[4] Indigenous linguistic groups began to arrive later from neighbouring areas; their tribes were established from the 15th century onwards.

Ture was a military leader who seized control of the Guinea Highlands, and ultimately expanded his empire to reach Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali.

The missionary group White Fathers first attempted to convert indigenous people in the 1920s, which had varying degrees of success with local populations.

[4] These changes were in tandem with structural political alterations such as the suppression of village elders' judicial power, and the creation of separate courts for indigenous people and Europeans.

After Guinean independence in 1958, colonial policies that exploited tensions between the Forest region and other ethnic groups were dismantled by the ruling Democratic Party of Guinea.

The party also promised equal representation for the groups in the political arena and removal of chiefs established to uphold colonial power.

This correlates with a tendency to live in rural areas, which contain 65% of cases, possess low levels of education and have livelihoods in agriculture.

Their social structure is arranged under paramount chiefs, who settle disputes and mediate between the Guinean government and their people.

The Loma people, much like the Kpelle, share a common region of Forested Guinea and Liberia, with their total population exceeding 400,000.

The Kissi people also inhabit an area that encompasses Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone; however they are mainly concentrated in the Guéckédou region.

It is characterized by undulating lowlands, which are frequently disrupted by suddenly rising high mountain ranges and eroded plateaux of the Guinea Highlands.

[15] The Ziama Massif is a 116 200 hectares-large Biosphere Reserve, which is considered to be a relict of the once continuous West African rainforest belt.

In fact, it is one of the least discovered protected areas of West Africa; however, some studies suggest, that Diécké is the stronghold of the pygmy hippopotamus and the critically endangered western chimpanzee.The Diécké Classified Forest forms part of the Western Guinean Lowland forests, south of Nzérékoré, sharing this region with neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia.

It is considered a major site for biodiversity in Africa [17] and the WWF notes "outstanding biological importance"[1] in the area.

Despite the Diécké Classified Forest being used for logging, swamp-forest regions have hindered commercial exploitation due to its difficulty of access.

The initial case of the outbreak was attributed to a 2-year-old boy located in Meliandou, Guéckédou Prefecture with the Zaire strain of Ebola who died 6 December 2013.

[19] Ebola also spread to Conakry from Guéckédou, the first urban area in Guinea to be affected, with the first case recorded on 17 March 2014.

Guinea was declared "Ebola-free" in its entirety in December 2015; however, on 17 March 2016, Nzérékoré recorded two additional cases of Ebola.

There was a noted decrease in attendance to outpatient clinics and reduction in hospital revenue which weakened the financial stability of healthcare institutions.

The impact was also witnessed in the decline of non-ebola-related treatment programs for diseases such as malaria and AIDS, which raised the threat of other health problems.

Researchers observed social resistance to Ebola treatment in Forested Guinea, which exacerbated the outbreak's impact at the beginning.

This caused tension between foreign humanitarian aid and patients' families, which manifested in violent attacks towards Médecins Sans Frontières, as well as physical barricades put in place by the local population near villages to prevent access.