Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau,officially theRepublic of Guinea-Bissau,is a country inWest Africathat covers 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi) with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It bordersSenegaltoits northandGuineatoits southeast.
Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom ofKaabu,as well as part of theMali Empire.Parts of this kingdom persisted until the 18th century, while a few others had been under some rule by thePortuguese Empiresince the 16th century. In the 19th century, it was colonised asPortuguese Guinea.Portuguese control was restricted and weak until the early 20th century, when its pacification campaigns solidified Portuguese sovereignty in the area. The final Portuguese victory over the last remaining bastion of mainland resistance came in 1915, with the conquest of thePapel-ruled Kingdom of Bissau by the Portuguese military officerTeixeira Pintoand theWolofmercenaryAbdul Injai.
TheBissagos, islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, were officially conquered in 1936, ensuring Portuguese control of both the mainland and islands of the region.
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 withGuinea(formerlyFrench Guinea). Guinea-Bissau has had a history of political instability since independence. The current president isUmaro Sissoco Embaló, who was elected on 29 December 2019.
About 2% of the population speaks Portuguese, theofficial language, as a first language, and 33% speak it as a second language.Guinea-Bissau Creole, aPortuguese-based creole, is the national language and also considered the language of unity. According to a 2012 study, 54% of the population speak Creole as a first language and about 40% speak it as a second language.The remainder speak a variety of native African languages.
The nation is home to numerous followers ofIslam,Christianity, and multipletraditional faiths.The country's per capitagross domestic productis one of thelowest in the world.
Guinea-Bissau is a member of theUnited Nations,African Union,Economic Community of West African States,Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,Community of Portuguese Language Countries,Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, and theSouth Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone. It was also a member of the now-defunctLatin Union.
The deep history of what is now Guinea-Bissau is poorly understood by historians. The earliest inhabitants were theJola,Papel,Manjak,Balanta, andBiafadapeoples.Later theMandinkaandFulanimigrated into the region, in the 13th and 15th centuries, respectively. They pushed the earlier inhabitants towards the coast and onto theBijagos 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. The customs, rites, and ceremonies varied, but nobles commanded all the major positions, including the judicial system.Social stratification was seen in the clothing and accessories of the people, in housing materials, and in transportation options.Trade was widespread between ethnic groups. Items traded included pepper and kola nuts from the southern forests; kola nuts, iron, and iron utensils from the savannah-forest zone; salt and dried fish from the coast; and Mandinka cotton cloth.
According to oral tradition, the Kingdom ofBissauwas founded by the son of the king of Quinara (Guinala), who moved to the area with his pregnant sister, six wives, and subjects of his father's kingdom.Relations between the kingdom and the Portuguese colonisers were initially warm, but deteriorated over time.The kingdom strongly defended its sovereignty against the Portuguese 'Pacification Campaigns', defeating them in 1891, 1894, and 1904. However, in 1915 the Portuguese under the command of OfficerTeixeira Pintoand warlordAbdul Injaifully absorbed the kingdom.
TheBiafada peopleinhabited the area around theRio Grande de Bubain three kingdoms:Biguba,Guinala, and Bissege.The former two were important ports with significantlançadocommunities.They were subjects of the Mandinka mansa of Kaabu.
In theBijagos Islands, people of different ethnic origins tended to settle in separate settlements. Great cultural diversity developed in the archipelago.
Bijago society was warlike. Men were dedicated to boatbuilding and raiding the mainland, attacking the coastal peoples as well as other islands. They believed that at sea they had no king. Women cultivated the land, constructed houses, and gathered and prepared foods. They could choose their husbands, and warriors with the best reputations ranked at the top of respected status. Successful warriors could have many wives and boats, and were entitled to one third of the spoils gained by warriors who used their boats in any expedition.
Bijago night raids on coastal settlements had significant effects on the societies attacked. Portuguese traders on the mainland tried to stop the raids, as they hurt the local economy. But the islanders also sold considerable numbers of villagers captured in raids as slaves to the Europeans. With colonisation underway in other parts of Africa and the Americas, demand for workers was high and the Europeans sometimes pushed for more captives to be taken.
