LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Guinea-Bissau: Portuguese Quarter
built 632 days ago
Despite its wild beauty and remote tropical beaches, Guinea-Bissau is a relatively undiscovered tourist destination because of its long-running instability and conflict. The main attractions are the sandy beaches along the coast and the islands of the Bijagós Archipelago, a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve. The wildlife and scenery, including rainforests, reefs and mangroves on the archipelago, are largely unspoiled. The capital, Bissau, is a laid-back town with a few cultural sites, some nightspots and the Mediterranean architecture of the Portuguese Quarter.
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Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the south and east. Guinea-Bissau's post-independence history has been chequered. A civil war in 1998, followed by the imposition of a military junta in 1999 has been replaced with a multi-party democracy. The economy remains fragile... hopes are high.
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Colonized by the Portuguese, Guinea-Bissau fought a protracted war of independence, which it finally won in 1974. After a period of upheaval, a coup in 1980 ushered in authoritarian leader Joao Bernardo ‘Nino’ Vieira. A series of democratic reforms in the 1990s culminated in a multi-party election in 1994, which Vieira won. By 1998... worsening economic conditions led to a coup. The military held civilian elections the following year, but the winner proved unpopular and unable to deal with the economic and political turmoil. There was another coup in 2003 and then elections held in 2005 brought back Vieira.
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The Portuguese arrived in 1446 and the area that was to become Guinea-Bissau became Portuguese Guinea. Guinea played a crucial role in the colonization of the Cape Verde Islands, and slave labour was used to establish cotton plantations and a weaving industry there. Most of the cloth produced by the slaves would be used on the African mainland to purchase even more slaves destined primarily for Brazil. By the 16th century, Portuguese Guinea became a major source of slaves, and wars with the Mande-speaking peoples of the north greatly increased the number of prisoners available for export. While the slave trade was the focus of the region's economy, Guineans had little difficulty in preventing or restricting the territorial claims of foreign powers: two additional Portuguese trading posts established in 1588 and 1687 failed to survive, and the British lost a briefly-held settlement in Bolama in 1792. Eventually, the Portuguese managed to reestablish a base at Bissau and came to regard the region as its sovereign territory during the 19th century.
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Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom of Gabu (Kaabu), part of the Mali Empire; parts of the kingdom persisted until the eighteenth century. Although the rivers and coast of this area were among the first places colonized by the Portuguese, who began slave trade in the seventeenth century, the interior was not explored until the nineteenth century.
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The people of Guinea-Bissau love to drink a sweet green tea known as "warga", the non-muslims ... enjoy drinking cashew wine or palm wine. There are also possibilities to buy Portuguese beer, wine and soft drinks but these are more expensive. It is recommended that foreigners drink bottled, filtered or boiled water, although tap water is normally of good quality.
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Portuguese Quarter