Once hailed as a potential model for African development, Guinea-Bissau is now one of the poorest countries in the world.
It has a massive foreign debt and an economy which relies heavily on foreign aid.
Compounding this, the country experienced a bitter civil war in the late 1990s in which thousands were killed, wounded and displaced.
Formerly Portuguese Guinea, Guinea-Bissau won independence from Portugal in 1974 after a long struggle spearheaded by the left-wing African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). For the next six years post-independence leader Luis Cabral presided over a command economy.
In 1980 he was overthrown by his army chief, Joao Vieira, who accused him of corruption and mismanagement. Mr Vieira led the country towards a market economy and a multi-party system, but was accused of crony capitalism, corruption and autocracy. In 1994 he was chosen as president in Guinea-Bissau's first free elections.
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Four years later he was ousted after he dismissed his army chief, thereby triggering a crippling civil war. This eventually ended after foreign mediation led to a truce, policed by West African peacekeepers, and free elections in January 2000.
The victor in the poll, Kumba Yala, was ousted in a bloodless military coup in September 2003. The military chief who led the coup said the move was, in part, a response to the worsening economic and political situation.
Mr Vieira won the 2005 elections but his rule was brought to a bloody end in March 2009, when renegade soldiers entered his palace and shot him dead, reportedly to avenge the killing hours earlier of the army chief, a rival of the president.
The country's vital cashew nut crop provides a modest living for most of Guinea-Bissau's farmers and is the main source of foreign exchange.
Guinea-Bissau is also a major hub for cocaine smuggled from Latin America to Europe. Several senior military figures are alleged to be involved in the trafficking of narcotics, prompting fears that the drugs trade could further destabilise an already volatile country.
President: Malam Bacai Sanha
Malam Bacai Sanha won the July 2009 presidential elections, which were held following the assassination of president Joao Bernardo Vieira.
Vieira was assassinated by members of the army, apparently in revenge for a bomb attack that claimed the life of the army chief.
Mr Sanha has worried international supporters by appointing a mutineer as his army chief. General Antonio Indjai led a mutiny in April 2010 and imprisoned his predecessor.
Mr Sanha is an ex-interim head of state and a veteran of the country's independence war with long ties to the ruling party, the left-wing African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).
He was interim president between June 1999 and May 2000, having been swept to power in the wake of a 1998 civil war that led to the departure of Joao Bernardo Vieira.
He held several ministerial posts and was speaker of the national assembly between 1994 and 1998.
Mr Sanha made two unsuccessful bids for the presidency, in 2000 and in 2005.
He comes from the Beafada ethnic minority and was born in the southern Quinara region, later becoming an aide to Amilcar Cabral, the founder of the PAIGC and "father of independence".
Mr Sanha is a Muslim, married and has one child
A chronology of key events:
Pre-15th century - The area of what is now Guinea-Bissau comes under the influence of the Mali Empire and becomes a tributary kingdom known as Gabu.
1446-47 - First Portuguese arrive; subsequently administered as part of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, the Guinea area becomes important in the slave-trade.
1879 - Guinea-Bissau becomes a separate colony. Portuguese control of the interior is slow and sometimes violent, and not effectively achieved until 1915.
War of independence
1951 - Guinea-Bissau declared a province of Portugal.
1956 - Amilcar Cabral establishes the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).
1963-74 - PAIGC launches war of independence.
1973 - Amilcar Cabral assassinated. PAIGC unilaterally declares Guinea-Bissau independent of Portugal and gives it its present name.
1974 - Portugal grants Guinea-Bissau independence with Luis Cabral, Amilcar Cabral's brother, as president.
Military intervention
1980 - Luis Cabral ousted in military coup led by Joao Bernardo Vieira; plans for unification with Cape Verde dropped.
1990 - Parliament revokes the PAIGC's status as the sole legitimate party.
1994 - Vieira chosen as president in Guinea-Bissau's first free election.
1998 - Army mutinies after Vieira sacks his army commander, General Ansumane Mane, whom he accused of allowing weapons to be smuggled to rebels in Senegal.
1999 May - Soldiers led by General Ansumane Mane topple Vieira.
Military junta installs Malam Bacai Sanha, the former speaker of parliament, as interim president.
