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Travel to Guinea-Bissau — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorGuinea-Bissau
| Republic of Guinea-Bissau National name: Républica da
Guiné-Bissau President: João Bernardo
Vieira (2005) Prime Minister:
Martinho Ndafa Kabi (2007)
Current government officials
Land area: 10,811 sq mi (28,000 sq km);
total area: 13,946 sq mi (36,120 sq km) Population (2007 est.): 1,472,041 (growth
rate: 2.1%); birth rate: 36.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 103.3/1000;
life expectancy: 47.2; density per sq mi: 136
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Bissau, 296,900 Monetary unit: CFA Franc
Languages:
Portuguese (official), Criolo, African
languages
Ethnicity/race:
African 99% (Balanta 30%, Fula 20%, Manjaca 14%,
Mandinga 13%, Papel 7%), European and mulatto less than 1%
Religions:
indigenous beliefs 50%, Islam 45%, Christian
5% Literacy rate: 42% (2003
est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP
(2007 est.): $901.2 million; per capita $600. Real growth rate:
3.7%. Inflation: 4% (2002 est.). Unemployment: n.a.
Arable land: 8%. Agriculture: rice, corn, beans, cassava
(tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish.
Labor force: 480,000 (1999); agriculture 82%, industry and
services 18% (2000 est.). Industries: agricultural products
processing, beer, soft drinks. Natural resources: fish, timber,
phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone, unexploited deposits of
petroleum. Exports: $133 million f.o.b. (2006): cashew nuts,
shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber. Imports: $200
million f.o.b. (2006): foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment,
petroleum products. Major trading partners: Pakistan, Nigeria,
Italy, Senegal, Portugal (2006). Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 10,200 (2005); mobile cellular: 95,000 (2005). Radio broadcast
stations: AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0
(2002). Television broadcast stations: n.a. (2005). Internet
hosts: 0 (2007). Internet users: 37,000 (2006). Transportation: Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: 3,455 km; paved: 965 km; unpaved: 2,490 km
(2002). Waterways: rivers are navigable for some distance; many
inlets and creeks give shallow-water access to much of interior
(2007). Ports and harbors: Bissau, Buba, Cacheu, Farim.
Airports: 27 (2007). International
disputes:attempts to stem refugees and cross-border raids, arms
smuggling, and political instability from a separatist movement in
Senegal's Casamance region.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
A neighbor of Senegal and Guinea in West Africa, on the Atlantic coast,
Guinea-Bissau is about half the size of South Carolina. The country is a
low-lying coastal region of swamps, rain forests, and mangrove-covered
wetlands, with about 25 islands off the coast. The Bijagos archipelago
extends 30 mi (48 km) out to sea.
Government
Republic.
History
The land now known as Guinea-Bissau was once the kingdom of Gabú, which
was part of the larger Mali empire. After 1546 Gabú became more
autonomous, and at least portions of the kingdom existed until 1867. The
first European to encounter Guinea-Bissau was the Portuguese explorer Nuño
Tristão in 1446; colonists in the Cape Verde islands obtained trading
rights in the territory, and it became a center of the Portuguese slave
trade. In 1879, the connection with the islands was broken.
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde
(another Portuguese colony) was founded in 1956, and guerrilla warfare by
nationalists grew increasingly effective. By 1974 the rebels controlled
most of the countryside, where they formed a government that was soon
recognized by scores of countries. The military coup in Portugal in April
1974 brightened the prospects for freedom, and in August the Lisbon
government signed an agreement granting independence to the province. The
new republic took the name Guinea-Bissau.
In Nov. 1980, João Bernardo Vieira headed a military coup that deposed
Luis Cabral, president since 1974. In his 19 years of rule, Vieira was
criticized for crony capitalism and corruption and for failing to
alleviate the poverty of Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest
countries. Vieira also brought in troops from Senegal and the Republic of
Guinea to help fight against an insurgency movement, a highly unpopular
act. In May 1999 rebels deposed Vieira.
Following a period of military rule, Kumba Yalá, a former teacher and
popular leader of Guinea-Bissau's independence movement, was elected
president in 2000. In Sept. 2003 he was deposed in a military coup. Yalá's
increasingly repressive measures and refusal to hold elections were cited
as causes. In 2005, former president Vieira returned from six years of
exile in Portugal and won the presidency in the July 2005 elections.
Prime Minister Aristides Gomes resigned in April 2007, after Parliament
voted to censure his government. Martinho Ndafa Kabi was appointed as his
successor.
See also Encyclopedia: Guinea-Bissau.
U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: Guinea-Bissau
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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