Boké is the capital city of Boké Prefecture

Boké Prefecture

Boké is a prefecture located in the Boké Region of Guinea. The capital is Boké. The prefecture covers an area of 11,053 km.² and has an estimated population of 289,000.-Sub-prefectures:The prefecture is divided administratively into sub-prefectures:...

 within the Boké Region

Boké Region

The Boké Region is located in western Guinea. It is bordered by the countries of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau and the Guinean regions of Kindia and Labé...

 of Lower Guinea

Lower Guinea

Lower Guinea can refer to the coastal part of either* the Republic of Guinea* the wider Guinea region-See also:*Lower Guinean forests*Middle Guinea*Upper Guinea...

 near the border with Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....

. It is also a sub-prefecture of Guinea

Sub-prefectures of Guinea

The Communes of Guinea or sub prefectures known in French as sous-prefectures are the third-level administrative divisions in Guinea...

. Located along the Rio Nuñez which flows to its not-too-distant mouth on the Atlantic Ocean, Boké is a port. It is known for the Fortin de Boké museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

, formerly a slave fort. The town is served by Boké Baralande Airport

Boké Baralande Airport

Boké Baralande Airport is an airport serving Boké in Guinea....

. The estimated population of Boké in 2008 was 116,270.

History

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition:

This part of the Guinea coast was made known by the Portuguese voyagers of the 15th century. In consequence, largely, of the dangers attending its navigation, it was not visited by the European traders of the 16th-18th centuries so frequently as other regions north and east, but in the Rio Pongo, at Matakong

Matakong

Matakong is an island just off the coast of Guinea between the capital Conakry and the Sierra Leone border.- Transport :Matakong is the proposed port terminus of the heavy duty standard gauge Transguinean Railways linking large iron and bauxite deposits to the coast...

 (a diminutive island near the mouth of the Forekaria), and elsewhere, slave traders established themselves, and ruins of the strongholds they built and defended with cannon, still exist (e.g., Fortin de Boké). When driven from other parts of Guinea the slavers made this difficult and little known coast one of their last resorts, and many barracoons were built in the late years of the 18th century. It was not until after the restoration of Goree to her at the close of the Napoleonic wars that France evinced any marked interest in the region. At that time the British, from their bases at the Gambia and Sierra Leone, were devoting considerable attention to these
Rivières du Sud (i.e, south of Senegal) and also to the Futa Jallon. René Caillié, who started his journey to Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...

in 1827, did much to quicken French interest in the district, and from 1838 onward French naval officers, Bouèt-Willaumez and his successors, made detailed studies of the coast.

By 1849, the French had caused so much local resentment that France had to take over the Boké area. By 1895, it had become part of French West Africa.