The Bijagos were mostly safe from enslavement, as they were out of reach of mainland slave raiders. Europeans avoided having them as slaves. Portuguese sources say the children made good slaves but not the adults, who were likely to commitsuicide, lead rebellions aboard slave ships, or escape once reaching theNew World.
Kaabuwas established first as a province ofMalithrough the conquest in the 13th century of theSenegambiabyTiramakhan Traore, a general underSundiata Keita. By the 14th century much of Guinea Bissau was under the administration of Mali. It was ruled by afarim kaabu(commander of Kaabu).
Mali declined gradually, beginning in the 14th century. By the early 16th century, the expanding power ofKoli Tenguellacut off formerly secure Mali.
Kaabu became an independent federation of kingdoms.The ruling classes were composed of elite warriors known as theNyancho(Ñaanco) who traced their patrilineal lineage to Tiramakhan Traore.The Nyancho were awarrior culture, reputed to be excellent cavalry men and raiders.The Kaabu Mansaba was seated in Kansala, today known asGabu, in the easternGabú region.
The slave trade dominated the economy, and the warrior classes grew rich with imported cloth, beads, metalware, and firearms.Trade networks with Arabs and others to North Africa were dominant up to the 14th century. In the 15th century, coastal trade with the Europeans began to increase.In the 17th and 18th centuries an estimated 700 slaves were exported annually from the region, many of them from Kaabu.
In the late 18th century, the rise of theImamate of Futa Jallonto the east posed a powerful challenge to the animist Kaabu. During the first half of the 19th century, civil war erupted as localFula peoplesought independence.This long-running conflict was marked by the 1867Battle of Kansala; theFuladueffectively defeated the Kaabu and dominated the area thereafter. But some smaller Mandinka kingdoms survived until their absorption into Portuguese colonies.
The first Europeans to reach Guinea-Bissau were the Venetian explorerAlvise Cadamostoin 1455, Portuguese explorerDiogo Gomesin 1456, Portuguese explorerDuarte Pacheco Pareirain the 1480s, and Flemish explorerEustache de la Fossein 1479–1480.
Although the Portuguese authorities initially discouraged European settlement on the mainland, this prohibition was ignored bylançadosandtangomãos, who largely assimilated into indigenous culture and customs.They ignored Portuguese trade regulations that banned entering the region or trading without a royal licence, shipping out of unauthorised ports, or assimilating into the native community.
After 1520 trade and settlements increased on the mainland, populated by Portuguese and native traders, as well as some Spanish,Genoese, English, French, and Dutch.The main ports wereCacheu,Bissau, andGuinala. Each river also had such trading centers asToubaboudougouat their fall lines, the furthest navigable point. These posts traded directly with the peoples of the interior for resources such asgum arabic,ivory, hides,civet, dyes, enslaved Africans, and gold.Local African rulers generally refused to allow Europeans into the interior, to ensure their own control of trade routes and goods.
Disputes became increasingly frequent and serious in the late 1500s as the foreign traders sought to influence the host societies to their benefit.Meanwhile, the Portuguese monopoly, always leaky, was being increasingly challenged. In 1580 theIberian Unionunified the crowns of Portugal andSpain. Spain's enemies launched attacks on Portuguese possessions in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. French, Dutch, and English ships increasingly came to trade with the natives and the independent-mindedlançados.
In the early 17th century the government attempted to force all Guinean trade to go throughSantiago, and to promote trade and settlement on the mainland, while restricting the sale of weapons to the locals. These efforts were largely unsuccessful.
With the end of the Iberian Union in 1640, KingJoão IVattempted to restrict the Spanish trade in Guinea that had flourished for the previous 60 years. Afro-Portuguese traders and colonists, however, were not in a position to deny the free trade that the African kings demanded, as they had come to rely on European products and goods as necessities.
