Ségou

Ségou (also Segou, Segu, Seku) is a town and an urban commune in south-central Mali that lies 235 kilometres (146 mi) northeast of Bamako on the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 inhabitants in 2009, it is the fifth-largest town in Mali.

The village of Ségou-Koro, 10 km upstream of the present town, was established in the 17th century and became the capital of the Bambara Empire.

History

In the middle of the 19th century there were four villages with the name of Ségou spread out over a distance of around 12 km along the right bank of the river. They were, starting from the most upstream, Ségou-Koro (Old Ségou), Ségou-Bougou, Ségou-Koura (New Ségou) and Ségou-Sikoro. The present town is on the site of Ségou-Sikoro.

The village of Ségou-Koro prospered after Biton Mamary Coulibaly became king in 1712 and founded the Ségou (or Bamana) Empire. Mungo Park became the first European known to have visited the village in 1796. The empire gradually declined and was conquered by El Hadj Umar Tall's Toucouleur Empire in 1861, then by the French Army Colonel Louis Archinard in 1890.