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26-626: The city is the capital and largest town of the Kankan Prefecture and of the Kankan Region with its population being largely from the Mandinka ethnic group. Kankan had different names before being dubbed Kankan during Arafan Kabine's rule as patriarch, which means 'the defenses' (or 'God protect our city from all the attacks'), due to successives attacks by the unfaithful people. But there are other terms which says that during

52-490: A wet season and a dry season . Like most of West Africa, Conakry's dry season is dominated by the harmattan wind between December and April. As a result, almost no rain falls in the city during these months. Compared to most of West Africa, Conakry's wet season sees an extraordinary amount of rainfall, averaging more than 1,100 millimetres (43 in) in both July and August. As a result, Conakry's average annual rainfall totals nearly 3,800 millimetres (150 in). However,

78-418: A daily burden for Conakry's residents since early 2002. Government and power company officials blame the drought of February 2001 for a failure of the hydro-electric supply to the capital, and a failure of aging machinery for the continuation of the crisis. Critics of the government cite mismanagement, corruption and the withdrawal of the power agency's French partner at the beginning of 2002. As of 2007 , much of

104-627: A mayor. From the tip in the southwest, these are: The five urban communes make up the Conakry Region , one of the eight Regions of Guinea , which is headed by a governor. At the second-tier prefecture level, the city is designated as the Conakry Special Zone , though the prefecture and regional government are one and the same. At an estimated two million inhabitants, it is far and away the largest city in Guinea, making up almost

130-523: A month in Kankan in 1827 during his journey from Boké , in present-day Guinea, to Djenné and Timbuktu in Mali. He arrived with a caravan transporting kola nuts . He described the visit in his book Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo . The town had a population of 6,000 inhabitants and was an important commercial centre with a market held three times a week. Instead of having a surrounding mud wall,

156-757: A peak in January–February 2007 in a general strike , which saw over one hundred deaths when the Army confronted protesters. Conakry is serviced by Conakry International Airport which has flights to several cities in West Africa and Europe. Islamic mosques in the city include the Grand Mosque of Conakry . There are also Christian churches and temples, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Conakry 's Cathédrale Sainte-Marie ,

182-499: A quarter of the nation's population and making it more than four times bigger than its nearest rival, Kankan . Conakry is Guinea's largest city and its administrative, communications, and economic centre. The city's economy revolves largely around the port , which has modern facilities for handling and storing cargo, through which alumina and bananas are shipped. Manufactures include food products and cement, metal manufactures, and fuel products. Periodic power and water cuts have been

208-463: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Conakry Conakry ( / ˈ k ɒ n ə k r i / KON -ə-kree , French: [kɔnakʁi] ; Susu : Kɔnakiri ; N'Ko : ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫ , romanized:  Kɔnakrí ; Fula : 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭 , romanized:  Konaakiri ) is the capital and largest city of Guinea . A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of

234-412: The 2009 Guinea protest when the military junta opened fire against tens of thousands of protesters in the city on 28 September 2009. Originally situated on Tombo Island , one of the Îles de Los , it has since spread up the neighboring Kaloum Peninsula. According to Köppen climate classification , Conakry features a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen climate classification : Am ). Conakry features

260-515: The 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of Conakry is difficult to ascertain, although the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs has estimated it at two million, accounting for one-sixth of the entire population of the country. Conakry was originally settled on the small Tombo Island and later spread to the neighboring Kaloum Peninsula, a 36-kilometer-long (22 mi) stretch of land 0.2 to 6 kilometers ( 1 ⁄ 8 to 3 + 3 ⁄ 4  mi) wide. The city

286-568: The Battle of Saman-Saman, Kankan sent emissaries to join the theocratic alliance led by Samori Ture and signed the peace treaty with him. While Samori was trying to conquering the Cissé kingdom, he called on Bate (Kankan) to help him, but Kankan categorically refused because one of the Séré-Bréma's wives, Mali Kaba, was from Kankan. Samori saw this as a betrayal, and in 1879 sent troops to besiege

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312-675: The Conde's told the Kaba to install this place, which made the Kaba to rename it as Kankan. Those terms have no sources and the speakers didn't know anything about Kankan's history. The city is located on the Milo River , a tributary of the Niger River . According to oral histories, Kankan was founded in 1690 by Daouda Kaba, whose ancestors had come from Diafounou, in what is now Mali, a few decades earlier. His uncle Fodemoudou Conde, chief of

338-530: The Kaba's negotiation of the place from Conde's, they were informed to install where the people made the Kankan (A fixed wood that Mandes often used as a door), and there were no other human settlement between Makonon and Diankana (30 km) during this moment. The other terms are used by the griots, that there were too much of the Kankan-Kissè (an arborescent name) in to the area that Kankan settled in, so

364-601: The Republic of Guinea when a group of 350 Portuguese troops and Guinean loyalists landed near Conakry, attacked the city and freed 26 Portuguese prisoners of war held by the PAIGC before retreating, having failed to overthrow the government or kill the PAIGC leadership. Camp Boiro , a feared concentration camp during the rule of Sekou Toure , was located in Conakry. According to human rights groups, 157 people died during

