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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: Carlos Gomes Júnior (2008)
Current government officials
Land area: 10,811 sq mi (28,000 sq km);
total area: 13,946 sq mi (36,120 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 1,503,182 (growth
rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 36.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 101.6/1000;
life expectancy: 47.5; density per sq km: 53
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%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, September 24 Literacy rate: 42.4% (2003 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.):
$808 million; per capita $500. Real growth rate: 2.5%.
Inflation: 3.8%. 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. President Vieira dissolved Parliament
in August 2008, precipitating the fall of the government of Prime Minister
Kabi. Former prime minister Carlos Gomes Júnior succeeded Kabi.
See also Encyclopedia: Guinea-Bissau.
U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: Guinea-Bissau
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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