The Portuguese were never able to maintain the monopoly they wanted; the economic interests of the native leaders and Afro-European traders and merchants never aligned with theirs. During this period the power of theMali Empirein the region was dissipating. ThefarimofKaabu, the king ofKassa, and other local rulers began to assert their independence.
In the early 1700s the Portuguese abandonedBissauand retreated to Cacheu after the captain-major was captured and killed by the local king. They did not return until the 1750s. Meanwhile, theCacheu and Cape Verde Companyshut down in 1706.
For a brief period in the 1790s, the British tried to establish a foothold onBolama Island.
Guinea-Bissau was among the first regions whose people engaged in theAtlantic slave trade. For centuries its warriors had sent captives as slaves to North Africa. While it did not produce the same number of enslaved people to export to the Americas as other regions, the effects were still significant.
In Cape Verde, Guinean slaves were instrumental in developing the labor-intensiveplantationeconomy: they cultivated and processed, growingindigoandcotton, and also wove the panos cloth that became a standard currency in West Africa.During the 17th and 18th centuries, thousands of captive Africans were taken from the region every year by Portuguese, French, and British companies. An average of 3000 persons were shipped every year fromGuinalaalone.Many of these captives were taken during theFula jihadsand, specifically, the wars between theImamate of Futa JallonandKaabu.
Wars were increasingly waged for the sole purpose of capturing slaves to sell to the Europeans in exchange for imported goods. They resembled man-hunts more than conflicts over territory or political power.The nobles and kings benefited, while the common people bore the brunt of the raiding and insecurity. If a noble was captured, they were likely to be released, as the captors, whoever they were, would generally accept a ransom in exchange for freeing them.The relationship between kings and European traders was a partnership, with the two regularly making deals on how the trade was to be conducted, defining who could be enslaved and who could not, and the prices of the slaves. Contemporary chroniclers questioned multiple kings on their part in the slave trade, and noted that they recognised the trade as evil but participated because otherwise the Europeans would not buy any other goods from them.
Beginning in the late 18th century, European countries gradually began slowing and/or abolishing the slave trade. Portugal abandoned slavery in 1869 andBrazilin 1888, but a system ofcontract laborreplaced it that was only barely better for the workers.
Up until the late 1800s, Portuguese control of their 'colony' outside of their forts and trading posts was a fiction. Guinea-Bissau became the scene of increased European colonial competition beginning in the 1860s. The dispute over the status ofBolamawas resolved in Portugal's favor through the mediation of U.S. PresidentUlysses S. Grantin 1870, but French encroachment on Portuguese claims continued. In 1886 theCasamanceregion of what is nowSenegalwas ceded to them.
TheAfrican Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde(PAIGC) was founded in 1956 under the leadership ofAmílcar Cabral. Initially committed to peaceful methods, the 1959Pidjiguiti massacrepushed the party towards more militarized tactics, leaning heavily on the political mobilization of the peasantry in the countryside. After years of planning and preparing from their base inConakry, the PAIGC launched theGuinea-Bissau War of Independenceon 23 January 1963.
Unlike guerrilla movements in otherPortuguese colonies, the PAIGC rapidly extended its control over large portions of the territory. Aided by the jungle-like terrain, it had easy access to borders with neighbouring allies and large quantities of arms fromCuba,China, theSoviet Union, and left-leaning African countries. The PAIGC even managed to acquire a significant anti-aircraft capability in order to defend itself against aerial attack.By 1973, the PAIGC was in control of many parts of Guinea, although the movement suffered a setback in January 1973 when its founder and leaderAmilcar Cabralwas assassinated.After Cabral's death, party leadership fell toAristides Pereira, who would later become the first president of theRepublic of Cape Verde.
Independence was unilaterally declared on 24 September 1973, which is now celebrated as the country's Independence Day, apublic holiday.The country was formally recognized as independent on 10 September 1974.Nicolae Ceaușescu'sRomaniawas the first country to formally recognise Guinea-Bissau and the first to sign agreements with theAfrican Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.
