Kayes

This article is about the city in Mali. For the town in Congo, see Kayes, Republic of the Congo.

Kayes Kayi, Xaayi
Commune and city
Town Hall of Kayes
Kayes Location within Mali
Coordinates: 14°27′N 11°26′W
Country	Mali
Region	Kayes
Cercle	Kayes Cercle
Town founded	1880s
Elevation	33 m (108 ft)
Population  (2009 census)[1]
• Total	127,368
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)

Kayes (Bambara: ߞߊߦߌ tr. Kayi, Soninké: Xaayi) is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River with a population of 127,368 at the 2009 census. Kayes is the capital of the administrative region of the same name. The city is located 420 kilometres (260 mi) northwest of the capital Bamako.

Toponymy

There are multiple possible etymologies of the name 'Kayes', all derived from the Soninke language. These include: the word "kharré", which describes a low humid place that floods in rainy season; the word 'kayé', a type of grass;^[2] 'khayé', the Soninke name for the rhun palm.^[3]

History

The area around Kayes was historically a part of the Soninke states of Diarra and Gajaaga. The important trading center of Goundiourou, known in Arabic sources as Ghiyaru, was just across the river, and was later rebuilt just south of the modern city.^[4][5]

Kayes in 1910

Children at the Kayes hostage school, founded by Joseph Gallieni.(1887-1888).

Kayes itself was founded in the second half of the 19th century. Guéssé Sidy, a prince of Khasso, established a base there to protect the western approaches to the kingdom's capital, Medina.^[2][3]

Prior to French colonial expansion, Kayes was still a small village. In 1881 the French chose it as the site for a fort and barracks, the headquarters of the colonial presence in the central Sudan, as Medina was difficult to access by boat. By 1886 the post had been fortified, and by 1889 a market town of 6000 people had grown up around it.^[6]

From the beginning, the French began building a railway linking Kayes, the furthest point reachable by boat on the Senegal river, with Bafoulabe upstream. This stretch was completed in 1890, and reached to Bamako in 1904. A rail link to Thiès was begun in 1907 which, interrupted by the First World War, was completed in 1923.^[7].

In 1892, Kayes became the capital of the French Sudan; Bamako replaced it as the capital, first of the state of Haut Sénégal-Niger on October 17, 1899, then as the capital of all of French Sudan in 1908.^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, a portion of Poland's gold reserve, evacuated during the German-Soviet invasion in 1939, was stored for several years in Kayes before being transported to the United States in 1944, to be returned to Poland after the occupation and war ended.^[8]

Early 20th-century view of the railway station

Economy and transport

Kayes lies on the Route Nationale 1 (RN1) highway and is 612 km (380 mi) by road from Bamako and 96 km (60 mi) from the border with Senegal. The town has an international airport (Kayes Airport), and lies on the Dakar-Niger Railway which offered regional passenger train service to Bamako three times a week via Kati and Diamou as of 2013.^[9] The area is rich in gold and iron.

Climate

Kayes has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh). The climate is subject to the West African Monsoon with all the rainfall occurring between June and October. August is the wettest month. There is almost no rainfall during the other seven months of the year. The total annual rainfall is around 650 millimetres or 26 inches.^[10] Kayes is nicknamed the "pressure cooker of Africa" due to its extreme heat; the town is surrounded by iron-rich mountains which contribute to the temperature. The town has been described as the hottest continuously inhabited town in Africa.^{[citation needed]} The average daily high temperature in the city is 36.4 °C (97.5 °F), with temperatures usually peaking in April and May at an average of nearly 42 °C (108 °F).^[11]

