Bongosso

Village in Sikasso Region, Mali

12°40′18″N 5°11′35″W / 12.67167°N 5.19306°W / 12.67167; -5.19306Country

MaliRegionSikasso RegionCercleKoutiala CercleCommuneKoromoElevation

306 m (1,004 ft)Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)

Bongosso (or Bougounso) is a village and seat (chef-lieu) of the commune of Koromo in the Cercle of Koutiala in the Sikasso Region of southern Mali.^[1] The village is 45 km (28 mi) northeast of Koutiala.

French explorer René Caillié stopped at Bongosso in February 1828 on his journey to Timbuktu. He was travelling with a caravan transporting kola nuts to Djenné. He described the village in his book Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo published in 1830.^[2] He wrote:

About eleven in the morning we arrived at Bancousso [Bongosso], a large village containing a population of five or six hundred, and situated in a well cultivated plain, shaded by baobabs. This village has a large market, well supplied with the productions of the country; I saw in it a great quantity of cloth and earthen pots which are made here.^[3]

References

^ Communes de la Région de Sikasso (PDF) (in French), Ministère de l’administration territoriale et des collectivités locales, République du Mali, archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013.
^ Viguier 2008, p. 63.
^ Caillié 1830, pp. 431-432.

Sources

Caillié, René (1830). Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo; and across the Great Desert, to Morocco, performed in the years 1824-1828 (Volume 1). London: Colburn & Bentley.
Viguier, Pierre (2008). Sur les Traces de René Caillié: Le Mali de 1828 Revisité. Versailles, France: Quae. ISBN 978-2-7592-0271-3..