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, in West Africa, has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years. During the 13th century CE, it was a province of the Mali Empire which later became independent as the empire of Kaabu. The Portuguese Empire claimed the region during the 1450s, but its control was limited to several forts along the coast during most of this period; it gained control of the mainland after a series of "pacification campaigns" from 1912 to 1915, which used military forces to violently crush local resistance. The offshore Bijagos Islands were not colonized until 1936. Guinea-Bissau gained independence from Portugal in 1974. The introduction of multi-party politics in 1991 led to the first multi-party elections in 1994. A civil war broke out in 1998, which lasted until the following year.
Kahone or Kawon is a town and urban commune near Kaolack, Senegal. It was the capital of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Saloum and is a center of Serer culture and history.
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam, mostly based on the Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali.
Gabu is the largest city in eastern Guinea-Bissau, the second most populated city in Guinea-Bissau and capital of the Gabu Region.
Farim is a town of northern Guinea-Bissau. It sits on the north bank of the Farim/Cacheu River, about 215 km up the river from Cacheu. Population 8,661.
Kaabu (1537–1867), also written Gabu, Ngabou, and N'Gabu, was a federation of Mandinka kingdoms in the Senegambia region centered within modern northeastern Guinea-Bissau, large parts of today's Gambia, and extending into Koussanar, Koumpentoum, and the Casamance in Senegal.
The Bainuk people are an ethnic group that today lives primarily in Senegal as well as in parts of Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
Touba is a town in western Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Touba Department. It is also a commune and the seat of Bafing Region in Woroba District, near the border with Guinea.
The Jakhanke -- also spelled Jahanka, Jahanke, Jahanque, Jahonque, Diakkanke, Diakhanga, Diakhango, Dyakanke, Diakhanké, Diakanké, or Diakhankesare -- are a Manding-speaking ethnic group in the Senegambia region, often classified as a subgroup of the larger Soninke. The Jakhanke have historically constituted a specialized caste of professional Muslim clerics (ulema) and educators. They are centered on one larger group in Guinea, with smaller populations in the eastern region of The Gambia, Senegal, and in Mali near the Guinean border. Although generally considered a branch of the Soninke, their language is closer to Western Manding languages such as Mandinka.
Nalu is an Atlantic language of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, spoken by the Nalu people, a West African people who settled the region before the arrival of the Mandinka in the 14th or 15th centuries. It is spoken predominantly by adults. It is estimated to be spoken by a range of 10,000 to 25,000 people, whereas Wilson (2007) reports that there are around 12,000 speakers. It is considered an endangered language due to its dwindling population of speakers.
The Battle of Kansala or Turban Keloo was the siege of the capital of the Kaabu federation in 1867 by the Imamate of Futa Jallon, allied with rebellious Fula people from Kaabu itself. The battle, which saw the town completely destroyed, ended Mandinka hegemony over Africa’s Atlantic coast begun by the Mali Empire.
Guelowar, also spelled Gelwar, Guelwar, Guelware, Gueleware or Gueloware, was a maternal dynasty in the pre-colonial Serer kingdoms of Sine and Saloum. They were from the Mandinka ethnic group. The offspring of Mandinka women and Serer men became the kings of Sine and Saloum. The dynasty lasted from the mid-14th century to 1969, the year both kings died.
Café Touba is a coffee beverage that is a popular traditional drink from Senegal that is also consumed in Guinea-Bissau, and is named for the city of Touba, Senegal.
Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh was a king described in the oral tradition of the Serer pre-colonial Kingdom of Sine and the first of the Guelowar maternal dynasty to rule in Serer country. He reigned as Maad a Sinig from c. 1350 to 1370.
Fuladu or Fuladugu is a historic region and former Fula kingdom in the Upper Casamance, in the south of Senegal, and including certain areas in The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. It was the last independent pre-colonial state in the area, ceasing to exist in 1903.
Babacar Sedikh Diouf or Babacar Sédikh Diouf is a Senegalese historian, author, researcher, campaigner against "Wolofization", a Pan-Africanist, and former teacher. He has written extensively about the history and culture of Senegal, Africa, and that of the Serer ethnic group to which he belongs. He usually writes by the pen name Babacar Sedikh Diouf.
The Tenda or Tanda are an ethnolinguistic group living in the southern Senegal, northeastern Guinea-Bissau, and northern Guinea, comprising the Bassari, the Konyagui, the Bedik, and the Badiaranke.
The Nyancho were a royal maternal dynasty that ruled the West African empire of Kaabu.
The Soninke-Marabout Wars were a series of 19th-century civil wars across southern Senegambia pitting the traditional ruling classes of various states, mostly animist or only nominally Muslim, against Islamic reformers led by the marabout class. French and British forces frequently became involved in these conflicts, providing them an opportunity to extend colonial power into the hinterland.
Guinea 
