The
Bobo are an ethnic group living in
Burkina Faso although the area occupied by the Bobo extends north into
Mali. Bobo is also the name of the second biggest city in Burkina Faso. In much of the literature on
African art the group that lives in the area of Bobo-Dioulasso is called Bobo-Fing, literally 'black Bobo.' These people call themselves Bobo and they speak the
Bobo language, a
Mande language. The Bamana (Bambara) people also call another ethnic group "Bobo," the
Bobo-Oule/Wule, more precisely called the
Bwa. While the Bwa (Bobo-Oule) are a Gur people, speaking
Gur languages, the true Bobo (Bobo Madare, Bobo Fing), the topic of this article, are a Mande people. The Bobo number about 110,000 people, with the great majority in Burkina Faso. The major Bobo community in the south is
Bobo-Dioulasso, the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital. Farther north are large towns, including Fo and
Kouka, with
Boura in the extreme north in Mali. The Bobo are far from homogeneous. They are an ancient aggregation of several peoples who have assembled around a number of core
clans that do not preserve any oral traditions of immigration into the area.
Their language and culture are more closely related to those of their Mandé neighbors to the north and west, the
Bamana (as well as the
Minianka, also known as Mamara Senoufo, and a Gur people) than to their Voltaic neighbors the
Gurunsi and
Mossi, but they should be thought of as a southern extension of the Mandé people who live in what is now Burkina Faso, rather than an intrusive Mandé group that has recently penetrated the region. Although over 41% of Bobo
lineages claim a foreign origin, they also say that they are autochthonous.