Bissau, Guinea-Bissau · UTC+0
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Bissau, Guinea-Bissau’s capital, runs on Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0) year-round. No daylight saving time is observed. IANA timezone: Africa/Bissau.
Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, is an unusual African city: it runs on UTC+0, Greenwich Mean Time, year-round. No daylight saving adjustments. The IANA identifier is Africa/Bissau. This puts the city on the same time as London in winter and one hour behind London when the UK observes BST in summer.
Guinea-Bissau sits at about 11 degrees north latitude on the Atlantic coast of West Africa. Its neighbors, Senegal and Guinea, use UTC+0 as well. The sub-regional consistency means there are no timezone complications crossing these borders.
A small capital with a complicated history
Bissau is one of West Africa’s least-visited capitals, partly because Guinea-Bissau has experienced repeated political instability since independence from Portugal in 1974. The country’s history since independence has included a long liberation war, a military coup, a civil war in 1998 to 1999, and numerous subsequent coups and attempts. Despite this, daily life in Bissau has a resilient, self-organizing quality.
The city’s street markets and waterfront neighborhoods operate on their own rhythms. The morning fish market at the Pidjiguiti dock starts before dawn. Vendors begin setting up around 5am, which at UTC+0 and this latitude aligns reasonably with sunrise around 6:30am.
Portuguese Creole and Atlantic time
Bissau is culturally tied to the Atlantic world through its Creole language (Kriol), its music (gumbe), and its history of connection to Cape Verde and the Portuguese-speaking world. The UTC+0 timezone is a legacy of the colonial meridian that ran through Greenwich and organized the British and, by extension, much of the Atlantic world’s navigational system.
The time difference between Bissau and London is zero in winter, one hour behind when the UK observes BST.
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Questions about time in Bissau
- What timezone is Bissau in?
- Bissau uses the IANA timezone
Africa/Bissau. The UTC offset is always UTC+0 — this timezone does not observe daylight saving time. - Does Bissau observe daylight saving time?
- No. Bissau does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC+0 all year round.
- What is the current UTC offset for Bissau?
- Bissau is currently at UTC+0.
- What is the time difference between Bissau and New York?
- Bissau is currently 4 hours ahead of New York.
- What is the time difference between Bissau and London?
- Bissau is currently 1 hour behind London.
- What is the time difference between Bissau and Los Angeles?
- Bissau is currently 7 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
- What is the time difference between Bissau and Tokyo?
- Bissau is currently 9 hours behind Tokyo.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Bissau?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Bissau is
Africa/Bissau. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'Africa/Bissau' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('Africa/Bissau')`), or any IANA-compatible library.