Bobo

The Bobo, who call themselves Bobo Fing, are a Mandé farming people of the upper Volta basin, settled around Bobo-Dioulasso in western Burkina Faso and north to Koutiala in Mali; they are distinct from the neighbouring Bwa, who speak a Gur language. Their Bobo tongue is close to Bambara, and in clan-organised villages they grow red sorghum, pearl millet, yams and cotton.

Traditional religion centres on the creator god Wuro, who made the first man a blacksmith and gave him the first mask. Blacksmiths lead the cult of Wuro's son Dwo, and masked rites restore the balance between village and bush.

In about 1714 the Dyula leader Famagan Ouattara founded the Gwiriko kingdom with Bobo-Dioulasso as its chief city, ruling the Bobo clans through Bobo-Juula merchant allies. When Gwiriko collapsed in the late 1830s the Bobo towns regained their independence.