Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Bissau in Guinea-Bissau
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:People_in_Guinea_Bissau_visit_shops_along_a_busy_street.jpg
Author: Vince Crawley


Bissau is the capital, main seaport and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. It covers 77 sq km (30 sq mi) and has a population of 407,000 people (2012 estimate).

Located on the Geba River, Bissau was founded by the Portuguese in 1687. It the medieval period it was developed as a fortified town and trading center. It was part of Portuguese Guinea, which including the Cape Verde Islands. In 1942, Bissau was made the capital of Portuguese Guinea.

From 1956, nationalist sentiments began to develop in Portuguese Guinea with the founding of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, or PAIGC. After its attempt to seek independence through political campaigns brought little progress, the PAIGC began to use guerrila tactics.

In 1973, the PAIGC unilaterally declared independence. They made Madina do Boe the capital, although Bissau continued to serve as capital of regions occupied by the Portuguese administration. A military coup in Lisbon was instrumental in changing the Portuguese position, and a year later, Portugal pulled out of Portuguese Guinea, and recognized the independence of Guinea-Bissau, with Bissau becoming capital of the new independent state.

Bissau Cathedral
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cattedrale_Bissau.JPG
Author: Francofranco56

Visiting Bissau

The Osvaldo Vieira International Airport (OXB) is the only international airport in Guinea-Bissau. It receives flights from Casablanca, Dakar, Freetown, Lisbon, Nouakchott and Praia.

Places of Interest in Bissau

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.