Showing posts with label Guinea-Bissau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guinea-Bissau. Show all posts

September 10 - Guinea-Bissau Won!

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). 

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! 

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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August 3 – Martyrs' Day in Guinea-Bissau

Posted on August 3, 2018

I always tremble to read about a Martyr's Day, knowing that I will be reading a super sad story. This one is no different - striking workers in the African nation of Guinea-Bissau, folks just trying to get decent pay for themselves so that they could better support their families, were gunned down by Portuguese political police (at the time Guinea-Bissau was a Portuguese colony).

This fist monument
commemorates the
massacre.
The horrific action by the Portuguese led the group working for independence in a peaceful way to change tactics - and so began a 13-year armed struggle. That's super duper sad.




Let's cheer ourselves up with a peek at some of the natural beauties of this nation:








And here is a tourism video.

Kids are beautiful, everywhere you go!









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January 20 – National Heroes' Day in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau

Posted on January 20, 2016

On this date in 1973, a hero to two nations was assassinated.

Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born in Guinea-Bissau, but his parents were from Cape Verde. 

Both of these places were African colonies ruled by Portugal.

While Cabral was going to college in Lisbon, Portugal, he started student movements dedicated to opposing Portugal's colonial rule in Africa. He believed fervently that the colonies should be liberated, independent.

Cabral returned to Africa in the 1950s, when he was in his early 30s, and he became an important figure in the struggle for independence in both Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. He led a guerrilla movement against the Portuguese. Guerrilla warfare is an “irregular” sort of warfare with small bands of armed civilians or other not-quite-military personnel doing ambushes, sabotage, raids, hit-and-run attacks in order to fight a large, powerful enemy. Guerrilla tactics are common in order to attack a colonizing or occupying force.

Cabral's movement is considered one of the most successful wars of independence in modern African history. This is because:
  • Cabral set up training that included effective communication skills, and he emphasized getting Guinean tribal chiefs to support the independence movement.
  • Cabral had studied agriculture (to be specific, agronomy), and he was able to teach his troops better farming techniques that they in turn could teach to people. That way, the soldiers could not only grow their own food and live off the land, allowing them to last a long time, they could help the non-soldiers and win their support for the movement.
  • Cabral set up a trade-and-barter system that made staple goods (the most important things that people need, such as flour, yams, and eggs) available to people at lower cost than those goods were sold in Portuguese-owned stores.
  • Cabral also set up roaming hospitals and triage stations to give medical care to his troops, but ALSO to the people whose support he wanted and needed.
The flag of Guinea-Bissau (above)
and Cape Verde (below).

Cabral has been influential among other freedom fighters, particularly Africans. Unfortunately, he was killed in 1973, eight months before Guinea Bissau declared independence, and before Cape Verde's 1975 independence. Some people think that Cabral was assassinated by feuding ethnic groups but possibly with “Lisbon's complicity.” That means that Portuguese rulers may have known about a plot against Cabral but didn't do anything to stop it.


What do you know about these nations?

Decide if each item below tells about Cape Verde or Guinea-Bissau.

  1. Made up of 10 volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean.
  2. Located in West Africa, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
  3. A very poor nation, depending mostly on agriculture.
  4. One of the most developed countries in Africa, with an economy based on services and tourism.
  5. Noted for being politically unstable, with no elected president yet serving a full five-year term!
  6. A stable representative democracy, one of the most democratic nations in Africa.
  7. Features an active volcano, extensive salt flats, and ocean cliffs formed by “catastrophic debris landslides.”
  8. Covered by mangrove swamps.
  9. Capital is Bissau.
  10. Capital is Praia.

Here are some pictures of the two nations:

11.
12.
13.
14.


ANSWERS: 1- Cape Verde; 2 - Guinea-Bissau; 3 - Guinea-Bissau; 4 - Cape Verde; 5 - Guinea-Bissau; 6 - Cape Verde; 7- Cape Verde; 8 - Guinea-Bissau; 9 - Guinea-Bissau; 10 - Cape Verde; 11 - Guinea-Bissau; 12 - Cape Verde; 13 - Cape Verde; 14 - Guinea-Bissau.



Also on this date:





























Anniversary of the U.S. patent for the first successful roller coaster





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