Bolama | |
---|---|
town | |
Coordinates: 11°34′36″N15°28′58″W / 11.57667°N 15.48278°W | |
Country | Guinea-Bissau |
Region | Bolama Region |
Area | |
• Total | 65 km2 (25 sq mi) |
Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
Population (2009) [1] | |
• Total | 4,819 |
• Density | 74/km2 (190/sq mi) |
Bolama is the main town of Bolama Island and the capital of the Bolama Region. Though once the capital of Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau), it has a population of just 4,819 (2009 census) [1] and much of its colonial era architecture is in a state of severe decay. The town is almost surrounded by mangrove swamps and is now mostly known for its production of cashew nuts.
Although often visited by local people, the island was apparently uninhabited in 1792 when European colonists arrived. The Bulama Association, a philanthropic and financial organisation, hoped to create a colony that would remove the need for slave plantations in the Caribbean by resettling Black former slaves from the Americas on the island. [2] The expedition, which consisted of two ships and two hundred and seventy-five colonists, set sail from England on 14 April 1792. [3] Philip Beaver, president of the council of the colonization society, was commander of HMS Hankey; Richard Hancorn, vice-president, was commander of HMS Calypso. Most of the settlers died and the survivors abandoned the colony in November 1793. [4] Hancorn died on the island weeks after the other leaders had decided to return home, on 21 July 1792. [5] [6]
Another colonisation attempt in 1814 also failed. Nonetheless, Britain continued to press its territorial claims to the town and island, hoping to annex the region to colonial possessions in Sierra Leone. Britain formally annexed the location, making it the capital of British Guinea. [7] This gave rise to the so-called Bolama Question, a diplomatic conflict initially raised at the Madrid conference of 1861, and dragging on until 1870 when it was eventually settled through an arbitration process overseen by United States President Ulysses S. Grant. The Portuguese negotiator, António José de Ávila, was rewarded by being declared duke of Ávila and Bolama.
In 1879, Bolama became the first capital of Portuguese Guinea and later became a logistical centre for seaplane transport. A seaplane crash in 1931 is commemorated by a statue in the town. However, a shortage of fresh water meant that Bolama could never hope to develop into a major city and on 6 December 1941 the colonial capital was moved to Bissau. Thereafter, the town of Bolama slowly fell into decay. Numerous abandoned houses now provide shelter for many thousands of enormous fruit eating bats. Every evening, these bats flock to the mainland, darkening the skies. The ruins, most notably that of the Bolama Governor's Palace, are something of a low key tourist attraction. The old colonial barracks are now used as a hospital. [8] A fruit processing plant was built on Bolama shortly after independence of Guinea Bissau, with Dutch foreign aid. This plant produced canned juice and jelly from cashew fruit. However, it could not expand and had to shut down its operations, due to the shortage of fresh water on the island.
A metal statue of American President Ulysses S. Grant stood in the town until August 2007 when broken up by scrap metal scavengers. [9] Grant had chaired an international arbitration committee that, in 1870, granted Bolama to Portugal rather than to Great Britain. [10] In gratitude, Grant's image was one of few colonial era statues to have survived into independence in the 1970s. The primary school in Bolama is still named the Ulisses Grant School in the president's honour. [11]
Climate data for Bolama (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 32.4 (90.3) | 33.7 (92.7) | 33.9 (93.0) | 33.3 (91.9) | 32.8 (91.0) | 31.6 (88.9) | 30.0 (86.0) | 29.6 (85.3) | 30.4 (86.7) | 31.6 (88.9) | 32.1 (89.8) | 31.8 (89.2) | 31.9 (89.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 25.5 (77.9) | 26.6 (79.9) | 27.4 (81.3) | 27.3 (81.1) | 27.5 (81.5) | 26.9 (80.4) | 25.8 (78.4) | 25.7 (78.3) | 26.1 (79.0) | 26.9 (80.4) | 27.0 (80.6) | 25.6 (78.1) | 26.5 (79.7) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 18.6 (65.5) | 19.4 (66.9) | 20.8 (69.4) | 21.2 (70.2) | 22.1 (71.8) | 22.2 (72.0) | 21.7 (71.1) | 21.7 (71.1) | 21.7 (71.1) | 22.2 (72.0) | 21.8 (71.2) | 19.3 (66.7) | 21.1 (70.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 0.1 (0.00) | 1.1 (0.04) | 0.1 (0.00) | 0.0 (0.0) | 27.8 (1.09) | 195.5 (7.70) | 534.1 (21.03) | 622.5 (24.51) | 424.9 (16.73) | 202.2 (7.96) | 20.8 (0.82) | 0.1 (0.00) | 2,029.2 (79.89) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 12.0 | 23.7 | 26.6 | 23.5 | 17.4 | 4.1 | 0.0 | 109.8 |
Source: NOAA [12] |
Bolama is twinned with:
The History of Equatorial Guinea is marked by centuries of colonial domination by the Portuguese, British and Spanish colonial empires, and by the local kingdoms.
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi) with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to its north and Guinea to its southeast.
The region now known as Guinea-Bissau has been inhabited for thousands of years. In the 13th century, it became a province of the Mali Empire that later became independent as the Empire of Kaabu. The region was claimed by Portugal beginning in the 1450s. During most of this period, Portuguese control of the region was limited to a number of forts along the coast. Portugal gained full control of the mainland after the pacification campaigns of 1912–15. The offshore Bijago islands were not colonised until 1936. After independence in 1974, the country was controlled by a single-party system until 1991. The introduction of multi-party politics in 1991, brought the first multi-party elections in 1994. A civil war broke out from 1998 to 1999.
The economy of Guinea-Bissau comprises a mixture of state-owned and private companies. Guinea-Bissau is among the world's least developed nations and one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, and depends mainly on agriculture and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country ranked ninth in cashew production for the year 2019.
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Galinhas is an island in the Bijagós Archipelago of Guinea-Bissau. Galinhas is located about 25 km southwest of Bolama town. The Canal de Bolama separates it from Bolama Island, the easternmost island of the group that lies close to the mainland. The area of the island is 50 km2, its length is 10 km and its width is 6 km.
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Bolama is the closest of the Bissagos Islands to the mainland of Guinea-Bissau. The island has a population of 6,024. It shares its name with ist largest settlement, the town Bolama, which is the capital of the island and the Bolama Region.
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