Posted on September 10, 2020
There are so many dates a nation can use as its "Independence Day." Is it the day a formal declaration of independence was made? The day the flag of the independent nation was hoisted above a public building? The day that the war of independence was over?
The small African nation of Guinea-Bissau celebrates its independence and national day on September 24, to commemorate the September 24, 1973, declaration of independence by what was then "Portuguese Guinea." But the war of independence that actually achieved formal recognition from Portugal and the world was not over until September 10, 1974, almost a year later.
And, tragically, the actual war of independence - the armed conflict between colonial ruler and people - lasted more than 11 years!!
I have written before about the word Guinea and the three different African nations with the word Guinea in their names! The "Bissau" part of the name Guinea-Bissau is the name of the capital, and it was added to the name so that the nation wouldn't be confused with its southern neighbor, Guinea (which was once a colony of France).
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| The western bulge of Africa includes three nations that include the word "Guinea" in their name: Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Equatorial Guinea (which is teeny-tiny and at the very bottom of the map below). |
What I didn't know until just now is that the denonym - that is, the name for the people of Guinea-Bissau - is Bissau-Guineans! That's a bit confusing for outsiders (as well as a mouthful!).
Another thing I didn't know until today is that Guinea-Bissau includes islands - 88 of them!
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| You can probably tell from this map that the islands are actually the bits of land in a river delta that are still poking up above water level... That means that some of the waters surrounding the islands are quite shallow, and there are sand bars aplenty! |
These islands have been deemed a UNESCO biosphere reserve - there are ruins from Portuguese colonization that serve as homes to thousands of bats, mangrove forests that like to have roots in the water as well forests that require drier soil, monkeys and hippopotamuses, and of course an amazing array of aquatic creatures, from the manatees to dolphins, from crocodiles to green turtles, and loads and loads of fish!
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