Bandama Valley Autonomous District
Bouaké is the capital of the Bandama Valley Autonomous District. It covers an area of 28,530 km2. The District is located in the centre of the country, between the Districts of Woroba to the west, Savanes to the north, Zanzan to the east, Lacs to the south and Sassandra-Marahoué to the south-west. This District comprises two distinct regions: Hambol and Gbêkê. The District is populated mainly by the Baoulés (Gbêkê region), the Djiminis and the Tagbanas (Hambol region). As its name suggests, the District takes its name from the River Bandama, although curiously, the river does not cross the District but rather marks its western border (with the District of Woroba).
Bouaké is the country’s second-largest city and the main town in the Baule region. It is the capital of the Gbéké region, and its geographical and strategic position explains its importance.
FROM GBÉKÉKRO TO BOUAKÉ, A LONG HISTORY
Until the 18th century, this was the land of the Sénoufos, who were then driven out by the Baoulés, who remained masters of the entire region. However, in the nineteenth century, they welcomed refugees from Kong and Bouna who were fleeing the destruction wrought by Samory Touré. Bouaké was originally known as “Gbékékro”, or the village of Gbéké, a Baule chief who settled there in 1865.
Other communities, including Mauritanians, Haoussas and Mossis from Burkina Faso, would later settle in the town, making it a highly cosmopolitan place. Situated in the middle of the Abidjan-Ouagadougou axis, at the crossroads of the Bondoukou road to Ghana and the Man road to Guinea, Bouaké benefited from the Abidjan-Niger railway in 1912, taking advantage of its geographical location between forest and savannah. Plantations of cocoa, coffee and tropical fruits, as well as millet, cotton, rice and tobacco, helped the town to grow, and it was here that a number of food processing plants were set up. In the 1960s, the agricultural and industrial development of Bouaké and its hinterland was boosted by the construction of the Kossou dam on the Bandama river. The dam led to the formation of a lake, which provided a major improvement in electrification and created a fantastic reservoir of fish, as well as a new source of income for inhabitants who, until then, had barely been able to fish. Over the years, Bouaké’s population has grown as a result of the rural exodus, which has brought many migrants to the city, and the continuing high birth rate. The urban fabric has become denser in the older districts, while the town has expanded to include several villages within a radius of almost 8 kilometres. Katiola is one of the main towns in the Bandama Valley Autonomous District, and is situated on the main tarmac road from Abidjan via Yamoussoukro and Bouaké to Ferkessédougou.
THE POTTERS OF KATIOLA
Katiola is populated mainly by Tagbanas, who are traditional farmers, and Mangoros, whose main activity revolves around pottery. For the Mangoros, pottery is a women’s business, as it is for most of the communities that practise this art. These potters make all sorts of ‘canaries’ of different sizes and for all purposes, by hand, some using an improvised wheel, usually a lid, which they handle with dexterity.