RouteBissau

Bandim Market & Bissau's Urban Life

The Bandim market is the social and commercial heart of Bissau — a dense, colourful covered market where Papel, Mandinka, and Fula traders coexist in the smallest capital in West Africa

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1
Bandim Market Food Hall
The market's covered food section is Guinea-Bissau at its most vibrant — women traders in pano cloth selling smoked oysters, dried shrimp, palm oil and fresh vegetables
2
Pano's fabric stalls
The traditional panoramic cloth – a hand-woven ribbon cloth unique to Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde – is sold in the fabric section; Each ethnic group has distinct patterns
3
Traditional Medicine Quarterly
Healers sell bark, roots and dried leaves in the market's traditional medicine section – the pharmacopoeia of Guinea-Bissau's ethnic groups in one concentrated space
4
Seller of dried oysters and shrimps
Guinea-Bissau's extraordinary coastal wetlands produce abundant seafood — dried oysters and smoked shrimp are key flavor ingredients in the national cuisine
5
Hardware and Import Quarterly
Chinese imported goods arrive at the port of Bissau and immediately pour into the market — a vivid illustration of China's economic penetration of the smallest West African states
6
Market Tea Culture
The attaya green tea ceremony – three rounds of increasingly sweeter Mauritanian-style mint tea – is performed at market stalls throughout the day as a social bonding ritual