Nunez River or Rio Nuñez (Kakandé) is a river in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

with its source in the

Futa Jallon Fouta Djallon (, , ; ) is a highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa. Etymology The Fulani people call the region Fuuta-Jaloo ( ) in the Pular language. 'Futa' is a Fula word for any re ...

highlands. It is also known as the Tinguilinta River, after a village along its upper course.

Geography

Lying between the to the north and the Pongo River to the south, the Nunez empties into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

at the port town of

Kamsar Kamsar is a port city in Guinea, West Africa. It is also a Sub-prefectures of Guinea, Sub-prefecture of Guinea. It is located on the mouth of the Nunez River. Port Kamsar handles significant part of the world's bauxite production. Ships callin ...

, along the coast of Guinea-Conakry. The river is swollen each year during the rainy season, producing floodplains and inland swamps. These floodplains are inhabited by the Nalu and

Baga people The Baga are a West African ethnic group who live in the southern swampy lands of Guinea Atlantic coastline. Traditionally animist through the pre-colonial times, they converted to Islam during the mid-eighteenth century under the influence of ...

. About inland is the city of

Boké Boké is the capital city of Boké Prefecture within the Boké Region of Lower Guinea near the border with Guinea-Bissau. It is also a sub-prefecture of Guinea. Located along the Rio Nuñez which flows to its not-too-distant mouth on the Atl ...

; the largest on the river and the chief commercial center of Guinea. Here the river is 100m wide and 1m deep. Upstream from Boké, the shallow river winds through low hills with many series of rapids and small islet clusters to its source, a confluence of several small streams.

Coordinates

History

Prior to 1840, this river served as a market for Fulbe slave caravans transporting slaves from the Muslim

Imamate of Futa Jallon The Imamate of Futa Jallon or Jalon (; or ' , ), sometimes referred to as the Emirate of Timbo, was a West African Islamic state based in the Fouta Djallon highlands of modern Guinea. The state was founded in 1725 by a Fulani jihad and became ...

. In 1793 Captain Samuel Gamble of the

Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, England. The neighbouring resort of Shanklin and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake are sited just to the south of t ...

was forced to seek protection from enemy war boats and pirates in the

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

swaps of the Rio Nunez during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

, where vessels were threatened by French privateers along the West African coast. For unknown reasons, he travels to agricultural villages around the commercial centers of Boke and Kacundy. During his journey Gamble records the earliest known description of irrigated

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

cultivation in the Rio Nunez region (though earlier accounts exist such

Diego Gomes Diego Gomes (born August 27, 1996) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, producer and director from Toronto, Ontario. He is best known as the season three winner of the Canadian YTV television series, '' The Next Star''. He is also the CEO ...

' 15th century record of mangrove rice farming along the

Gambia River The Gambia River (formerly known as the River Gambra, French language, French: ''Fleuve Gambie'', Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Rio Gâmbia'') is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward ...

, detailing his eyewitness account of the process. Records attest to his purchases of both

red rice Red rice is rice that is colored red due to natural anthocyanin content. It is usually eaten unpolished or partially polished, and has a red bran layer, rather than the more common pale brown. Red rice has a nutty flavor. It has the highest nut ...

and polished rice from the Rio Nunez's farmers. In 1849 the river was the site of the

Rio Nuñez incident Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

, when a Franco-Belgian squadron of warships fired on Boké, which resulted in loss of inventory by two British traders. The incident was inconclusive. During the 1870s, this river was a major export point for

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

s, with 5,000 tons per year. In the 1880s, the trade turned to rubber.

Demographics

Speakers of the

Rio Nunez languages The Rio Nunez (Rio Nuñez) or Nunez River languages constitute a pair of Niger–Congo languages, Mbulungish and Baga Mboteni. They are spoken at the mouth of the Nunez River in Guinea, West Africa. The Rio Nunez languages have been studied b ...

, Mbulungish and Baga Mboteni, live at the mouth of the Nunez River.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Guinea