Guinea-Bissau
Capital: Bissau · Western Africa
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 2,080,000.
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Lake on the island of Orango with rare hippopotamuses living both in sweet water and the sea.
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Bafatá old market in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau
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Praia de Ofir, Bolama, Guiné-Bissau
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Did you know?
Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom of Kaabu, as well as part of the Mali Empire. Parts of this kingdom persisted until the 18th century, while a few others had been under some rule by the Portuguese Empire since the 16th century. In the 19th century, it was colonised as Portuguese Guinea. Upon independence, declared in 1973 and recognised in 1974, the name of its capital, Bissau, was added to the country's name to prevent confusion with Guinea (formerly French Guinea).
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History
The ancient history of what is now Guinea-Bissau is poorly understood by historians. The earliest inhabitants were the Jola, Papel, Manjak, Balanta, and Biafada peoples. Later the Mandinka and Fulani migrated into the region in the 13th and 15th centuries respectively. They pushed the earlier inhabitants towards the coast and onto the Bijagos islands.
The Balanta and Jola had weak or non-existent institutions of kingship but emphasised decentralization, with power invested in heads of villages and families. The Mandinka, Fula, Papel, Manjak, and Biafada chiefs were vassals to kings.
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This is an image of "African people at work" from
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effigy of Bissau
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Voter education posters for Guinea Bissau legislative elections 2008, Biombo region
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Politics
Guinea-Bissau is a republic. In the past, the government had been highly centralized. Multi-party governance was not established until mid-1991. The president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government under the country's semi-presidential system. From independence in 1974, until Jose Mario Vaz ended his five-year term as president on 24 June 2019, no president successfully served a full five-year term.
At the legislative level, a unicameral Assembleia Nacional Popular (National People's Assembly) is made up of 100 members.
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Paesaggio in Guinea-Bissau
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The presidential palace in Bissau, formerly the palace of the colonial governor of Portuguese-Guinea, located at the Praça dos Herois Nacionais square (formerly Praça do…
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Geography
Guinea-Bissau is bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west. It lies mostly between latitudes 11° and 13°N (a small area is south of 11°), and longitudes 11° and 15°W.
At 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi), the country is larger in size than Belgium.
The highest point is Monte Torin with an elevation of 262 metres (860 ft). Its terrain is mostly low coastal plains with swamps of the Guinean mangroves rising to the Guinean forest–savanna mosaic in the east.
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Petrol station of the portuguese Galp company near São Domingos in the Cacheu region in northern Guinea-Bissau.
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Economy
Guinea-Bissau's GDP per capita and Human Development Index are among the lowest in the world. More than two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. The economy depends mainly on agriculture; fish, cashew nuts, and ground nuts are its major exports.
A long period of political instability has resulted in depressed economic activity, deteriorating social conditions, and increased macroeconomic imbalances. It takes longer on average to register a new business in Guinea-Bissau (233 days or about 33 weeks) than in any other country in the world except Suriname.
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Demographics
According to the 2022 revision of the World Population Prospects, Guinea-Bissau's population was 2,060,721 in 2021, compared to 518,000 in 1950. The proportion of the population below the age of 15 in 2010 was 41.3%, 55.4% were aged between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.3% were aged 65 years or older.
The population of Guinea-Bissau is ethnically diverse and has many distinct languages, customs, and social structures.
Bissau-Guineans can be divided into the following ethnic groups:
Fula and the Mandinka-speaking people, who constitute the largest portion of the population and are concentrated in the north and northeast;
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Culture
The music of Guinea-Bissau is usually associated with the polyrhythmic gumbe genre, the country's primary musical export. However, civil unrest and other factors have combined over the years to keep gumbe, and other genres, out of mainstream audiences, even in generally syncretist African countries.
The calabash is the primary musical instrument of Guinea-Bissau, and is used in extremely swift and rhythmically complex dance music. Lyrics are almost always in Guinea-Bissau Creole, a Portuguese-based creole language, and are often humorous and topical, revolving around current events and controversies.
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