Tengréla (also spelled Tingréla) is a town in the far north of

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

near the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. 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 subprefectures. ...

and the seat of

Tengréla Department Tengréla Department (also spelled Tingréla) is a department of Bagoué Region in Savanes District, Ivory Coast. In 2021, its population was 141,761 and its seat is the settlement of Tengréla. The sub-prefectures of the department are Débét ...

Bagoué Region Bagoué Region is one of the 31 regions of Ivory Coast. Since its establishment in 2011, it has been one of three regions in Savanes District. The seat of the region is Boundiali and the region's population in the 2021 census was 515,890. Bagoué ...

Savanes District Savanes District (, , " Savannahs") is one of fourteen administrative districts of Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. It ...

. Tengréla is also a commune. 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, Alexander Gordon Laing, Major Gordon ...

stopped at the settlement of Tengréla, which was then a large walled village, in January 1828 on his journey to

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. ...

. He was travelling with a

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

of 500 to 600 people and 80 donkeys transporting

kola nut The kola nut ( Yoruba: ''obi'', Dagbani: ''guli'', Hausa: goro, Igbo: ''ọjị'', Sängö: ''gôro,'' Swahili: ''mukezu'') is the seed of certain species of plant of the genus ''Cola'', placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and ...

s. In his book ''Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo'' published in 1830, he spelled the name of the village as "Tangrera". The ''Mosquée de Tengréla'', a small adobe mosque in the city possibly dating from the 17th century, was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

in 2021 along with other mosques in the region for its outstanding representation of

Sudano-Sahelian architecture Sudano-Sahelian architecture refers to a range of similar indigenous architectural styles common to the African peoples of the Sahel and Sudanian grassland (geographical) regions of West Africa, south of the Sahara, but north of the fertile fores ...

. In 2021, the population of the sub-prefecture of Tengréla was 92,454.

Villages

The 28 villages of the sub-prefecture of Tengréla and their population in 2014 are:

Notes

References

* *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tengrela Sub-prefectures of Bagoué Communes of Bagoué Wangara trade towns