Koutiala (
Bambara: ߞߎߕߌߊߟߊ tr. Kutiala) is a city in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
in the administrative region of
Sikasso
Sikasso ( Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ tr. Sikaso) is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Cercle and the Sikasso Region. It is Mali's second largest city with 225,753 residents in the 2009 census.
History
Sikasso was founded ...
, and is located 140 km north of the city of
Sikasso
Sikasso ( Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ tr. Sikaso) is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Cercle and the Sikasso Region. It is Mali's second largest city with 225,753 residents in the 2009 census.
History
Sikasso was founded ...
. Koutiala serves as the capital of its administrative
Cercle, home to 575,253 people in 2009. As of the 2009 Census, Koutiala has 137,919 residents.
History
Situated in
Minianka
Minyanka (also known as Mamara, Miniyanka, Minya, Mianka, Minianka, or Tupiire) is a northern Senufo language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mali. It is closely related to Supyire. Minyanka is one of the national languages of Ma ...
country, Koutiala was founded in the 16th century by members of the Coulibaly family from the
Bambara kingdom of
Segou. It now contains an important hospital for women and children.
Koutiala's sister city is
Alençon,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
Economy
Koutiala is the heartland of
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
production in Mali and is sometimes called "the white gold capital" for its cotton.
However, the industry has been affected by stagnation since the 1980s.
Aside from cotton it is also noted for grain production, primarily
pearl millet,
sorghum and
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
.
Koutiala is the second most industrial city in Mali, hosting, among others, the ''
Compagnie malienne pour le développement du textile'' (CMDT) and the ''Huilerie cotonnière du Mali'' (HUICOMA).
Notable people
*
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (; 29 January 1945 – 16 January 2022), often known by his initials IBK, was a Malian politician who served as the president of Mali from September 2013 to August 2020, when he was forced to resign in the 2020 Malian cou ...
(1945-2022)
See also
*
List of cities in Mali
This list of cities in Mali tabulates all the largest communes in the country of Mali (including those in the north-eastern portion where the Mali Government no longer exercises de facto control). Besides the largest cities and towns (all urb ...
References
Communes of Sikasso Region
{{Sikasso-geo-stub