Samatiguila (also spelled Samatiglia) is a town in northwestern

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. It is a

sub-prefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefecture ...

of and the seat of

Samatiguila Department Samatiguila Department is a department of Kabadougou Region in Denguélé District, Ivory Coast. In 2021, its population was 19,710, making it the least-populous department in the country. The departmental seat is the settlement of Samatiguila. The ...

Kabadougou Region Kabadougou Region is one of the 31 regions of Ivory Coast. Since its establishment in 2011, it has been one of two regions in Denguélé District. The seat of the region is Odienné and the region's population in the 2021 census was 289,806. Ka ...

Denguélé District Denguélé District (french: district du Denguélé, ) is one of fourteen administrative districts of Ivory Coast. The district is located in the northwest corner of the country. The capital of the district is Odienné. Creation Denguélé Distr ...

. Samatiguila is also a commune. It is located approximately 15 km north of Kimbirila-Sud, and 40 km north of

Odienné Odienné () is a town in the northwestern part of Ivory Coast. It is the seat of both Denguélé District and Kabadougou Region. It is also a commune and the seat of and a sub-prefecture of Odienné Department. The town of Odienné was founded b ...

, the nearest main town and the capital of the Denguélé District. Samatiguila is well known among Ivorians for the large number of traders and bus companies that originate from the town but that operate all over Ivory Coast. The ''Mosquée de Samatiguila ou Missiriba'' is an adobe mosque in Samatiguila. Built in the 18th century, it was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

in 2021 (along with other mosques in northern Ivory Coast) because of its outstanding representation of Sudano-Sahelian architecture. The French explorer René Caillié spent five days in Samatiguila in July 1827 on his journey from Boké, in present-day Guinea, 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 administrativ ...

in Mali. He was travelling 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

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: 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, on ...

. He described his visit in his book ''Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo'':

It was nearly nine o'clock in the morning when we made our appearance at Sambatikila amatiguilawhich is surrounded by a double wall ten or eleven feet high and ten inches thick. ... Sambatikila is a large village ... it is independent and inhabited by Mandingo Musulmans. It is much larger than Kankan but not so well peopled; there are many large vacant places in the interior of the village; the streets are narrow, crooked, and at this season of the year, full of mud.

References

Sub-prefectures of Kabadougou Communes of Kabadougou {{Denguélé-geo-stub