Upon the nation's independence, it declaredEsta É a Nossa Pátria Bem Amadaas its national anthem. Until 1996, this was shared withCape Verde, which later adopted its own official national anthemCântico da Liberdade.
Luís Cabral, brother of Amílcar and co-founder of PAIGC, was appointed the firstpresident of Guinea-Bissau.Independence had begun under the best of auspices. The Bissau-Guinean diaspora had returned to the country en masse. A system of access to school for all had been created. Books were free and schools seemed to have a sufficient number of teachers. The education of girls, previously neglected, was encouraged and a new school calendar, more adapted to the rural world, was adopted.
In 1980, economic conditions deteriorated significantly, leading to general discontent with the government in power. On 14 November 1980,João Bernardo Vieira, known as "Nino Vieira", overthrew President Luís Cabral. The constitution was suspended and a nine-member Military Council of the Revolution, chaired by Vieira, was established. Since then, the country has moved toward a liberal economy. Budget cuts have been made at the expense of the social sector and education.
The country was controlled by the military council until 1984. The first multi-partyelectionswere held in 1994. An army uprising in May 1998 led to theGuinea-Bissau Civil Warand the president's ousting in June 1999.Elections were held again in 2000, andKumba Ialáwas elected president.
In September 2003, a military coup was conducted. The military arrested Ialá on the charge of being "unable to solve the problems".After being delayed several times,legislative electionswere held in March 2004. A mutiny in October 2004 over pay arrears resulted in the death of the head of the armed forces.
In June 2005,presidential electionswere held for the first time since the coup that deposed Ialá. Ialá returned as the candidate for the PRS, claiming to be the legitimate president of the country, but the election was won by former presidentJoão Bernardo Vieira, deposed in the 1999 coup. Vieira beatMalam Bacai Sanháin a run-off election. Sanhá initially refused to concede, claiming thattamperingand electoral fraud occurred in twoconstituenciesincluding the capital, Bissau.Foreign monitorsdescribed the elections as "calm and organized", despite some reports of arms entering the country prior to the election and few "disturbances during campaigning", including attacks on government offices by unidentified gunmen.
Three years later, Sanhá's PAIGC won a strong parliamentary majority, with 67 of 100 seats, in the parliamentary election held in November 2008.In November 2008, President Vieira's official residence was attacked by members of the armed forces, killing a guard but leaving the president unharmed.
On 2 March 2009, however, Vieira was assassinated by what preliminary reports indicated to be a group of soldiers avenging the death of the head of joint chiefs of staff, GeneralBatista Tagme Na Wai, who had been killed in an explosion the day before.Vieira's death did not trigger widespread violence, but there were signs of turmoil in the country, according to theadvocacy groupSwisspeace.Military leaders in the country pledged to respect the constitutional order of succession. National Assembly SpeakerRaimundo Pereirawas appointed as an interim president until a nationwideelectionon 28 June 2009.It was won by Malam Bacai Sanhá, againstKumba Ialáas the presidential candidate of the PRS.
On 9 January 2012, President Sanhá died of complications from diabetes, and Pereira was again appointed as an interim president. On the evening of 12 April 2012, members of the country's military stagedacoup d'étatand arrested the interim president and a leading presidential candidate.Former vice chief of staff, GeneralMamadu Ture Kuruma, assumed control of the country in the transitional period and started negotiations with opposition parties.
The2014 general electionsawJosé Mário Vazelected President of Guinea-Bissau. Vaz became the first elected president to complete his five-year mandate. At the same time, he was eliminated in the first round of the2019 presidential elections, ultimately seeingUmaro Sissoco Embalóemerge as the victor. Embaló, the first president to be elected without the backing of the PAIGC, took office in February 2020.
On 1 February 2022, there wasan attempted coup d'étatto overthrow President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.On 2 February 2022, state radio announced that four assailants and two members of the presidential guard had been killed in the incident.TheAfrican UnionandECOWASboth condemned the coup.Six days after the attempted coup d'état, on 7 February 2022, there was an attack on the building of Rádio Capital FM,a radio station critical of the Bissau-Guinean government;this was the second time the radio station suffered an attack of this nature in less than two years.A journalist working for the station recalled, while wishing to stay anonymous, that one of their colleagues had recognized one of the cars carrying the attackers as belonging to the presidency.
