Guinea-bissau

A small West African nation with bountiful resources and an extraordinary diversity of ethnic groups, Guinea Bissau was, until independence in 1974, a Portuguese colony surrounded by Franco-phone neighbours. This profile offers an overview of the country's history and culture - including precolonial peoples, the slave trade, resistance to colonial rule, and the struggle for independence - and then focuses on the political conflict and economic crisis that have characterized the post independence period.