Bobo-Dioulasso was a town of the Bobo people, a Mandé speaking people in modern-day southwestern Burkina Faso, and currently the second city of the country.
From “Du Niger au golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi”, published in 1892. Engraving by Édouard Riou.
Louis-Gustave Binger was a French military officer who explored West-Africa from Senegal up to the Niger River, down to the Mossi country in Burkina Faso, and unto Ivory Coast. He wrote a lengthy work describing his travels in some detail, accompanied by many invaluable illustrations, providing us with a sort of snapshot of the region at the time, in the late 19th century, at the dawn of the French colonial takeover. Bobo-Dioulasso would be conquered by the French 8 years later, in 1897.
In this scene, the French officer, Binger, had come to Bobo-Dioulasso, also known as Sia, to meet with the chief of the town, who had previously agreed to meet him in a letter. Upon attempting to enter the town however, Binger was met with a large host of armed men wielding swords and muskets, shouting at him to leave immediately, that the chief refused to see him or allow him to enter his town. The situation however calmed down, and Binger was eventually allowed to enter the town, but the chief refused to meet Binger, allegedly for fear of dying upon seeing a white man. Since departing from the nearby city of Kong, the chief of Bobo Dioulasso was the fifth chief that had refused to enter into talks, or even meet with the French officer. Binger was being thoroughly snubbed, but this didn’t deter him from exploring the town.
Binger described the town as consisting of 5 villages and a marketplace in close proximity to each other, separated by a small stream, bustling with activity. “The women wash there and draw water there; bands of children are constantly bathing there; donkeys, horses, etc., are led there to the watering place, and a number of ducks, hens and guinea fowl perform their antics there. It is the water from this stream that the majority of the inhabitants drink, because there is only one well”. The 5 villages and market that made up Bobo Dioulasso were spread across a little over 1 square kilometer. The 5 villages of the town were the village of the chief, the village of the Bobo, the village of the Dyula from Kong and Dafira, the village of the Hausa and Soninke and the village of the imam. The permanent population of the town was “3,000 to 3,500 inhabitants, to which must be added. 1,000 to 1,500 foreigners from the country of Kong, Hausa, Mossi and Tagouara”. Binger also noted the presence of traders from Djenné.
Bobo-Dioulasso was a vibrant market town, with a market every 5 days. Binger wrote that one could acquire “everything necessary for existence”. Salt, one of the main trade items, was imported to Dioulasso from at least 5 different sources, as a fine grain, or large slabs of salt, from as far as the Sahara desert and the Guinea Coast. The salt from Djenné for example, carried on the back of donkeys, was traded at Dioulasso for Kola nuts. Ironwork, dyed fabrics and embroidered cloths, flour, rice, peppers, salt, soap, grease, flints, jewelries, basketry and others were also listed as items traded there. Even barbers and pedicurists were in no short supply, paid in cowries. Gold however, did not seem to be traded in any appreciable amount.
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