Recomendations
General Information
Officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a sovereign state in West Africa. Guinea-Bissau is bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west. Guinea-Bissau is warm all year around and there is little temperature fluctuation;
The population of Guinea-Bissau is ethnically diverse and has many distinct languages, customs, and social structures. Bissau-Guineans can be divided into the following ethnic groups: Fula and the Mandinka-speaking people concentrated in the north and northeast;Balanta and Papel people in the southern coastal regions; andManjaco and Mancanha in the central and northern coastal areas.
Although perceived as the national languages of Guinea-Bissau, Standard Portuguese is spoken as a second language, with few native speakers and often confined to the intellectual and political elites. It is the language of government and national communication as a legacy of colonial rule. Portuguese is the only language with official status. The remaining rural population speaks a variety of native African languages unique to each ethnicity:
The music of Guinea-Bissau is usually associated with the polyrhythmic gumbe genre, the country's primary musical export. The calabash is the primary musical instrument of Guinea-Bissau and is used in extremely swift and rhythmically complex dance music. Lyrics are almost always in Guinea-Bissau Creole.