Bolama (Guinea-Bissau)
Bolama | ||
---|---|---|
|
||
Coordinates | 11 ° 34 ′ N , 15 ° 31 ′ W | |
Basic data | ||
Country | Guinea-Bissau | |
Sul | ||
region | Bolama | |
ISO 3166-2 | GW-BL | |
surface | 450.8 km² | |
Residents | 10,206 (2009) | |
density | 22.6 Ew. / km² | |
Ruins of the colonial town hall in Bolama
|
Bolama is a city in Guinea-Bissau with 4819 inhabitants (as of 2009). It is located on the island of the same name in the Bissagos Archipelago and is the capital of the Bolama region .
The city is also the seat of a sector of the same name with an area of 451 km² and 10,206 inhabitants (as of 2009).
Partly decaying, partly restored colonial-style buildings characterize the center of the former capital of Guinea-Bissau. The former governor's palace is located near the port.
history
At the end of the 18th century, the British set foot on the uninhabited island off the coast of what is now Guinea-Bissau, which had been a permanent Portuguese colony administered from Cape Verde since 1614 . However, they did not succeed in taking possession of the island, as did the Portuguese, who from around 1830 raised claims to the island themselves. After the arbitration award in 1870 by Ulysses S. Grant in favor of Portugal, today's place Bolama was appointed the seat of a district ( concelho ). In 1871, the Igreja de São José was the first church to be built and the city was greatly expanded.
In 1879 Bolama became the capital of Portuguese Guinea . In 1902 a branch of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino was established, which from then on acted as the colony's central bank .
Bolama was promoted to city ( cidade ) in 1913. The monumental town hall was built in 1919, and the new governor's palace in 1945.
In 1931, Italian pilots died here in an accident when a group of Italian planes were crossing the Atlantic. Italy's dictator Mussolini had a monument erected for them at the port.
The city remained the capital until 1941, when Bissau was named the new capital in 1942. After that, the city began to slowly decline, when more and more administrative and commercial facilities moved to Bissau by 1949.
Culture and sights
The cityscape is characterized by - often decaying - colonial buildings and the wide, less busy paths from the time as the capital. The comparatively little inhabited historic city center is followed by more densely populated quarters higher up.
The Portuguese cultural institute Instituto Camões (IC) is represented here with a small base.
Bolama is known nationwide for its carnival. The most important actor is the cultural association Grupo Cultural Bolama Nobo , which maintains traditional dances and music and regularly rehearses in the former cinema from colonial times. Other groups are Grupo Deus Tem , Tira bu boca lá , Irmãos Unidos de Bolama and Nó Pensa Bolama .
In 2013, Bolama's Portuguese twin city Cascais donated 50,000 books and took care of the restoration and furnishing of the library building, including a solar power system. Since then, the city of Bolama has owned the largest library in the country.
At the harbor there is a monument that Italy's dictator Mussolini had erected here in the early 1930s. It commemorates the Italian pilots who died here in an air accident while attempting to cross the Atlantic.
traffic
The island of Bolama is connected to the nearby mainland by a regular ferry service between the small dock in the city of Bolama and the capital Bissau. Other Bissagos Islands are also served from the port of Bolama.
The city has an airfield with the ICAO code GGBO.
economy
The cornerstone of the local economy is fishing and agriculture, especially peanuts, potatoes, corn, cassava and cashews . In addition, public administrative and educational institutions and trade play a role in the regional capital.
Non-governmental organizations such as the Portuguese Assistência Médica Internacional (AMI) maintain a number of projects here, such as water wells, building restoration and, above all, health projects. Another particularly successful AMI project in Bolama is the local radio project, the Rádio Comunitária de Bolama, carried out in cooperation with a local citizens' association .
The tourism expected in the Bissagos archipelago in the future should also provide impetus for the historic Bissagos capital Bolama.
Town twinning
sons and daughters of the town
- James Pinto Bull (1913-1970), Portuguese politician
- Francisca Pereira (* 1942), nurse, resistance fighter and politician
- Carlos Gomes Júnior (* 1949), two-time Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau
- Maria Manuela Jardim Gouveia (* 1949), Portuguese sculptor and painter
- Hélder Proença (1956–2009), poet and politician, 2006/07 Minister of Defense
Web links
- Website on the city, island and region of Bolama (pt., Dt.)
- Photos from Bolama on Flickr
- Impressions from today's partially restored Bolama with music , video clip on YouTube
- Historical and new recordings from Bolama , with a music clip on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Inhabitants by region, sector and town by gender, 2009 census (p. 56), PDF access from the National Statistics Office INE of December 15, 2017
- ↑ Annual Statistical Report Guinea-Bissau 2015 (p. 10), PDF available from the National Statistics Office INE on December 15, 2017
- ↑ Joana Petrolho, Marta Rosa: À Descoberta da Guiné-Bissau . , Afectos com Letras / EU, Pombal 2015, ISBN 978-989-20-6252-5 , pp. 105ff
- ↑ a b Article on the donation of a library to Bolama by the city of Cascais (port.), Which was sibling in 2010 , article from March 14, 2013 on www.bolama.net, accessed on December 17, 2017
- ↑ Joana Petrolho, Marta Rosa: À Descoberta da Guiné-Bissau. , Afectos com Letras / EU, Pombal 2015, ISBN 978-989-20-6252-5 , p. 105
- ↑ Rádio Comunitária de Bolama , website of the AMI (port.), Accessed on December 17, 2017
- ↑ Overview of Faro's city friendships at the Association of Portuguese District Administrations (ANMP), accessed on December 16, 2017