Boké

▪ Guinea

      town and port located in western Guinea. It lies along the Nuñez River, near the Atlantic coast. The country's most important bauxite-producing area lies north of Sangarédi, 50 miles (80 km) east-northeast of Boké, where an international consortium began to exploit bauxite in 1973.

      Once a collecting point for slaves, the town of Boké became a French trading post in 1865 and exported peanuts (groundnuts), coffee, and wild rubber from 1870 to 1914. Navigation impediments and the development of Conakry's port greatly reduced Boké's importance as a port, however. The town is now the chief market centre (rice, fish, cattle, oranges, and palm oil and kernels) for the region's Landuma, Fulani, Nalu, Mikifore, and Baga peoples. Pop. (1996) 40,575.

* * *