Autonomous District of Zanzan
Bondoukou is the capital of the Autonomous District of Zanzan. It corresponds to the former Zanzan region. The District is located in the north-east of the country and borders the Republics of Ghana (to the east) and Burkina Faso (to the north). It is surrounded by the Districts of Comoé to the south, Lacs to the south-west, Vallée du Bandama and Savanes to the west. It covers an area of 38,000 km2. The majority of the population are Abrons, Koulangos and Lobis. The District has great tourist potential, with the Comoé National Park and the historic town of Bondoukou.
The town was founded around 1466 and has seen many a conqueror come and go. The Lorhos were supplanted by the Koulangos. But the Koulangos in turn came under pressure from the Dioulas, Muslim traders who founded a famous Koranic university in the 17th century. Later, the Abrons of Zanzan, Akans from Akwamu in Ghana, moved into the region and took Bondoukou as their capital.
The cultivation of cocoa, cotton and rice gave the town a certain amount of agricultural activity. These crops have now given way to cashew nuts and rubber trees. But Bondoukou, because of its proximity to Ghana, is primarily a tourist and trading centre.
The Koulangos, Dioulas and Abrons coexist peacefully with the Lobis, who arrived in force in the 19th century, but live in the bush to the north of the town.
Bouna is also an important town in the Autonomous District of Zanzan. Located at the north-eastern end of the country, close to the border with Ghana, Bouna is the capital of the Bounkani region and one of the gateways to the Comoé National Park. It is a small, quiet town in the heart of an area rich in varied attractions.
The country was first inhabited by the Koulangos, one of the oldest ethnic groups settled in Côte d’Ivoire. Towards the end of 1896, the kingdom of Bouna was sacked by Samory Touré’s troops, led by his son Saranké Mary. Almost 80% of the villages disappeared forever. The town of Bouna was destroyed on Monday 6 December 1896. Its population, which Binger estimated in 1889 at nearly 10,000, fell to around 1,000. Despite the devastation, they managed to hold on. Today, they live on yams, maize, sorghum, rice and, in the lowlands, market gardening, especially tomatoes. The Lobi, a semi-nomadic people from Burkina Faso, are essentially hunters and farmers. Their fields surround their homes, with rectangular buildings built around a central courtyard.