Domestic tensions
2000 January - Kumba Yala elected president.
2000 November - General Mane killed, allegedly after trying to stage coup.
2001 January - Guinea-Bissau Resistance (RGB) party pulls out of ruling coalition saying it wasn't consulted about a cabinet reshuffle.
2001 May - IMF, World Bank suspend aid over millions missing from development funds. Towards year's end an IMF team praises improvements in financial controls.
2001 November - Foreign minister Antonieta Rosa Gomes dismissed after criticising President Yala. Increasing concern over the president's erratic behaviour.
Yala deposed
2001 December - Government says it has thwarted a coup attempt by army officers. Opposition casts doubt on allegations. Prime Minister Faustino Imbali is sacked for "failing to meet expectations".
2002 November - President Yala says he plans to dissolve parliament and call early elections. The move comes amid a long-running row with his prime minister.
2003 14 September - Military coup ousts President Yala.
2003 28 September - Civilian administration headed by interim President Henrique Rosa and interim Prime Minister Antonio Artur Rosa is sworn in after military, political parties agree to hold parliamentary and presidential elections.
2004 March - Former ruling party, the PAIGC, wins general election.
2004 October - Mutinous soldiers kill the head of the armed forces in pursuit of demands which include payment of outstanding wages.
2005 April - Joao Bernardo Vieira, former president toppled in 1999 rebellion, returns from exile in Portugal.
2005 May - Former president Kumba Yala, who was deposed in 2003, declares that he is still the rightful head of state. He stages a brief occupation of the presidency building.
2005 July - Former military ruler Joao Bernardo Vieira wins a run-off vote in presidential elections.
2005 October - After a few weeks in office, President Vieira sacks the government of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior.
2006 March-April - Guinea-Bissau soldiers battle Senegalese rebels along the southern border.
2006 June - Unions call a three-day strike over civil service wage arrears. The regional economic grouping ECOWAS promises to cover teachers' pay.
2006 October - Guinea-Bissau appeals for international help to stop people-traffickers using its remote coastline to smuggle migrants, including Asians, to Europe.
2007 March-April - Prime Minister Aristides Gomes resigns after his government loses a no-confidence vote. Martinho Ndafa Kabi is appointed as consensus prime minister.
2007 June - Donors have one last opportunity to save Guinea-Bissau from chaos and to combat Latin American drug cartels, the UN and International Monetary Fund warn.
2007 December - Parliament passes law guaranteeing amnesty for any violence committed during the years of political unrest between 1980 and 2004.
2008 July - One of the three major parties quits the national unity coalition, triggering a political crisis.
2008 July-August - The justice minister and attorney-general both say they have received death threats over the arrest of three Venezuelans, the head of air traffic control and his deputy on suspicion of drugs trafficking.
2008 August - President Vieira dissolves parliament, which automatically brings about the fall of the government of Martinho Ndafa Kabi.
Mr Vieira appoints former prime minister Carlos Correia to head the government in the run-up to parliamentary elections in November 2008.
2008 November - President Vieira survives a gun attack on his home by mutinous soldiers, in what appears to be a failed coup.
Vieira assassinated
2009 2 March - President Joao Bernardo Vieira is shot dead by renegade soldiers, hours after a bomb attack that killed the army's chief of staff, General Tagme Na Waie.
2009 June - First round of presidential polls. Days earlier, military police kill one of the candidates in bid to foil a "coup".
2009 July - Malam Bacai Sanha, wins presidential election in a run-off.
2010 April - Mutinous soldiers briefly detain Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and replace armed forces chief.
US names two top military officials as international drugs traffickers and freezes their US assets.
2010 June - Leader of April's mutiny, General Antonio Indjai, is made army chief.
2010 August - EU announces it is ending mission to reform Guinea Bissau's security forces, saying lack of respect for rule of law is making this an impossible task.
2010 October - US expresses concern over Guinea Bissau government's decision to reinstate alleged drugs kingpin Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto as head of navy. Mr Na Tchuto is a close ally of army chief General Antonio Indjai.
2010 December - EU threatens to suspend development aid unless Guinea Bissau restores democratic norms.
Former army chief Jose Zamora Induta, who was arrested during April mutiny, is released from prison but days later placed under house arrest.
Broadcasters face many challenges, not least the lack of a reliable power supply. Private radio stations operate alongside the state-run broadcaster.
