SIKASSO

town and capital of Sikasso rgion, southern Mali, West Africa. Sikasso town was a small village before becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Kndougou in the late 19th century. Today it constitutes a centre for cotton ginning and textile manufacturing. A road links Sikasso with Bamako, the national capital. Sikasso rgion borders the Bamako and Segou rgions on the north, and the countries of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) (east), Ivory Coast (south), and Guinea (west). The rgion's elevation varies from about 1,000 ft (300 m) in the lowland valleys of the central area to about 1,650 ft (500 m) in the flat-topped sandstone plateaus of the east and west. Much of Sikasso's area of 76,480 sq mi (198,080 sq km) is devoted to subsistence agriculture; important crops include sorghum, corn (maize), and, more recently, rice; cash crops grown include cotton and tea. Large numbers of cattle are exported from Sikasso rgion to the Ivory Coast and gold is mined (since 1980) in southwest Sikasso, near the town of Kalana. The Bambara and Senufo peoples are the rgion's main inhabitants. Pop. (1976) town, 46,503; rgion, 1,098,068.