Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau is a country in Africa. It borders Senegal to the north, Guinea to the south. The official language is Portuguese, and the capital is Bissau. About 1,442,000 people live in Guinea-Bissau as of 2006.Retrieved on 8 October 2007. The country was a Portuguese colony in the 19th century. At that time is was called Portuguese Guinea. It became independent in 1973. In 1974, the name of the country's capital was added so that it would not be confused with the neighboring country Guinea (which was called French Guinea, and became independent in 1958). Equatorial Guinea is another country in Africa with Guinea in its name. It lies further east, between Cameroon and Gabon.

Even though the official language of Guinea-Bissau is Portuguese, only about 35 percent of the people speak it. Most of the people speak a creole language, based on Portuguese, called Guinea-Bissau Creole. More than a quarter of the population of the country live in its capital. 

Since its independence, Guinea-Bissau has seen many military-led governments. Its last war was the Guinea-Bissau Civil War, fough in 1998/1999. Since its indpendence, there were some democratic elections. These never led to a lasting democracy, though. Guinea-Bissau has had seversl authoritarian governments. 

Corruption is common. Civil rights abuses are widespread. Guinea-Bissau is among the poorest countries in the world. There is almost no industry, most people live from farming. There are almost no exports, the only goods widely expoered are cashew nuts.

History: The leader of the country, fell from power because of the 2025 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état.

Regions and sectors
Guinea-Bissau is divided into 8 regions and one autonomous sector. These are divided into thirty-seven sectors. The regions are:
Bafatá
Biombo
Bissau*
Bolama
Cacheu
Gabu
Oio
Quinara
Tombali
* autonomous sector

 References 


Category:Portuguese-speaking countries
Category:Least developed countries
Category:Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Category:1973 establishments in Africa