the land and found a river. On that river, they saw women washing their clothes. "What do you call this land?" The french asked. The word land sounded like their word for "men".
"Only women here..." (word for women in Soso is Guinée) "distracting you while the men steal your boats"
So there you go, Guinée/Guinea means Women.
Since Ebola virtually no tourists go there, and Lonely Planet does not even cover it due to "a general lack of interest" ! HA. They could not be more wrong.
Stories and photos: http://theroadchoseme.com/category/guinea
That said, they used to pride themselves on covering the entire world, including countries that weren't really commercially viable, but with the decimation of printed guidebook sales they've been pulling back for quite some time. IIRC the first place to get the axe was Micronesia, which gets next to no tourists, completely lacks the beaches that are the main driver of Pacific island tourism, and is frightfully expensive to get to and travel in.
(Source: I used to work there, but it's been a few years.)
The article doesn't really answer the question, it just mentions how many different Guineas exist.
Summary: It comes from an old Portuguese word for a subset of dark skinned North African people.
Both times I tried Gineafowl breast (in two different countries), it tasted like chicken but more fine, moist and buttery with a unique flavour. Sometimes chicken breast has a dry, almost grainy consistency; Gineafowl was more oily.
It did have its own slight unique flavor but I wouldn't describe it as 'gamey'; I think that even Duck is more gamey than Gineafowl.
On the gamey-ness scale of all the ornithological specimens I tried I would say:
Chicken < Gineafowl < Turkey < Duck < Quail < Pigeon < Partridge < Pheasant
If you're used to eating turkey a lot, I suspect that you might find Gineafowl to be more gamey than turkey but I think it's close.
The article mentions 'guinea men' to refer to the trading ships that shuttled between Britain, South America and 'Guinea', but I can't help but imagine a hypothetical breed of six feet tall, dapperly clothed, bipedal guinea pig.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=guinea&defid...