Kouroussa: Difference between revisions

'''Kouroussa''' or '''Kurussa''' ([[N'Ko script|N’ko]]: ߞߙߎ߬ߛߊ߫) is a town located in northeastern [[Guinea]], and is the capital of [[Kouroussa Prefecture]]. As of 2014 it had a population of 39,611 people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geohive.com/cntry/guinea.aspx |title=Guinea |publisher= Institut National de la Statistique, Guinea, accessed via Geohive |accessdate=12 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124030052/http://www.geohive.com/cntry/guinea.aspx |archivedate=24 November 2015 }}</ref> A trade center and river port from at least the time of the [[Mali Empire]], Kouroussa has long relied upon its position near the upstream limit of navigation of the [[Niger River]] to make it an important crossroads for people and goods moving between the Guinea coast and the states of the western Soudan and Niger River valley. The town and surrounding area is a center of [[Malinke people|Malinke]] culture, and is known for its Djembe drumming tradition.

Kouroussa represented the southern end of the ''[[Mandé peoples|Manden]]'': the Mandé heartland of the [[Mali Empire]]. Kouroussa's position as a river port has made it a historic center for regional trade, much like its larger neighbor [[Kankan]]. Much of the [[Yalunka people|Jallonke]] population of the area migrated from the west when the Fula people conquered the Fouta Djallon in the 13th - 16th centuries. With the collapse of the empire, southern Manden confederations and states continued to exist, including in the area around Kouroussa. In the 17th century the Fama Da Monzon Diarra of the [[Bambara Empire]] made Kouroussa the southern reach of his state. By the 18th century the Fula Muslim [[Imamate of Futa Jallon]] led by the Alamay of [[Timbo, Guinea|Timbo]] provided pressure from the south and west, while the growing [[Kong Empire|Kong state]] (in modern [[Côte d'Ivoire]]) became powerful to the south and east. The Mandé state around Kouroussa, called in some periods ''Hamana'' and in others ''Koumara'', continued as an important trade center and small regional power, squeezed between these forces.<ref>[https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/dspace/handle/1887/2775 Jan Jansen. THE REPRESENTATION OF STATUS IN MANDE: DID THE MALIEMPIRE STILL EXIST IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY?] History in Africa 23 (1996), 87-109<br /> Note: Jansen argues for a reappraisal of Mandé dating which pushes remnants of the Mali Empire into the 19th century. The more traditional dates are accepted in Charlotte A Quinn. Mandingo kingdoms of the Senegambia: Traditionalism, Islam, and European expansion. Longman (1972). {{ISBN |0-582-64547-6}}</ref>

The first known European visitor to the town was the French explorer [[René Caillié]], who passed through the area in June 1827 on his journey to [[Djenné]] and [[Timbuktu]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Quella-Villéger | first=Alain | year=2012 | title=René Caillié, l'Africain : une vie d'explorateur, 1799-1838 | publisher=Aubéron | place=Anglet, France | isbn=978-2-84498-137-0 | language=French | pages=70-7170–71}}</ref> In his book ''Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo'' published in 1830, he wrote:

<blockquote>Courouassa [Kouroussa] is a neat village, surrounded by a mud wall, from ten to twelve feet high and from eight to ten inches thick. It contains between four and five hundred inhabitants.&nbsp;... the inhabitants are called Dhialonkés <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Yalunka people|Dialonké]]<nowiki>]</nowiki>, and are chiefly idolaters. They do not travel, but occupy themselves peaceably in the cultivation of their little fields, which are fertilised by the inundations of the river.<ref>{{cite book | last=Caillié | first=René | title=Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo; and across the Great Desert, to Morocco, performed in the years 1824-1828 (Volume 1) | publisher=Colburn & Bentley |location=London | year=1830 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/travelsthroughc00cailgoog/page/n288 248-249]–249 | url= httphttps://booksarchive.google.co.ukorg/books?id=gPMTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA248details/travelsthroughc00cailgoog }}</ref></blockquote>

