Bolama (Guinea-Bissau)

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Bolama
Bolama (Guinea-Bissau)
Bolama
Bolama
Coordinates 11 ° 34 ′  N , 15 ° 31 ′  W Coordinates: 11 ° 34 ′  N , 15 ° 31 ′  W
Basic data
Country Guinea-Bissau

province

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
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

Map of Bolama, ca.1920

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

Performance of the Grupo Cultural Bolama Nobo at the port of Bolama, November 2017

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 passenger ferry from Bolama to Bissau

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

Carlos Gomes Júnior

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Commons : Bolama  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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
  2. ↑ Annual Statistical Report Guinea-Bissau 2015 (p. 10), PDF available from the National Statistics Office INE on December 15, 2017
  3. ↑ Joana Petrolho, Marta Rosa: À Descoberta da Guiné-Bissau . , Afectos com Letras / EU, Pombal 2015, ISBN 978-989-20-6252-5 , pp. 105ff
  4. ↑ 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
  5. ↑ Joana Petrolho, Marta Rosa: À Descoberta da Guiné-Bissau. , Afectos com Letras / EU, Pombal 2015, ISBN 978-989-20-6252-5 , p. 105
  6. ↑ Rádio Comunitária de Bolama , website of the AMI (port.), Accessed on December 17, 2017
  7. ↑ Overview of Faro's city ​​friendships at the Association of Portuguese District Administrations (ANMP), accessed on December 16, 2017