Labé is the main city and administrative capital of the Fouta Djallon

Fouta Djallon

Fouta Djallon is a highland region in the centre of Guinea, West Africa. The indigenous name is Fuuta-Jaloo...

 region of Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

. It has a population of about 58,649 (2008 est). It is the second largest city in the country after the capital Conakry

Conakry

Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...

. Labé is situated some 450 km northeast of Conakry close to the geographic centre of Guinea.

History

The city was founded around 1755 by Karamoko Alpha mo Labé, an Islamic religious leader who propagated Islam in the region in the 18th century and who founded a theocratic state in Fouta Djallon.

The city was the capital of the Diwal province prior to French colonisation. It was home to Muslim leaders and scholars who resisted colonisation, such as Alpha Yaya Diallo.

Economy

Labé is an important commercial centre in the region, arising out of its strategic geographical position between several other countries. Traders from nearby regions such as Tougué, Koubia and Lélouma and other countries including Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

, Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

, the Gambia and Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

 gather in Labé. Its Kouroula market is the second largest in the country after the Madina in Conakry.

The city also benefits from a considerable diaspora whose repatriated income contributes significantly to infrastructural development in Labé and helps to overcome the region's relatively poorer revenue stream. Merchants from the city dominate the informal economy in most Guinean cities and are also economically active in cities further afield, such as Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

, Bamako

Bamako

Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...

, Abidjan

Abidjan

Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...

, Bissau

Bissau

Bissau is the capital city of Guinea-Bissau. The city's borders are conterminous with the Bissau Autonomous Sector. In 2007, the city had an estimated population of 407,424 according to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística e Censos...

 and Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

.

It is known for weaving

Weaving

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

, shoemaking

Shoemaking

Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...

 and honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

. The city also has a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 and an airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

, while the Saala Falls and Mount Kolima lie nearby.

The town is served by Tata Airport

Tata Airport

Tata Airport is an airport serving Labé in Guinea....

. While Tata Airport is grass, a jet-capable airport near Labé was reported to have been built by Cuban engineers in 1973.

Climate

Labé has a tropical savanna climate with extreme differences between day and night. It is hot all year round (yet cold to warm at night). About 1500 mm of rain fall annually, mostly on summer.