Kankan ( Mandingo: Kánkàn;

N’ko N'Ko () is a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949, as a modern writing system for the Mandé languages of West Africa. The term ''N'Ko'', which means ''I say'' in all Mandé languages, is also used for the Mandé literary standard written ...

: ߞߊ߲ߞߊ߲߫) is the largest city in

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

in land area, and the third largest in population, with a population of 1 980 130 people as of 2020. The city is located in eastern

about east of the national capital

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...

. The city is the capital and largest town of the Kankan Prefecture and of the Kankan Region. The population is largely from the Mande ethnic group. The Kankan region now has more than 6,167,904 inhabitants (2021) a most popular region of Guinea The region has five (5) prefectures (Kankan, Kérouané, Kouroussa, Mandiana and Siguiri), 53 sub-prefectures, 5 urban communes, 53 rural communes , 878 arrondissements, 68 neighborhoods and 1864 sectors.

Geography

The city is located on the Milo River, a tributary of the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mal ...

History

Kankan was founded by the

Soninke people The Soninke people are a West African Mande-speaking ethnic group found in Mali, Fouta Djallon, southern Mauritania, eastern Senegal, Guinea and The Gambia. They speak the Soninke language, also called the Serakhulle or Azer language, which ...

in the 18th century, after which it became an important trading centre, particularly for

kola nut The term kola nut usually refers to the seeds of certain species of plant of the genus ''Cola'', placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae (as subfamily Sterculioideae). These col ...

s, and the capital of the

Baté Empire The Batè Empire ( N’ko: ߓߊߕߍ߫ ''Bátɛ'') was a pre-colonial state centred on Kankan in what is today Guinea. It was founded in the 16th century by migrants from the Sahel, Mandinka and Soninke people, as an Islamic merchant state. The foun ...

. The population of the city is predominantly from the Mandinka ethnic group and their language is widely spoken throughout the city. The French explorer

René Caillié Auguste René Caillié (; 19 November 1799 – 17 May 1838) was a French explorer and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu. Caillié had been preceded at Timbuktu by a British officer, Major Gordon Laing, who was murdere ...

spent a month in Kankan in 1827 on his journey from Boké, in present-day Guinea, to

Djenné Djenné ( Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrative centre of the Djenné Cercle, ...

and

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

in Mali. He arrived with a

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

transporting

s. He described the visit in his book ''Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo''. The town had a population of 6,000 inhabitants and was an important commercial centre with a market held three times a week. Instead of having a surrounding mud wall, the town was defended by quickset hedges. The chief of the town refused Caillié permission to travel along the river to the north as the town of Kankan was fighting for control of the Bouré gold producing area around

Siguiri Siguiri ( N’ko: ߛߌ߯ߙߌ߲߫ ; Arabic: سِجِرِ ِ) is a city in northeastern Guinea on the River Niger. It is a sub-prefecture and capital of Siguiri Prefecture in the Kankan Region. Its population was estimated at 28,319 in 2008. It is ...

and the

Tinkisso River The Tinkisso River is a river in Guinea in west Africa. The river is sourced near Dalaba in the Fouta Djallon mountain range, north of Mamou and snakes approximately north-east and then east across the plains of Guinea, until it runs into the Rive ...

. Instead Caillié left the town heading east in the direction of Minignan in the Ivory Coast. The town was conquered by

Samory Touré Samory Toure ( – June 2, 1900), also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Muslim cleric, a military strategist, and the founder and leader of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic empire that was in present-day ...

in 1881 and occupied by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

in 1891. In 1904, the city is chosen as the final destination during the construction of the Conakry railway in Kankan.

Climate

Kankan has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Aw'').

Education

The Julius Nyerere University of Kankan was founded in 1964.

Places of worship

Among the

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

, they are predominantly

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

mosques. There are also

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

churches and temples : Roman Catholic Diocese of Kankan (

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

), Église Protestante Évangélique de Guinée ( Alliance World Fellowship),

Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

.J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, ‘‘Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices’’, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 1279

Transports

It is home to the

Kankan Airport Kankan Airport (or Kankan Diankana Airport) is an airport serving Kankan, capital of the Kankan Region in Guinea. It is northeast of the city, south of the village of Diankana. The airport was formerly within Kankan, with the ICAO code of GUXN ...

and a river port. Kankan is the terminus of the lightduty narrow gauge railway from

(traffic suspended since 1993). The N1 highway connects the city with Nzerekore in the south.

References

Sub-prefectures of the Kankan Region {{Guinea-geo-stub