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Portuguese navigators moving south looking for a sea route to the East first reached Guinnea (1446). The rivers of Guinea attracted the interest of Portuguese exploters because they could safely move into the interior. By the same tome the offshore islands of Cape Verde offered greater security than the mainland. Thus they were among the first locations in Sub-Saharan Africa to be explored as navigators moved south along the African coast. Few trading posts were established after the initial discovery. A more extensive commercial exploitation of the area began later (17th century). Portugal established a captaincy-general (1630). Portugal founded the Atlantic slave trde and Bissau was a major slave trading center. Portuguese merchants working with local chiefs and Arab slave traders entered the slave trade. Expanding colonial activity in the Caribbean and Brazil created a demand for slaves. Captives from Guinea were shipped to the Americas from the Cape Verde Islands. Cacheu became a major slave center and a small Portuguese fort still exists there. The Alantic slave trade declined as the British deployed the Royal Navy to stop the commerce (19th century). Bissau was founded as a military outpost and slave-trading center (1765). It developed as the major commercial center of Portuguese Guinea. Boundaries were fixed with the surrounding French colonies. Nationalist actibities appeared (1960s). Many nationalists wanted union with the Cape Verde Islands. The country's already limited infrastructure wa damaged by civil war (late-1990s). Transport and communications are poor by even African standards. The country is moving toward national reconciliation with peaceful elections (2005).
The earliest inhabitants of what is now modern Guinea Bissau,were hunters and fishermen leading a hunter-gather lifestyle. They were displaced by the Baga and other peoples who came from the east.
Several great empires florished in West Africa and the Sahel before the arrival of the Europens. What is now Guinea Bissau was part of the Malian Empire (13th-17th centuries). The area of Guinea-Bissau was part of the Gabu Kingdom of the Mali Empire. Part of the Gabu Kingdom survived the collapse of the Mali kindom and persisted until the 18th century.
Portuguese navigators moving south looking for a sea route to the East first reached Guinnea (1446). The rivers of Guinea attracted the interest of Portuguese exploters because they could safely move into the interior. By the same tome the offshore islands of Cape Verde offered greater security than the mainland. Thus they were among the first locations in Sub-Saharan Africa to be explored as navigators moved south along the African coast. Few trading posts were established after the initial discovery. A more extensive commercial exploitation of the area began later (17th century). Portugal established a captaincy-general (1630). Portugal founded the Atlantic slave trde and Bissau was a major slave trading center. Portuguese merchants working with local chiefs and Arab slave traders entered the slave trade. Expanding colonial activity in the Caribbean and Brazil created a demand for slaves. Captives from Guinea were shipped to the Americas from the Cape Verde Islands. Cacheu became a major slave center and a small Portuguese fort still exists there. The Alantic slave trade declined as the British deployed the Royal Navy to stop the commerce (19th century). Bissau was founded as a military outpost and slave-trading center (1765). It developed as the major commercial center of Portuguese Guinea. Boundaries were fixed with the surrounding French colonies. Nationalist actibities appeared (1960s). Many nationalists wanted union with the Cape Verde Islands. The country's already limited infrastructure was damaged by civil war (late-1990s).
Many nationalists wanted union with the Cape Verde Islands. The country's already limited infrastructure was damaged by civil war (late-1990s). Transport and communications are poor by even African standards. The country is moving toward national reconciliation with peaceful elections (2005).
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