BONDOUKOU

town, eastern Cte d'Ivoire, situated at the intersection of roads from Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Abidjan, the national capital. An early trade centre of the Kulango (Koulango, Pakhalla, N'Gora) people, Bondoukou was captured in the late 15th century by the Brong (Abron), an Akan people from the west. The Brong were converted to Islam by Dyula traders from the north, who founded a Qur'anic university and made the town a Muslim cultural centre. The kingdom of Bondoukou was part of the Asante empire from the mid-18th century to 1874. In 1941 the king of Bondoukou led thousands of his people into the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to join General Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces. The town is the chief trade and tourist centre of the region, which includes the 2,223,000-acre (900,000-hectare) Bouna Game Reserve. Pop. (1988) 32,231.