The Bissagos Islands or Bijagós Archipelago are a group of 18 major islands and dozens more smaller ones in the Atlantic Ocean with an area of 2,624 km2 and a population of 30,000 (2006). They are a part of Guinea-Bissau.
The population mostly speaks Bijago and has a considerable degree of autonomy.
The islands include Bolama, Bubaque, Carache, Caravela, Enu, Formosa, Galinhas, João Viera, Maio, Meneque, Orango, Orangozinho, Ponta, Roxa, Rubane, Soga, Unhacomo, Uno, and Uracane.
The archipelago constitutes a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, known for animals including marine turtles and monkeys and are mostly forested.
In pre-European colonial times, the islands were central to the trade along the coast of West Africa and they built up a powerful navy. In 1535, this enabled them to rout the Portuguese when they attempted to conquer the islands, which were not taken by Portugal until 1936.
The Bissagos were visited by Austrian anthropologist and photographer Hugo Bernatzik in 1930–1931, who documented daily life among the Bidyogo people.[1]
Orango is run by a matriarchy, in which the women choose their husbands, making each spouse-to-be a single plate of food (often a traditional fish-eye platter). Agreement is marked by the eating of the fish.
Today, only twenty of the islands are inhabited and the others have only small populations of the Bijagós people. The southern islands are today a nature reserve. The islands of Bubaque, Bolama, and Caravela are the most populated and are visited by tourists. This continued even during the years of unrest in Guinea-Bissau as the islands remained isolated from those events.
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