Bussa, also known as Boussa in older texts, was the capital of northern

Borgu Borgu is a region in north-west Nigeria and in the northern Republic of Benin. It was partitioned between Great Britain and France by the Anglo-French Convention of 1898. People of Borgu are known as Bariba or Borgawa. History According to the ...

, in northern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. It was the farthest navigable point on the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

, just above the rapids. The town site is now covered by

Lake Kainji Kainji Lake, in North Central Nigeria, is a reservoir on the Niger River, formed by the Kainji Dam. It was formed in 1968 and is a part of Niger State and Kebbi State. Kainji Lake National Park (KNLP), situated around the lake, is Nigeria's oldes ...

, which was created in 1968 with the construction of the

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

. The town was re-located to what is now called

New Bussa New Bussa is a town in Niger State, Nigeria. It is the new site of Bussa after the Kainji Lake dam set the previous location underwater. As of 2007 New Bussa had an estimated population of 24,449. New Bussa is the headquarters of the Borgu Emira ...

History

In 1806, British explorer Mungo Park drowned in Bussa while on his second expedition to trace the course of the Niger River. During 1894-1898 its possession was disputed by Great Britain and France. In 1897, Bussa became part of the British Niger Coast protectorate. The French Occupation of Bussa and Borgu has been recorded in the book ''Campaigning on the upper Nile and Niger'' by Seymour Vandeleur (i.e. Cecil Foster Seymour), published in 1898. In 1915, an uprising took place in Bussa against the British policy of

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of governance used by the British and others to control parts of their colonial empires, particularly in Africa and Asia, which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by vario ...

Richard Lander Richard Lemon Lander (8 February 1804 – 6 February 1834) was a British explorer of western Africa. He and his brother John were the first Europeans to follow the course of the River Niger, and discover that it led to the Atlantic. Biograp ...

(1804–1834) an explorer relates that after the death of Mungo Park the inhabitants of Bussa were attacked by a raging epidemic, which was regarded as a visitation from heaven. "Take care not to touch the whites lest you perish like the people..."

References

External links

Nigeria Travel - see Kainji National Park
* Reclus, Elisée, ''The Earth and Its Inhabitants ...: West Africa'' (D. Appleton and Company: 1892) French West Africa Populated places in Niger State {{NigerNG-geo-stub