By the arrival of Europeans, Kouroussa was a major trade stop between the [[Niger River]] valley and the coast, with the so-called "''Leprince''" overland route running from the coast via [[Kindia]], [[Timbo, Guinea|Timbo]], and Kouroussa.<ref>[httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=gWMMAAAAYAAJ New International Yearbook: A Compendium of the World's Progress], Dood, Mead, & co, New York (1915) p. 274</ref>

In the late 19th century French forces appeared in the region just to the north, establishing bases at [[Kayes]], [[Kita, Mali]], [[Bafoulabé]] and eventually at [[Bamako]]. Countering the French expansion was the [[Fula jihads|Fula Jihad state]] of which exploded out of neighboring [[Dinguiray]] to conquer both the Mandé states surrounding Kouroussa to the northwest and the Bambara to the northeast. To the south, the [[Wassoulou Empire|Wassoulou]] conquest state of [[Samori Ture]] appeared, sending his well armed forces against Kouroussa, its neighbors, and the French alike, while the Futa Jallon state raided the area periodically. The French officer [[Aimé Olivier]], attempting to convince the [[Imamate of Futa Jallon]] to sign a protectorate, passed through Kouroussa in the 1880s, and at the beginning of the 1890s, French military under [[Louis Archinard]] established garrison posts at Kankan and Kouroussa, commanded from a larger post just downstream at [[Siguiri]].<ref>Auguste-Louis-Charles Gatelet. [httphttps://booksarchive.google.comorg/details/books?id=wnwLAAAAIAAJhistoiredelacon00gategoog Histoire de la conquête du Soudan français (1878-1899)]. Berger-Levrault, Paris (1901). pp. 146, 184-87</ref> In 1893-18941893–1894, Commandant Briquelot set up a post at Kouroussa, as it lay along the main line for French fighting with the forces of [[Samori]] to the south. From here French forces raided areas controlled by Samori, even launching raids from here into the British territory of [[Sierra Leone]].<ref>Gatelet, 189-191</ref> By 1895, even while fighting with Samori continued, the French had set up a school to train local workers to identify, collect, and prepare wild rubber for French industrial purposes. Kouroussa became a regional center of rubber requisitions (often instituted as a tax in labour), which peaked in the second decade of the 20th century.<ref>Gatelet, p. 494. For the colonial era wild rubber collections, see: Emily Lynn Osborn. 'Rubber Fever', Commerce And French Colonial Rule In Upper Guinée, 1890–1913. The Journal of African History (2004), 45: 445-465</ref> Kouroussa was administered as part of the ''Siguiri Cercle'', which also included Kankan.<ref>Gatelet, op cit., 506, 509</ref>

Kouroussa and surrounding towns maintain the pre-colonial Mande ceremonial kingship of Hamana, with the most recent holder of the office King of Kouroussa King Sayon Keita I.<ref>[http://www.sanimuso.com/history.php The Sanimuso Foundation, "Artisanal Mining Association"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716003502/http://www.sanimuso.com/history.php |date=2011-07-16 }}, 2006.</ref>

Hamana-Malinke are especially known for their unique musical traditions, especially their [[polyphonic]] [[Djembé]] drumming traditions, with a number of well known drum masters—including [[Famoudou Konate]], Daouda Kourouma, and Sékou Konaté—coming from the town.<ref>[http://users.skynet.be/sb288188/mamady/FrameMogobalu.html Mögöbalu: Les Sages, les Maîtres] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311000826/http://users.skynet.be/sb288188/mamady/FrameMogobalu.html |date=2008-03-11 }}, Website retrieved 2008-09-03</ref><ref>[http://worldmusiccentral.org/artists/artist_page.php?id=1036 World Music Central:Famoudou Konaté], 2008.</ref> Djembé groups in Kouroussa are known for the inclusion of the bass [[dununba]] drum and the long [[kenken (bell)|kenken]] bell.<ref>Serge Blanc. [http://www.tambourdjembe.com/djembee2.htm The Djembe: The Dunun]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 1997, retrieve 2008-09-03.</ref>

