Kouoro is a small town and
rural commune
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are des ...
in the
Cercle of Kléla in the
Sikasso Region
Sikasso Region ( Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Sikaso Dineja) is the southernmost region of Mali. The region's capital city, Sikasso, is the country's second-largest city. Major ethnic groups include the Senoufo, known for masks and reve ...
of southern
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. Ma ...
. The commune covers an area of 472 square kilometers and includes the town and five villages. In the 2023 census it had a population of 23169.
[ The town of Kouoro, the '']chef-lieu
An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located.
In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...
'' of the commune, is 80 km north 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 ...
, just off of the RN11, the main road linking Sikasso and Koutiala
Koutiala ( Bambara: ߞߎߕߌߊߟߊ tr. Kutiala) is a city in Mali in the administrative region of Sikasso, and is located 140 km north of the city of Sikasso. Koutiala serves as the capital of its administrative Cercle, home to 575,253 p ...
. It is also about 30 km west of the border with Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
.
Villages
*Katierla
*Koumbala
*Kouoro
*Makono
*Sokourani
*Sougoula
*Koloni
Population history
History
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 ...
stopped at Kouoro in February 1828 on his journey to 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 administrat ...
. He was travelling with a caravan transporting 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 cola ...
s to Djenné
Djenné (Bambara language, Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an Communes of Mali, urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrativ ...
. In his book ''Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo'' published in 1830, he refers to what was then a village as Couara. Caillié wrote:
At nine o'clock in the morning we halted at Couara, a pretty village, where we found an abundance of all the necessities of life. The inhabitants grow a great deal of cotton and millet, and are supplied with water from a stream that runs E.N.E., half a mile from the village.
What Caillié referred to as a stream was actually the Banifing River
The Banifing River is a river in western Africa. It flows through Mali and a small part of Burkina Faso, forming part of the international boundary between the two countries. It is a tributary of the Bani River.
References
Rivers of M ...
, a tributary of the Bani
Bani may refer to:
Places Africa
*Bani Department, a department in the Séno Province of Burkina Faso
* Bani, Bani, Séno, Burkina Faso
*Bani, Bourzanga, Bam, Burkina Faso
*Bani, Gnagna, Burkina Faso
*Bani, The Gambia
*Bani River, a tributary o ...
but in February it would have had very little water.
Not long after Mali declared independence from France in 1960, an annular solar eclipse
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...
took place on 31 July 1962, some 4 km northwest was the center of the greatest eclipse that happened at 12:25 GMT and 12 N, 5.7 W and included Kouoro and lasted for minutes.
References
Sources
*
*.
External links
*.
Communes of Sikasso Region
{{Sikasso-geo-stub