Kindia

Kindia, town, western Guinea. It lies on the Conakry–Kankan Railway and at the intersection of roads from Conakry, Mamou, Télimélé, and Makeni (Sierra Leone). Founded in 1904 as a collecting point on the railroad, it is now the chief trading centre for the rice, cattle, bananas, pineapples, citrus fruits, and palm oil and kernels produced in the surrounding area. Fruits and gmelina wood (for matches and boxes) are exported to Conakry, 70 miles (112 km) southwest. The National School of Agriculture (1961) is in the town, and the government’s Institute of Fruit Research (1961) and an experimental garden are nearby. Kindia is the site of the Pasteur Institute (1925; medical research) and has a general hospital, a mosque, a Roman Catholic mission (1908), and vocational, teacher-training, and academic secondary schools. The surrounding region is inhabited by the Muslim Susu (Soussou) and Fulani (Peul) peoples. Significant bauxite deposits have been discovered and are now mined near Friguiagbé, about 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Kindia town. Pop. (2001 est.) 56,000.