Guinea-Bissau
A maze of mangrove coast and the Bijagós Islands
Guinea-Bissau is a small, low-lying country on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, a watery landscape of tidal rivers, mangrove swamps, and the scattered Bijagós Archipelago, one of the most biodiverse marine environments on the continent. Once a Portuguese colony, it shares deep cultural and historical ties with Cape Verde and is known for hard-won independence, chronic political instability, and a reputation as a transit point for narcotics. Its roughly 2.2 million people, divided among the Balanta, Fula, Mandinka, and other groups, depend heavily on cashew nuts, which dominate the country's exports.
The mainland is flat and deeply penetrated by the sea, with broad estuaries of the Geba, Corubal, and Cacheu rivers creating a labyrinth of channels, islands, and salt marshes. Inland the land rises slightly to wooded savanna near the Guinean border, where the modest highest point reaches only a few hundred meters. Offshore, the Bijagós Islands form a UNESCO biosphere reserve sheltering hippos that swim between islands, sea turtles, and migratory birds. The economy is overwhelmingly agricultural, with cashews providing the bulk of foreign earnings alongside rice farming and artisanal fishing.
The coast was a major source of captives during the Atlantic slave trade, and Portugal held the territory for centuries with only a light grip on the interior. A long liberation war led by Amílcar Cabral's PAIGC movement, fought jointly with Cape Verde, forced Portugal to grant independence in 1974. Since then Guinea-Bissau has suffered repeated coups, assassinations, and the corrosive influence of international drug trafficking that has at times turned it into a so-called narco-state, even as its people maintain a rich tradition of Creole culture, gumbe music, and animist and Islamic belief.