| Official Name: | Bafatá |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 320 |
| Pushpin Map: | Guinea-Bissau#Africa |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Guinea-Bissau |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Guinea-Bissau |
| Subdivision Type1: | Admin. Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Bafatá Region |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Population As Of: | 2010 |
| Population Total: | 34760 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Religions |
| Coordinates: | 12.1719°N -14.6575°W |
| Elevation M: | 10 |
Bafatá is a town in central Guinea-Bissau, known as the birthplace of Amílcar Cabral.[1] The town has a population of 22,501 (2008 est).[2] It is the capital of Bafatá Region as well as the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bafatá, which was established in March 2001 with Carlos Pedro Zilli as bishop.[3]
Bafatá is noted for its brickmaking.[4] By the 1880s it was an established trading centre for the Portuguese, including peanuts, cattle, hides, textiles, and salt.[5]
The town is served by Bafatá Airport, an airstrip,[6] and a regional hospital.[7] There is a hotel, the Bafatá Apartamento Imel. The restaurant Ponto de Encontro serves Portuguese cuisine. The surrounding forests are noted for their monkey and antelope populations, and Maimama Cape, owned by a Cape Verdean, organizes trips to visit the animals for tourists.[8] The town is in a derelict state; the streets contain tumbleweeds and cracked tarmac.[9] Several of the main avenues are named Bissau, Brazil and Guiana.
Bafatá has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), not dissimilar to Bissau although about a third drier overall and substantially hotter during the afternoons due to its inland location. As with all of Guinea-Bissau, there are two extremely contrasting seasons: a dry season from November to May with dusty harmattan winds and sweltering, rainless weather, and a monsoonal wet season from June to October featuring heavy thunderstorm rains almost every day and hot, uncomfortably humid conditions.