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.
People have inhabited the region now known as Guinea-Bissau 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. Portugal claimed the region beginning in the 1450s. Portuguese control of the area was limited to several forts along the coast during most of this period. Portugal gained complete control of the mainland after the pacification campaigns of 1912–15. The offshore Bijagos Islands were not colonized until 1936. After gaining 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 in 1998 and lasted until 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.
Bissau is the capital and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. As of 2015, it had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, its administrative and military center.
Portuguese Guinea, called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Guinea-Bissau.
Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the coast of West Africa which lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally moist tropical forest or savanna that stretches along the coast and borders the Sahel belt in the north.
The Bissagos Islands, also spelled Bijagós, are a group of about 88 islands and islets located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Guinea-Bissau. The archipelago was formed from the ancient delta of the Geba and Grande de Buba rivers and spans an area of 12,958 km2 (5,003 sq mi). 20 of its islands are populated year-round, including the most populated island, Bubaque. The administrative capital, Bolama is situated on the island of Bolama.
Articles related to Guinea-Bissau include:
Bolama is the main town of Bolama Island and the capital of the Bolama Region. Though once the capital of Portuguese Guinea, it has a population of just 4,819 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.
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.
The lançados were settlers and colonizers of Portuguese origin in Senegambia, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and other areas on the coast of West Africa. Many were Jews—often New Christians—escaping persecution from the Portuguese Inquisition.
Nuno Tristão was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea. Legend has it that he sailed as far as Guinea-Bissau, however, more recent historians believe he did not go beyond the Gambia River).
Bolama is an administrative region in Guinea-Bissau, consisting primarily of the Bijagós Archipelago of the country's southern coast, together with a small coastal strip centred on the coastal town of São João. It has an area of 2,624 km2. Its capital is Bolama, on the island of the same name. It is a coastal region covered with Mangrove swamps, rain forest and tangled forest and receives an annual rainfall of more than 1,000 mm (39 in).
Uno is one of the Bissagos Islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, in the Atlantic Ocean. The land area is 104 km2 (40 sq mi), with a population of 3,324 (2009).
Guinean Portuguese is the variety of Portuguese spoken in Guinea-Bissau, where it is the official language.
Philip Beaver was an officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He played a varied and active role in several notable engagements, and served under a number of the most notable figures of the Navy of the age.
Bissau-Guinean Americans are Americans of Bissau-Guinean descent. As was the case with almost all current West African coastal countries, the first people in the United States from present-day Guinea-Bissau were imported as slaves. Thus, in the 21st century, there are many African Americans who have discovered, through DNA analysis, they descend mainly or at least partly, from Bissau-Guinean enslaved people.
Dona Aurelia Correia, also known as Mae Aurelia, Mame Correia Aurelia and Madame Oralia, was a Euro-African nhara slave trader. She was titled "Queen of Orango" by Portuguese and Luso-Africans. Aurelia, a slave trader from West Africa, is believed to have been born from a probable relationship between a trader from Cape Verde and a local woman. She was a dominant key figure in the business life of Guinea-Bissau during the first half of the 19th-century. She is regarded as the most famous of the nhara-community of the region, was regarded as an important member of the community by the Portuguese and described as a powerful businesswoman in oral African tradition. She was the fosterchild and possibly maternal niece of Julia da Silva Cardoso, and the de facto wife of the businessman Caetano José Nozolini (1800-1850), Portuguese governor of Cape Verde. On her mother’s side Correia descended from the Bijagó, the ruling matrilineage on the island of Orango, the largest and most important in the archipelago of the Guinea coast.
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.
Richard Hancorn was a British Royal Navy officer, serving during the late eighteenth century.