Climate data for Kayes (1950-2000)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	—	—	—	—	47.9 (118.2)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	47.9 (118.2)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	33.6 (92.5)	36.6 (97.9)	39.4 (102.9)	41.7 (107.1)	41.9 (107.4)	38.2 (100.8)	33.6 (92.5)	32.0 (89.6)	33.1 (91.6)	36.1 (97.0)	36.7 (98.1)	33.5 (92.3)	36.4 (97.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	16.9 (62.4)	19.3 (66.7)	22.2 (72.0)	25.5 (77.9)	28.4 (83.1)	26.6 (79.9)	24.2 (75.6)	23.3 (73.9)	23.2 (73.8)	23.0 (73.4)	20.0 (68.0)	17.2 (63.0)	22.5 (72.5)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	0.0 (0.0)	0.4 (0.02)	0.1 (0.00)	0.6 (0.02)	12.0 (0.47)	82.6 (3.25)	155.2 (6.11)	215.9 (8.50)	140.9 (5.55)	41.2 (1.62)	2.7 (0.11)	1.1 (0.04)	652.7 (25.69)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm)	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	2.8	7.8	12.3	14.8	11.4	4.0	0.1	0.0	53.4
Mean monthly sunshine hours	263.5	250.0	282.1	285.0	279.0	215.0	211.8	223.2	240.0	263.5	264.0	260.6	3,037.7
Source 1: World Meteorological Organization[12]
Source 2: NOAA (sun 1961–1990)[13]

Area

Sites found in and around Kayes include:

• Fort du Médine
• Félou Falls, 15 km (9.3 mi) upstream on the Senegal river
• Gouina Falls, 100 km (62 mi) to the southeast on the Senegal river
• The tata of Koniakari, constructed by El Hadj Umar Tall, 70 km (43 mi) to the northeast
• Lake Magui and Lake Doro, both watered by the Kolimbiné River
• The Manantali Dam

See also

• List of cities in Mali
• Ebola virus disease in Mali

References

1. Resultats Provisoires RGPH 2009 (Région de Kayes) (PDF) (in French), République de Mali: Institut National de la Statistique, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-07-27.
2. "PETITE HISTOIRE DE KAYES". CareNews. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
3. "Historique de la ville de Kayes avec Adama Issa Sacko, promoteur – culturel". Maliweb. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
4. Bathily, Abdoulaye (1989). Les portes de l'or: le royaume de Galam, Sénégal, de l'ère musulmane au temps des négriers, VIIIe-XVIIIe siècle. Harmattan. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
5. Charles Monteil ‘Le Site de Goundiourou’, Bulletin du Comité d'études historiques et scientifiques de l'Afrique occidentale française, Larose (Paris), 1928, http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb34381764h
6. Bah Thierno Mouctar. Les forts français et le contrôle de l’espace dans le Haut-Sénégal-Niger (1855-1898). In: 2000 ans d’histoire africaine. Le sol, la parole et l'écrit. Mélanges en hommage à Raymond Mauny. Tome II. Paris : Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer, 1981. pp. 988-9. (Bibliothèque d'histoire d'outre-mer. Études, 5-6-2)
7. "Chemin de fer Thiès-Niger" (pdf). Les entreprises coloniales françaises. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
8. Ndiaye, Bara (2006). "Stosunki polsko-senegalskie. Stan obecny i perspektywy". Forum Politologiczne (in Polish). 3. Instytut Nauk Politycznych Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego w Olsztynie: 194. ISSN 1734-1698.
9. Mali Seat 61, http://www.seat61.com/Senegal.htm#.U2JXgMfEc7A
10. Weather Information for Kayes, World Weather Information Service, retrieved 15 May 2012
11. Cornet, Pierre (1956). "Sahara, terre de demain".
12. "World Weather Information Service – Kayes". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
13. "Kayes Climate Normals 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 12 October 2015.

• Portions of this article are a translation of French language Wikipedia's Kayes.

External links

• Colonial history of Kayes, from Web Site of Dr. Jim Jones, "African History Since 1875", West Chester University Department of History.
• View of Sénégal River Bridge at Kayes: Kidira Border Crossing into Mali, December 16, 2004 by NKOverland.