Editing Economy of Guinea-Bissau (section)

===Early colonialism===
{{main|Portuguese Guinea}}
[[Image:Flag of the Casa da Guiné.svg|thumb|140px|left|The flag of the [[Company of Guinea|Guinea Company]], a Portuguese company that traded in several commodities and slaves around the Guinea coast from the 15th century.]]
From a European viewpoint, the economic history of the Guinea Coast is largely associated with slavery. Indeed, one of the alternative names for the region was the [[Slave Coast of West Africa|Slave Coast]]. When the Portuguese first sailed down the Atlantic coast of Africa in the 1430s, they were interested in [[gold]]. Ever since [[Musa I of Mali|Mansa Musa]], king of the [[Mali Empire]], made his pilgrimage to [[Mecca]] in 1325, with 500 slaves and 100 camels (each carrying gold) the region had become synonymous with such wealth. The trade from [[sub-Saharan Africa]] was controlled by the [[Caliphate|Islamic Empire]] which stretched along Africa's northern coast. Muslim trade routes across the [[Sahara]], which had existed for centuries, involved salt, [[kola nut|kola]], textiles, fish, grain and slaves.<ref>[[Bill Epstein|A.L. Epstein]], Urban Communities in Africa - Closed Systems and Open Minds, 1964</ref>

As the Portuguese extended their influence around the coast, [[Mauritania]], [[Senegambia]] (by 1445) and [[Guinea]], they created [[trading post]]s. Rather than becoming direct competitors to the Muslim merchants, the expanding market opportunities in Europe and the Mediterranean resulted in increased trade across the Sahara.<ref>B.W. Hodder, Some Comments on the Origins of Traditional Markets in Africa South of the Sahara - Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 1965 - JSTOR</ref> In addition, the Portuguese merchants gained access to the interior via the [[Sénégal River|Sénégal]] and [[Gambia River|Gambia]] rivers which bisected long-standing trans-Saharan routes.<ref name="ReferenceA">H. Miner, The City in Modern Africa - 1967</ref>

The Portuguese brought in [[copper]] ware, cloth, tools, wine and horses. Trade goods soon also included arms and ammunition. In exchange, the Portuguese received gold (transported from mines of the [[Akan people|Akan]] deposits), [[Black pepper|pepper]] (a trade which lasted until [[Vasco da Gama]] reached India in 1498) and [[ivory]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

There was a very small market for African slaves as domestic workers in Europe, and as workers on the sugar plantations of the Mediterranean. The Portuguese found they could make considerable amounts of gold transporting slaves from one trading post to another, along the Atlantic coast of Africa. Muslim merchants had a high demand for slaves, which were used as porters on the [[trans-Saharan route]]s, and for sale in the Islamic Empire. The Portuguese found Muslim merchants entrenched along the African coast as far as the [[Bight of Benin]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the [[African slave trade]], centuries old in Africa, was not yet the major feature of the coastal economy of Guinea. The expansion of trade occurs after the Portuguese reach this region in 1446, bringing great wealth to several local slave trading tribes. The Portuguese used slave labour to colonize and develop the previously uninhabited [[Cape Verde]] islands where they founded settlements and grew [[cotton]] and [[indigo]]. They then traded these goods, in the estuary of the [[Geba River]], for black slaves captured by other black peoples in local African wars and raids.

The slaves were sold in Europe and, from the 16th century, in the [[Americas]]. The [[Company of Guinea]] was a Portuguese governative institution whose task was to deal with the [[spice]]s and to fix the prices of the goods. It was called ''Casa da Guiné'', ''Casa da Guiné e Mina'' from 1482 to 1483 and ''Casa da Índia e da Guiné'' in 1499. The local African rulers in Guinea, who prosper greatly from the slave trade, have no interest in allowing the Europeans any further inland than the fortified coastal settlements where the trading takes place. The Portuguese presence in Guinea was therefore largely limited to the port of [[Bissau]].