Geba Estuary

The Geba estuary opens into a maze of waterways behind the Bissagos Islands. Its river connected Atlantic vessels with inland trading routes, and the port of Geba became a meeting place for merchants from the coast and the interior. In the seventeenth century traders could have interests at Geba, Cacheu and Farim, moving between the rivers of Upper Guinea. African rulers and Portuguese-descended merchants shaped the terms of this commerce, which included ivory, hides, gold and enslaved people.