Kangaba Cercle

Kangaba Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Koulikoro Region of Mali. Its seat is the town of Habaladougou Kenieba, also known as Kangaba, in Benkadi Arrondissement, which is also its largest settlement. It lies at the southwest corner of the region, along the Guinean border, with the Niger River forming its southern edge. Kangaba Cercle's population as of 1998 was 82,812 people. [ [http://www.statoids.com/yml.html Statsoid, Population: 1998 census] .]

The Kangaba Cercle is divided into nine Arrondissements and their constituent communes. It is the smallest Cercle in the Koulikoro Region, both in surface and population.

History

Kangaba Cercle is home to primarially Bambara and Malinké farmers, and formed part of the pre-colonial Bambara Empire as well as (first) the Ghana and Mali Empires back to the 8th century.

It was the center of Kangaba Province of the Mali Empire, and for a period after 1559, was the capital of the Empire. In 1599 it became the last center for Mansa Mahmud IV after his defeat at Djenne, and a Kangaba city state survived after the Empire's fall in 1610. Prior to the Mali Empire, the Manden city-state of Ka-ba (present-day Kangaba) served as the capital and name of this province. From at least the beginning of the 11th century, Mandinka kings known as faamas ruled Manden from Ka-ba in the name of the Ghanas. [Heusch, Luc de: "The Symbolic Mechanisms of Sacred Kingship: Rediscovering Frazer". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1997] Sundiata Keita began his revolt against the remanants of the Ghana Empire here, and it remained the heartland of the Mali state.

The town of Habaladougou Kenieba remains an important Malinké cultural center and home to their sacred Kamablo house, traditionally rebuilt every seven years.

Economy

The Cercle falls in the more fertile Sudan climate region, and forms some of the best farmland in the nation, much devoted to tobacco farming for export.

References

*See [http://mali-reforme-telecom.mctmtl.com/ PROJET DE RÉFORME DU SECTEUR DES TÉLÉCOMMUNICATIONS AU MALI] : Government of Mali, Project for Reform of the Telecomunications Sector. (2001-2002). Site includes 1998 population figures for all Cercles and Communes, and administrative structure as of 2001. [http://mali-reforme-telecom.mctmtl.com/MaliArp.exe Cartographie des infrastructures communales du Mali] and [http://mali-reforme-telecom.mctmtl.com/previsions.pdf Prévisions de desserte des communes pour la période de 2001-2005] .
* [http://www.afdevinfo.com/htmlreports/ml01.html Regions, Cercles and Places in Mali] , African Development Information Services Database. Contains listing of Arrondissements under each Cercle page, as well as some Communes and places of interest in each Cercle.
*Pascal James Imperato. Historical Dictionary of Mali. Scarecrow Press/ Metuchen. NJ - London (1986) ISBN 0810813696