Koutiala

Koutiala lies in Minyanka country, in the savanna south of the middle Niger. The surrounding villages are home to farming communities whose family compounds and fields form the basis of local life. Accounts of the town’s foundation place it between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, although traditions differ over the families responsible. The Minyanka share cultural and linguistic connections with neighbouring Senufo peoples, while the region also has close ties to the Bamana country around Ségou.