Ebook: Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau achieved independence in 1974 after more than ten years of warfare against Portugal. Its guerrilla struggle, fought mainly by peasant youths and led by Amilcar Cabral and the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC), won it international attention in the 1960s and 1970s. Sandwiched between Senegal and the Republic of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau’s coastal and savannah peoples have long participated in the political economy of the Senegambia. The savannah formed part of the empire of Mali and later included the site of the capital of Kaabu which flourished between the 16th and the 19th centuries. Although the coastal areas engaged with Portuguese and other Europeans in the Atlantic slave trade from the sixteenth century, the country was only fully colonized by Portugal in the 1920s and even then its borders remained porous. A mainly agricultural country, Guinea-Bissau has experimented with both socialist and market economy policies and is currently undertaking political reform.

This bibliography is designed to introduce the general reader and researcher to this little known country. The 584 items include the most important literature in English and many of the standard works in Portuguese covering a wide variety of topics.