Guinea Bissau (Continued)

Officially known as Republic of Guinea Bissau, is a country in western Africa, one of the smallest country of the continent. Senegal is in the north and Guinea is on its east and south. Atlantic ocean is situated in the west. The name of its capital is Bissau.
Guinea Bissau was once a part of the kingdom of gabu, a part of the Mali Empire. In the 15th. century Portuguese came to this region and with the help of the local people they established a slave market. They used the market through the river Guinea and the islands of Cape Verde.

Portugal claimed the Portuguese Guinea in 1446, few trading posts were established before 1600. In 1630, a "captaincy-general" of Portguese guinea was established to administer the territory. They exported large number of Africans to the t the western hemisphere via the Cape Verde Islands. Cacheu became one of the major slave centers and a small military and slave trading center in 1765, grew to become the major commercial center.The local African rulers in Guinea , who prosper greatly from the slave trade did not allow the Europeans to enter inland other than the coastal areas. For that reason the Portuguese culd not enter before eighteenth century into the region. Portuguese lost a part of Guinea to the French West Africa including the commercial interest. A dispute with Great Britain over the Bolama island was settled in Portugalwith the involvement of US President Ulysses Grant.