Western Africa · GNB
Guinea-Bissau
The story · 9 chapters
How it was drawn
A coast of rice farmers on the edge of Mali and Kaabu, held by Portugal through a few trading posts, conquered only in the twentieth century, and freed by a guerrilla war in 1973.
Play the story Take the first lessonThrough the ages
Rivals in history
The kingdoms, empires and states Guinea-Bissau fought or stood against, from the first to today.
- Portuguese Empire1588 to 1936
From Cacheu and Bissau, Portugal traded in slaves while paying tolls to local rulers, who often fought its garrisons. Real conquest came only with the campaigns of 1913 to 1915, and the Bijagós held out until 1936.
- France1836 to 1886
France pushed into the Casamance region from posts at Carabane and Sédhiou in the 1830s, squeezing Portuguese Ziguinchor. In 1886 Portugal gave up Casamance, including Ziguinchor, in exchange for French recognition of its colony's borders.
- Imamate of Fouta Djallon1850 to 1867
The Fula imamate in the highlands to the south east waged holy war on the Mandinka kingdom of Kaabu. Its siege of Kansala in 1867 ended Kaabu and handed the east of the country to Fula chiefs.
- Portuguese Estado Novo1963 to 1974
The PAIGC fought Salazar's and then Caetano's dictatorship for eleven years, one of the most successful guerrilla wars in Africa. It declared independence in 1973, and the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon in April 1974 brought Portuguese recognition.
- Republic of Senegal1989 to 1999
Guinea-Bissau contested the 1989 arbitration of its sea border with Senegal, but the International Court of Justice upheld it in 1991. In 1998 and 1999 Senegalese troops fought in Bissau on Vieira's side against the army rebels.
Today
Guinea-Bissau now
For much of its history, Guinea-Bissau was under the control of the Mali Empire and the Kaabu Kingdom. In the 16th century, Portugal began establishing trading posts along Guinea-Bissau’s shoreline. Initially, the Portuguese were restricted to the coastline and islands. However, the slave and gold trades were lucrative to local African leaders, and the Portuguese were slowly able to expand their power and influence inland.
- Capital
- Bissau
- Government
- semi-presidential republic
- Head of government
- Rui Duarte de Barros
- Head of state
- Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo
- Languages
- Portuguese
- Area
- 36,125 km²
Through time
Then and now
- Population2.2 million2023 · 543,600 in 1950
- Life expectancy64.1 years2023 · 35.7 years in 1950
- GDP per person$1,6252022 · $462 in 1950
- Living in cities47%2025 · 10% in 1950
- Literacy64%2022 · 3% in 1950
- Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
- Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
- Military spending0.9% of GDP2025
- War deathsNone2025
Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.
Relations
Close partners and tensions
Close partners
- Portugal
Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.