In 2022, Embaló became the first African ruler to visit Ukraine since theRussian invasion of the countryin February, meeting with President of UkraineVolodymyr Zelenskyy.
In 2023,an attempted coupreportedly occurred in the capital, Bissau, leading Embaló to order the dissolution of the opposition-controlled parliament.On 11 September 2024, President Umaro Sissoco Embaló announced that he would not seek a second term in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for November 2025.
Guinea-Bissau is arepublic.In the past, the government had been highly centralized. Multi-party governance was not established until mid-1991.Thepresidentis the head of state and theprime ministeris the head of government. From independence in 1974, untilJose Mario Vazended his five-year term as president on 24 June 2019, no president successfully served a full five-year term.
At the legislative level, a unicameralAssembleia Nacional Popular(National People's Assembly) is made up of 100 members. They are popularly elected from multi-member constituencies to serve a four-year term. The judicial system is headed by aTribunal Supremo da Justiça(Supreme Court), made up of nine justices appointed by the president; they serve at the pleasure of the president.
The two main political parties are the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) and the PRS (Party for Social Renewal). There are more than 20 minor parties.
Guinea-Bissau is a founding member state of theCommunity of Portuguese Language Countries(CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, an international organisation and political association ofLusophonenations wherePortugueseis an official language.
A 2019 estimate put the size of the Guinea-Bissau Armed Forces at around 4,400 personnel and military spending is less than 2% of GDP.In 2018, Guinea-Bissau signed the UNtreaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Guinea-Bissau is divided into eightregions(regiões) and oneautonomoussector(sector autónomo).These, in turn, are subdivided into 37Sectors.The regions are:
Guinea-Bissau is bordered bySenegalto the north andGuineato the south and east,with theAtlantic Oceanto its west.It lies mostly between latitudes11°and13°N(a small area is south of 11°), and longitudes11°and15°W.
At 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi),the country is larger in size thanTaiwanorBelgium.
The highest point isMonte Torinwith an elevation of 262 metres (860 ft). Its terrain is mostly low coastal plains with swamps of theGuinean mangrovesrising to theGuinean forest–savanna mosaicin the east.Itsmonsoon-like rainy season alternates with periods of hot, dryharmattanwinds blowing from theSahara. TheBijagos Archipelagolies off of the mainland.The country is home to two ecoregions:Guinean forest–savanna mosaicandGuinean mangroves.
Guinea-Bissau is warm all year round with mild temperature fluctuations; it averages 26.3 °C (79.3 °F). The average rainfall for Bissau is 2,024 millimetres (79.7 in), although this is almost entirely accounted for during the rainy season which falls between June and September/October. From December through April, the country experiences drought.
Guinea-Bissau'sGDP per capitaandHuman Development Indexare 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, andground nutsare 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 exceptSuriname.
Guinea-Bissau has started to show some economic advances after a pact of stability was signed by the main political parties of the country, leading to anIMF-backed structural reform program.
After several years of economic downturn and political instability, in 1997, Guinea-Bissau entered theCFA francmonetary system, bringing about some internal monetary stability.Thecivil warfrom 1998 to 1999, anda military coupin September 2003, again disrupted economic activity, leaving a substantial part of the economic and social infrastructure in ruins and intensifying the already widespread poverty. Following the parliamentary elections in March 2004 and presidential elections in July 2005, the country is trying to recover from the long period of instability, despite a still-fragile political situation.
Beginning around 2005, drug traffickers based in Latin America began to use Guinea-Bissau, along with several neighbouring West African nations, as a transshipment point to Europe forcocaine.The nation was described by a United Nations official as being at risk for becoming a "narco-state".The government and the military have done little to stop drug trafficking, which increased after the2012 coup d'état.The government of Guinea-Bissau continues to be ravaged by illegal drug distribution, according toThe Economist.Guinea-Bissau is a member of the Organization for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).
