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Sign up for our monthly email alertsHistorical Dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau
3rd Edition
Series: Historical Dictionaries of Africa #22
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SUBJECTS
Area Studies » African Studies
History » African History
Reference » History
REVIEWS
"...each entry provides not only valuable and intriguing information but paths that, if followed, lead to a wealth of related materials."
— THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORICAL STUDIES
DESCRIPTION
Guinea-bissau, formerly Portuguese Gunea, is one of West Africa's smallest nations, but its history is unusually rich. The three major ethnic groups of West Africa -- Fula, Mande, and Senegambians -- are all represented there. The major regional kingdom of Kaabu was centered on the upper Guinea coast and was the site of the first meeting between Europeans and sub-Saharan Africans in the great age of Portuguese maritime discovery and expansion. In the twentieth century, the protracted war of national liberation, led by the famous Amilcar Cabral and fought on Guinean soil, contributed to the collapse of Portuguese colonial facism in Lisbon.
The first edition of this historical dictionary (1979) covered the two nations, Guinea and Cape Verde, then joined politically after a decade of armed struggle. When a military coup separated these nations after 1980, the second edition (1988) responded with an individual volume for each nation. Richard Lobban has been joined in this third edition by Peter Karibe Mendy, Guinea's leading researcher. The two combine expertise in the fields of history and anthropology and have greatly expanded coverage of precolonial and resistance history, women and health, ethnomusicology, and economic development as well as adding events and individuals from contemporary multi-party campaigns and democratic elections. Superb maps illustrate changes in Guinean curltues and history. This is the primary resource for this important area, and includes a carefully selected bibliography that will provide guidance for further study.
Reviews of the previous edition:
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Richard Lobban is Professor of Anthropology and the Director of the Program of African and Afro-American Studies at Rhode Island College. He is author of the Historical Dictionary of the Sudan (Scarecrow, 1992).
Peter Karibe Mendy is Deputy Director of Guinea-Bissau's Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisa, and Coordinator of its Center for the Study of Contemporary History.
