Kouroussa Prefecture
Encyclopedia
Prefectures of Guinea
||Guinea is divided into 8 regions among which the national capital Conakry ranks as a special zone. The other 7 regions are further subdivided into 33 prefectures...
located in the Kankan Region
Kankan Region
The Kankan Region is located in eastern Guinea. It is bordered by the countries of Mali and Côte d'Ivoire and the Guinean regions of Nzérékoré and Faranah.Prefectures of Kankan Region include:*Kankan Prefecture*Kérouané Prefecture*Kouroussa Prefecture...
of Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
. The capital is Kouroussa
Kouroussa
Kouroussa is a town located in northwestern Guinea, and is the capital of Kouroussa Prefecture. In 2008 it had an estimated population 10,165...
. The prefecture covers an area of 16,220 km.² and has an estimated population of 160,000. With Kouroussa town by far the largest in the Prefecture numbering only 10,000, the vast majority of the Prefecture's population live in small rural communities, making their living from subsistence and small scale cash crop agriculture, as well as small scale trade and mining. The majority of the population are members of the Malinke ethnic group or related Mande
Mande languages
The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi...
speakers. The eastern portion of the prefecture is formed from the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
valley, while most of the area characterized by low rolling hills and dry savanna grasslands or scrub-like forest.
Culture
The majority of the prefecture's population comes from the Malinke and DjallonkeYalunka people
The Yalunka are a Mande people who were one of the original inhabitants of the Futa Jallon , a mountainous region in Guinea, West Africa and they are a branch of the Mandinka people of West Africa. Today, the Yalunka are concentrated mostly in Guinea and Sierra Leone...
ethnic groups, who speak related Mande languages
Mande languages
The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi...
and follow the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
religion. The Kouroussa area is the centre of the Hamana-Malinke Mande sub-group -- "Hamana" being the historic name for the region, while the Malinke are the major Mande speaking ethnic group of the upper Niger valley. There are also sizable minority communities of Fula
Fula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
and Dyula, the latter traditionally forming trade communities in towns like Kouroussa.
The writer and intellectual Camara Laye
Camara Laye
Camara Laye was an African writer from Guinea. During his time at college he wrote The African Child , a novel based loosely on his own childhood. He would later become a writer of many essays and was a foe of the government of Guinea...
(1928–80) grew up in Kouroussa town, and his memoir, The Black Child, is in part about his youth in the town.
Kouroussa and surrounding towns maintain the pre-colonial Mande ceremonial kingship of Hamana, with the most recent holder of the office King of Kouroussa King Sayon Keita I.
Traditional music
Hamana-Malinke are especially known for their unique musical traditions, especially their polyphonic DjembéDjembe
A djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands....
drumming traditions, with a number of well known drum masters—including Famoudou Konate
Famoudou Konaté
Famoudou Konaté is a Malinké master drummer from Guinea. Famoudou Konaté is a world-renowned virtuoso of the djembe drum and its orchestra. One of only a handful of initiated Masters of the Malinké drumming tradition, Famoudou is universally respected as one of the world’s premiere djembe Drum...
, Daouda Kourouma, and Sékou Konaté—coming from the town. Djembé groups in Kouroussa are known for the inclusion of the bass dununba drum and the long kenken bell.
Transport
With its position near the upstream limit of navigation on the Niger River, Kouroussa town is an important center of transport and trade. The Guinea Railway crosses the Niger RiverNiger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
at this town, where there is also a river port. The town also lies at a junction in Guinea's N1 highway
N1 road (Guinea)
The N1 is a national highway of Guinea, It connects the city of Conakry to Nzerekore and to the north with Kankan and eventually by the N7 and N32 to the border with Mali. It also passes through the city of Kouroussa....
, which is a major transport route between Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
, Kankan
Kankan
Kankan is the largest city in Guinea in land area, and the third largest in population at 207,790 . The city is located on the Milo River in eastern Guinea and lying about 345 miles east of Conakry....
, and (via the N7 and N32) neighboring Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
. The Niger - Conakry rail line runs 588 km to the capital of Guinea, with a branch of 74 kilometers running from Kouroussa to Kankan. It was built by the French, using African labor, in the first two decades of the 20th century.
Agriculture
The Savanna climate in the prefecture support a wide range of subsistence and cash crop farming, producing rice, groundnuts, onions and millet for sale, as well as supporting larger scale cotton farming and cattle ranching by both locals and semi-nomadic Fula peopleFula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
whose largest local center is in the nearby Fouta Djallon
Fouta Djallon
Fouta Djallon is a highland region in the centre of Guinea, West Africa. The indigenous name is Fuuta-Jaloo...
highlands.
Mining
Major mining companies are engaged in ongoing exploration drilling in a series of government granted Gold miningGold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
concessions near the town. The Kouroussa area also has a long history as a center of small scale gold mining, which continues in so called "Artisanal Mining" Recent criticism has surfaced around the working conditions, pay, and the widespread use of child labour in these small gold mines, and the method which middlemen, many based in Kouroussa, purchase and transport gold. Gold collected in Kouroussa is sold on—with almost no regulation or oversight—to larger merchant houses in Bamako
Bamako
Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...
, Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
, and eventually to smelters in Europe. Large scale Titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
mining has also been proposed in the Kouroussa area, with both Dredging of Heavy Mineral Sands from rivers and streams and dry pit mines proposed as of 2007.
Sub-prefectures
The prefecture is divided administratively into sub-prefecturesSub-prefectures of Guinea
The Communes of Guinea or sub prefectures known in French as sous-prefectures are the third-level administrative divisions in Guinea...
:
Kouroussa-Centre
Kouroussa
Kouroussa is a town located in northwestern Guinea, and is the capital of Kouroussa Prefecture. In 2008 it had an estimated population 10,165...
Babila
Babila
Babila is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...
Balato
Balato
Balato is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea....
Banfélé
Banfélé
Banfélé is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...
Baro
Baro, Guinea
Baro is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture, Kankan Region, of eastern-central Guinea. Baro is the ancestral home of the President of Guinea, Alpha Conde. The President parents were born in Baro. The family later moved to Boke where Alpha Conde was born...
Cisséla
Cisséla
Cisséla is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture, Kankan Region, of eastern-central Guinea.- Transport :It has a railway station on the main line of Guinean Railways.- References :...
Douako
Douako
Douako is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...
Doura
Doura, Guinea
Doura, Guinea is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...
Kiniéro
Kiniéro
Kiniéro is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...
Komola-Koura
Komola-Koura
Komola-Koura is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...
Koumana
Koumana
Koumana is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...
Sanguiana
Sanguiana
Sanguiana is a town and sub-prefecture in the Kouroussa Prefecture in the Kankan Region of eastern-central Guinea.-References:...