GDP/PPP (2003 est.): $1.164 billion; per capita $900. Real growth rate: 1.8%. Inflation: 4% (2002 est.). Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 11%. Agriculture: rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish. Labor force: 480,000 (!999); agriculture 82% (2000 est.). Industries: agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks. Natural resources: fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, unexploited deposits of petroleum. Exports: $54 million (f.o.b., 2002 est.): cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber. Imports: $104 million (f.o.b., 2002 est.): foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products. Major trading partners: India, Uruguay, Thailand, Senegal, Portugal, Taiwan.
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 10,000 (2001); mobile cellular: 0 (2001). Radio broadcast stations: AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0 (2002). Radios: 49,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 2 (1997). Televisions: n.a. Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (2002). Internet users: 4,000 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 4,400 km; paved: 453 km; unpaved: 3,947 km (1999 est.). Waterways: several rivers are accessible to coastal shipping. Ports and harbors: Bissau, Buba, Cacheu, Farim. Airports: 28 (2002).
International disputes:separatist war in Senegal's Casamance region results in refugees and cross-border raids, arms smuggling and other illegal activities, and political instability in Guinea-Bissau.
History
The land now known as Guinea-Bissau was once the kingdom of Gabú, which was part of the larger Mali empire. After 1546 Gabú became more autonomous, and at least portions of the kingdom existed until 1867. The first European to encounter Guinea-Bissau was the Portuguese explorer Nuño Tristão in 1446; colonists in the Cape Verde Islands obtained trading rights in the territory, and it became a center of the Portuguese slave trade. In 1879, the connection with the islands was broken.
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (another Portuguese colony) was founded in 1956, and guerrilla warfare by nationalists grew increasingly effective. By 1974 the rebels controlled most of the countryside, where they formed a government that was soon recognized by scores of countries. The military coup in Portugal in April 1974 brightened the prospects for freedom, and in August the Lisbon government signed an agreement granting independence to the province. The new republic took the name Guinea-Bissau.
In Nov. 1980, Premier João Bernardo Vieira headed a military coup that deposed Luis Cabral, president since 1974. In his 19 years of rule, Vieira was criticized for crony capitalism and corruption and for failing to alleviate the poverty of Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest countries. Vieira also brought in troops from Senegal and the Republic of Guinea to help fight against an insurgency movement, a highly unpopular move. In May 1999 rebels deposed Vieira.
Following a period of military rule, Kumba Yalá, a former teacher and popular leader of Guinea-Bissau's independence movement, was elected president in 2000. In Sept. 2003 he was deposed in a military coup by Gen. Verissimo Correia Seabra, who then appointed an interim president and a prime minister. Yalá's increasingly repressive measures and refusal to hold elections were cited as the cause. In March 2004 general elections, Carlos Gomes Júnior became prime minister.
Postal History
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