390-515: The city has no traffic lighting in the overnight hours. Popular anger at shortages in Conakry was entwined with anti-government protests, strikes, and violence against the rule of President Lansana Conté and the successive prime ministers Cellou Dalein Diallo and Eugène Camara appointed to fill the post after the resignation of Prime Minister François Lonseny Fall in April 2004. Violence reached

416-573: The city with Nzerekore in the south. 10°23′N 9°18′W  /  10.383°N 9.300°W  / 10.383; -9.300 Kankan Prefecture Kankan is a prefecture located in the Kankan Region of Guinea . The capital is Kankan . The prefecture covers an area of 19,750 km.² and has a population of 2,450,890. The prefecture is divided administratively into 13 sub-prefectures : 10°23′05″N 9°18′25″W  /  10.38472°N 9.30694°W  / 10.38472; -9.30694 This Guinea location article

442-425: The dry season is still dry, with January and February only receiving 1 millimetre (0 in) of rainfall on average. Sunshine is lower in the wet season than the dry season, with August receiving the least sunshine and March receiving the most. Conakry is a special city with a single region and prefecture government. The local government of the city was decentralized in 1991 between five municipal communes headed by

468-493: The dynasty was restored. In 1904, the city was chosen as the final destination for the railroad originating in Conakry . This was eventually completed in 1914, enhancing Kankan's longstanding position as a crossroads of trade. By 1922 it was widely seen as the second city of Guinea, after the capital Conkary. Kankan has a tropical savanna climate ( Köppen climate classification Aw ). The Julius Nyerere University of Kankan

494-511: The nearby village Makonon, gave Kaba the land on the banks of the Milo river near where the bridge is today, which was open bush. The hamlet was originally called Fadou (place of plenty), then Kaourou (prosperous place), then Nabaya (place of welcome). Another tradition holds that Kankan was founded in the mid 17th century by Dyula traders of the Sarif and Sanyo families. By the 18th century it

520-449: The population of Conakry boomed, from 50,000 inhabitants in 1958 to 600,000 in 1980, to over two million today. Its small land area and relative isolation from the mainland, while an advantage to its colonial founders, has created an infrastructural burden since independence. In 1970, conflict between Portuguese forces and the belligerent PAIGC independence campaigners in neighbouring Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau ) spilled into

546-437: The town and renamed it Kankan , meaning 'protected city'. The new town was built in six districts, two of which were named after the towns that had sheltered their inhabitants during exile. Timbo neighborhood still exists today.. Another later invasion from Wassoulou, led by the kings Diédi and Djiba (or DJI ), attempted to conquer Kankan but it was defeated by Alpha-Mamoudou Kaba.. The French explorer René Caillié spent

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572-577: The town was defended by quickset hedges . The chief of the town refused Caillié permission to travel along the river to the north as the town of Kankan was fighting for control of the Bouré gold producing area around Siguiri and the Tinkisso River . Instead Caillié left the town heading east in the direction of Minignan in the Ivory Coast. After defeating Jamoro Aji and Ouorokodo Famoudou in

598-663: The town within three months. Mamadi Kaba (commonly known as Dayi Kaba ) escaped the besieged city. During this siege, Karifamoudouya sent troops to break the siege over Kankan, but they were repelled and massacred until they crossed the River Gbourouroun, the border between two cities.. After having driven out the Kaba, Samori installed a puppet ruler. Kaba, meanwhile, joined the French colonial forces in Ségou , fighting with them until they captured Kankan in 1891, at which point

624-805: Was an important religious center under the great marabout and Islamic scholar Alfa Kaabinè Kaba as well as a center of trade linking the coast, the kola nut growing regions, and the Niger river valley to the north. During this period Kankan was the capital of the Bate Empire . In 1763 the warlord Bourama Diakite from Wassoulou drove the inhabitants of the Bate region, including Kankan, intto Fouta Jalon , where they took refuge in Timbo and Fougoumba due to their shared Islamic background. Their exile lasted seven years. Upon their return in 1770 they rebuilt and fortified

650-421: Was essentially founded after Britain ceded the island to France in 1887. In 1885 the two island villages of Conakry and Boubinet had fewer than 500 inhabitants. Conakry became the capital of French Guinea in 1904 and prospered as an export port, particularly after a railway (now closed) to Kankan opened up the interior of the country for the large-scale export of groundnut . In the decades after independence,

676-630: Was founded in 1964. Among the places of worship , they are predominantly Muslim mosques. There are also Christian churches and temples : the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kankan ( Catholic Church ), Église Protestante Évangélique de Guinée ( Alliance World Fellowship ), Assemblies of God . It is home to the Kankan Airport and a river port. Kankan is the terminus of the lightduty narrow gauge railway from Conakry (traffic suspended since 1993). The N1 highway connects

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