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:
Most of the remainder aremestiçosof mixedPortugueseand African descent.
Portuguese natives are a very small percentage of Bissau-Guineans.After Guinea-Bissau gained independence, most of the Portuguese nationals left the country. The country has a tinyChinesepopulation.These include traders and merchants of mixed Portuguese and Cantonese ancestry from the former AsianPortuguesecolony ofMacau.
Maincities in Guinea-Bissauinclude:
Though a small country, Guinea-Bissau has several ethnic groups which are very distinct from each other, with their own cultures and languages. This is due to Guinea-Bissau being a refugee and migration territory within Africa. Colonisation and racial intermixing brought Portuguese and the Portuguese creole known asKriolorcrioulo.
The sole official language of Guinea-Bissau since independence, StandardPortugueseis spoken mostly as a second language, with few native speakers and its use is often confined to the intellectual and political elites. It is the language of government and national communication as a legacy of colonial rule. Schooling from the primary to tertiary levels is conducted in Portuguese, although only 67% of children have access to any formal education. Data suggests that the number of Portuguese speakers ranges from 11 to 15%.In the latest census (2009) 27.1% of the population claimed to speak non-creole Portuguese (46.3% of city dwellers and 14.7% of the rural population, respectively).Portuguese creole is spoken by 44% of the population and is effectively the lingua franca among distinct groups for most of the population.Creole's usage is still expanding, and it is understood by the vast majority of the population. However,decreolisationprocesses are occurring, due to undergoing interference from Standard Portuguese and the creole forms a continuum of varieties with the standard language, the most distant arebasilectsand the closer ones,acrolects. Apost-creole continuumexists in Guinea-Bissau and crioulo 'leve' ('soft' creole) variety being closer to the Portuguese-language norm.
The remaining rural population speaks a variety of native African languages unique to each ethnicity:Fula(16%),Balanta(14%),Mandinka(7%),Manjak(5%), Papel (3%), Felupe (1%), Beafada (0.7%), Bijagó (0.3%), and Nalu (0.1%), which form the ethnic African languages spoken by the population.Most Portuguese and Mestiços speakers also have one of the African languages and Kriol as additional languages. Ethnic African languages are not discouraged, in any situation, despite their lower prestige. These languages are the link between individuals of the same ethnic background and daily used in villages, between neighbours or friends, traditional and religious ceremonies, and also used in contact between the urban and rural populations. However, none of these languages are dominant in Guinea-Bissau.
French is taught as a foreign language in schools, because Guinea-Bissau is surrounded by French-speaking nations.Guinea-Bissau is a full member of theFrancophonie.
Various studies suggest that slightly less than half of the population of Guinea-Bissau is Muslim, while substantial minorities followfolk religionsor Christianity. The CIA World Factbook's 2020 estimate stated that the population was 46.1% Muslim, 30.6% following folk religions, 18.9% Christian, 4.4% other or unaffiliated.In 2010, a Pew Research survey determined that the population was 45.1% Muslim and 19.7% Christian, with 30.9% practicing folk religion and 4.3 other faiths.A 2015 Pew-Templeton study found that the population was 45.1% Muslim, 30.9% practicing folk religions, 19.7% Christian, and 4.3% unaffiliated.The ARDA projected in 2020 the share of the Muslim population to be 44.7%. It also estimated 41.2% of the population to be practitioners ofethnic religionsand 13% to be Christians.
Concerning religious identity among Muslims, a Pew report determined that in Guinea-Bissau there is no prevailing sectarian identity. Guinea-Bissau shared this distinction with other Sub-Saharan countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, Nigeria and Cameroon.This Pew research also stated that countries in this specific study that declared to not have any clear dominant sectarian identity were mostly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.Another Pew report,The Future of World Religions, predicts that from 2010 to 2050, practitioners of Islam will increase their share of the population in Guinea-Bissau.
