Map of Kankan
Kankan is a first-level division of Guinea. Its largest mapped city is Kankan, with about 114,009 people in the metropolitan area. The interactive map below is centred on Kankan, and the tables list its 4 mapped cities.
- Cities Mapped
- 4
- Largest City
- Kankan
- Country
- Guinea
Interactive Map of Kankan
About Kankan
Kankan (Mandingo: Kánkàn; N’ko: ߞߊ߲ߞߊ߲߫) is the largest city in Guinea in land area, and the second largest in population, with a population of 410,542 people as at the Census of 1 July 2025. The city is located in eastern Guinea about 555 kilometres (345 miles) east of the national capital Conakry.
The city is the capital and largest town of the Kankan Prefecture and of the Kankan Region with its population being largely from the Mandinka ethnic group.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia: Kankan (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kankan in Depth
History
According to oral histories, Kankan was founded in 1690 by Daouda Kaba, whose ancestors had come from Diafounou, in what is now Mali, a few decades earlier. His uncle Fodemoudou Conde, chief of the nearby village Makonon, gave Kaba the land on the banks of the Milo river near where the bridge is today, which was open bush. The hamlet was originally called Fadou (place of plenty), then Kaourou (prosperous place), then Nabaya (place of welcome).
Another tradition holds that Kankan was founded in the mid 17th century by Dyula traders of the Sarif and Sanyo families.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Kankan (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kankan: Key Facts
| Population | 190,772 (2014) |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata Q874317 (CC0).
History of Kankan: Empires and States
The atlas records 6 polities whose mapped territory included part of Kankan, from The Mali Empire in 1236 CE to 2024 CE. They are listed in the order they first appear.
| Polity | Period here |
|---|---|
| The Mali Empire | 1236–1611 CE |
| French Third Republic | 1885–1939 CE |
| French Africa | 1885–1957 CE |
| The French Colonial Empire | 1885–1957 CE |
| French Fourth Republic | 1945–1957 CE |
| Guinea | 1960–2024 CE |
Historical Maps of Kankan
Kankan on the world map in each year one of these states held it:
Derived by testing mapped cities against dated territorial polygons. Dates are when the polygons cover this place, not the polity's whole lifespan, and polities absent from the source dataset are not listed.
Largest Cities in Kankan
4 cities mapped. Ranked by metropolitan population. A port city's harbour is written up on the page of its sea.
| # | Name | Population | Region | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kankan | 114,009 | Kankan | Admin-1 capital |
| 2 | Siguiri | 50,159 | Kankan | Admin-1 capital |
| 3 | Kérouané | 15,406 | Kankan | Admin-1 capital |
| 4 | Kouroussa | 14,223 | Kankan | Admin-1 capital |
Kankan: Quick Answers
- Where is Kankan?
- Kankan is a first-level division of Guinea, in Africa. Its mapped cities centre on 10.4326° N, 9.3472° W.
- What is the largest city in Kankan?
- Kankan is the largest city mapped in Kankan, with a metropolitan population of about 114,009.
- How many cities are in Kankan?
- YearMaps maps 4 cities and towns in Kankan, with a combined metropolitan population of about 193,797. This counts mapped settlements, not every municipality.