With its position near the upstream limit of navigation on the Niger River, Kouroussa is an important center of transport and trade. The Guinea Railway crosses the [[Niger River]] at this town, where there is also a river port.<ref>[http://webworld.unesco.org/water/ihp/db/shiklomanov/part'4/AFRICA/Guinea/1gn%60ni~1.htm UNESCO: readings of Niger at Kouroussa, 1945-1979] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060106125128/http://webworld.unesco.org/water/ihp/db/shiklomanov/part%274/AFRICA/Guinea/1gn%60ni~1.htm |date=2006-01-06 }}.</ref> The town also lies at a junction in Guinea's [[N1 road (Guinea)|N1 highway]], which is a major transport route between [[Conakry]], [[Kankan]], and (via the N7 and N32) neighboring [[Mali]].<ref>[http://www.geonames.org/2418437/kouroussa.html geonames.org: Kouroussa].</ref> The [[metre gauge]] Niger&nbsp;– Conakry rail line runs 588&nbsp;km to the capital of Guinea, with a branch of 74 kilometers running from Kouroussa to Kankan. It was built by the French, using African labor, in the first two decades of the 20th century.<ref>[httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=gWMMAAAAYAAJ New International Yearbook: A Compendium of the World's Progress], Dood, Mead, & co, New York (1915) p. 274</ref>

Major mining companies are engaged in ongoing exploration drilling in a series<ref>[http://www.afdevinfo.com/htmlreports/lor/lor_21205.html afdevinfo: Kouroussa Exploration Area] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707092924/http://www.afdevinfo.com/htmlreports/lor/lor_21205.html |date=2011-07-07 }}</ref> of government granted [[Gold mining]] concessions<ref>[http://www.cassidygold.com/s/KouroussaProject.asp?ReportID=105159 The Kouroussa Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909000551/http://www.cassidygold.com/s/KouroussaProject.asp?ReportID=105159 |date=2007-09-09 }}: [[Cassidy Gold]] corporation.</ref> near the town.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_Jan_18/ai_n8697455 Cassidy Gold Set to Resume Drilling at Kouroussa] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113034415/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_Jan_18/ai_n8697455 |date=2016-01-13 }} Business Wire, Jan 18, 2005</ref> The Kouroussa area also has a long history as a center of small scale gold mining, which continues in so called "Artisanal Mining"<ref>[http://www.sanimuso.com/history.php The Sanimuso Foundation, "Artisanal Mining Association"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716003502/http://www.sanimuso.com/history.php |date=2011-07-16 }}, 2006.</ref> Recent criticism has surfaced around the working conditions, pay, and the widespread use of child labour in these small gold mines, and the method which middlemen, many based in Kouroussa, purchase and transport gold. Gold collected in Kouroussa is sold on—with almost no regulation or oversight—to larger merchant houses in [[Bamako]], [[Conakry]], and eventually to smelters in Europe.<ref>[http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiGYXu97hSZjgaq26AGOknlnIuegD92FK3180 Kids working in African gold mines]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. AP/RUKMINI CALLIMACHI AND BRADLEY S. KLAPPER&nbsp;– Aug 10, 2008. {{waybackdead link|urldate=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiGYXu97hSZjgaq26AGOknlnIuegD92FK3180May 2016|datebot=20110521031059 medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Large scale [[Titanium]] mining has also been proposed in the Kouroussa area, with both Dredging of Heavy Mineral Sands from rivers and streams and dry pit mines proposed as of 2007.<ref>[http://www.guineetitanium.com/Divisions/divisions.htm Guinee Titanium] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711133015/http://www.guineetitanium.com/Divisions/divisions.htm |date=2011-07-11 }}, date 2007, retrieved 2008-08-03.</ref>

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[[Category:PopulatedSub-prefectures places inof the Kankan Region]]