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See also: Timeline of Bissau
From well before the arrival of Europeans to the early 20th century, the island of Bissau was governed as a kingdom inhabited by the Papel people. According to oral tradition, the kingdom was founded by Mecau, the son of the king of Quinara (Guinala), who moved to the area with his pregnant sister, six wives, and subjects of his father's kingdom. The kingdom was composed of seven clans, descended from the sister and six wives. The Bossassun clan, which descends from the sister, inherited the throne. The Kingdom of Bissau was highly stratified. The king's coronation involved the practice of binding and beating the king, as the king should know what punishment felt like before administering it, as well as the presentation of a spear, the royal badge of office. When the Portuguese began to trade there in the 16th century, the king of Bissau was among the most supportive monarchs of the region. In 1680 Bissau even helped the Portuguese in a conflict with the Papels of Cacheu.
The city was founded in 1687 as a Portuguese trading post. During this same period French activities in the area were increasing. Although the king of Bissau Bacompolco refused them permission to build a fort, he did grant them a trading factory, from which they shipped thousands of slaves, among other things. In response the Portuguese Conselho Ultramarino [pt] established the captaincy-general of Bissau, and by 1696 the town had a fort, a church, and a hospital. It was the main emporium for trade on and south of the Geba river, and was rivaling if not eclipsing Cacheu in importance.
Bacompulco died in 1696. King Incinhate emerged from the ensuing succession dispute despite tacit Portuguese opposition, and relations rapidly deteriorated. When Captain-General Pinheiro tried to enforce Portugal's monopoly in defiance of the Papel policy of free trade, Incinhate surrounded the incomplete fort and threatened to massacre the inhabitants. Pinheiro later died in Papel custody. Unable to enforce a trading monopoly or collect duties from foreign shipping, the Portuguese soon abandoned the fort. They returned in 1753 but, faced with determined Papel resistance, were unable to build a new fort and left two years later.
The fort was rebuilt by the Grão Pará and Maranhão Company in 1775 to better project Portuguese power and store more slaves for shipment to Brazil. Real control of the area, however, remained in the hands of the Papel kings. In 1869, as part of an effort to more efficiently govern the territory, Bissau was raised to the status of commune.
The decades on either side of the turn of the 20th century saw fierce resistance on the part of the Papels to colonial 'pacification campaigns.' In 1915, after 30 years of war, the Portuguese under the command of Officer Teixeira Pinto and warlord Abdul Injai defeated the Kingdom of Bissau and permanently incorporated it into Portuguese Guinea.: 9  In 1941 the capital was transferred from Bolama to Bissau. 1959 saw the bloody repression of a dockworkers' strike, a key event that pushed the nationalists towards armed resistance.
After the declaration of independence by the anti-colonial guerrillas of PAIGC in 1973, the capital of the rebel territories was declared to be Madina do Boe, while Bissau remained the colonial capital. The city was attacked in 1968 and 1971 by nationalist forces. When Portugal granted independence, following the military coup of 25 April in Lisbon, Bissau became the capital of the newly independent state.
Bissau was the scene of intense fighting during the beginning and end of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War in 1998 and 1999. Much of the infrastructure was destroyed and most of the population fled. The city rebounded after peace returned, holding more than 25% of the country's population during the 2009 census and witnessing the erection of many new and rehabilitated buildings.
In 2023, the Turkish electric company Karpowership cut power to the city, due to an unpaid bill exceeding $15 million. Power delivery stopped early on the morning of 17 October, and was resumed late the following day, after Guinea-Bissau had made a payment of $6 million.
