Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, has a swampy coast, with forests changing to grasslands in the east. Guerrilla warfare liberated a mix of ethnic groups from Portuguese rule in 1974. In 1994 the country’s first multiparty elections were held. An army uprising four years later led to a bloody 1998-99 civil war, which caused severe damage to the nation’s infrastructure. Political instability continued with a military coup in 2003. Guinea-Bissau is among the world’s least developed countries, with most people engaged in subsistence agriculture and fishing— cashew nuts are the main export crop.