Many residents practicesyncreticforms of Islamic and Christian faiths, combining their practices with traditional African beliefs.Muslims dominate the north and east, while Christians dominate the south and coastal regions. TheRoman Catholic Churchclaims most of the Christian community.
The 2021 US Department of State Report on International Religious Freedommentions the fact that leaders of different religious communities believe that the existing communities are essentially tolerant, but express some concerns about rising religious fundamentalism in the country. An incident in July 2022, when a Catholic church in the overwhelmingly Muslim region of Gabú was vandalised, raised concern amongst the Christian community that Islamic extremism might be infiltrating the country. However, there have been no further similar incidents, and no direct links to Islamic extremists have surfaced.
Education is compulsory from the age of 7 to 13.Pre-school education for children between three and six years of age is optional and in its early stages. There are five levels of education: pre-school, elemental and complementary basic education, general and complementary secondary education, general secondary education, technical and professional teaching, and higher education (university and non-universities). Basic education is under reform, and now forms a single cycle, comprising six years of education. Secondary education is widely available and there are two cycles (7th to 9thclasseand 10th to 11thclasse). Professional education in public institutions is nonoperational, however private school offerings opened, including theCentro de Formação São João Bosco(since 2004) and theCentro de Formação Luís Inácio Lula da Silva(since 2011).
Higher education is limited and most prefer to be educated abroad, with students preferring to enroll in Portugal.Anumber of universities, to which an institutionally autonomous Faculty of Law as well as a Faculty of Medicine that is maintained by Cuba and functions in different cities.
Child laboris very common.The enrollment of boys is higher than that of girls. In 1998, the gross primary enrollment rate was 53.5%, with higher enrollment ratio for males (67.7%) compared to females (40%).
Non-formal education is centered on community schools and the teaching of adults.In 2011, theliteracy ratewas estimated at 55.3% (68.9% male, and 42.1% female).
Usually, the many different ethnic groups in Guinea-Bissau coexist peacefully, but when conflicts do erupt, they tend to revolve around access to land.
The music of Guinea-Bissau is usually associated with thepolyrhythmicgumbegenre, 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.
Thecabasais the primarymusical instrumentof Guinea-Bissau,and is used in extremely swift and rhythmically complexdance music. Lyrics are almost always inGuinea-Bissau Creole, aPortuguese-basedcreole language, and are often humorous and topical, revolving around current events and controversies.
The wordgumbeis sometimes used generically, to refer to any music of the country, although it most specifically refers to a unique style that fuses about ten of the country'sfolk musictraditions.Tina and tingaare other popular genres, while extent folk traditions include ceremonial music used in funerals,initiations, and other rituals, as well asBalantabrosca and kussundé,Mandingadjambadon, and the kundere sound of theBissagos Islands.
Common dishes includesoupsandstews. Common ingredients includeyams,sweet potato,cassava, onion, tomato, andplantain. Spices, peppers, and chilis are used in cooking, includingAframomum meleguetaseeds (Guinea pepper).
Flora Gomesis an internationally renowned film director; his most famous film isNha Fala(English:My Voice).Gomes'sMortu Nega(Death Denied) (1988)was the first fiction film and the second feature film ever made in Guinea-Bissau. (The first feature film wasN'tturudu, by directorUmban u'Kest[fr]in 1987.) AtFESPACO1989,Mortu Negawon the prestigious Oumarou Ganda Prize. In 1992, Gomes directedUdju Azul di Yonta,which was screened in theUn Certain Regardsection at the1992 Cannes Film Festival.Gomes has also served on the boards of many Africa-centric film festivals.The actressBabetida Sadjowas born inBafatá, Guinea-Bissau.
Footballis the most popular sport in Guinea-Bissau. TheGuinea-Bissau national football teamis under the authority of theFederação de Futebol da Guiné-Bissau. They are a member of theConfederation of African Football(CAF) and FIFA.
This article incorporatespublic domain materialfromThe World Factbook.CIA.
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