'''Guinea''' (), officially the '''Republic of Guinea''' (), is a coastal country in West Africa. Guinea borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Cote d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sierra Leone and Liberia to the south. Formerly known as French Guinea (), the modern country is sometimes referred to as '''Guinea-Conakry''' after its capital Conakry, to distinguish it from other territories in the eponymous region such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has a population of  million and an area of .