town and river port, east-central Guinea. It lies at the head of navigation of the upper Niger River and along the railroad and road from Conakry to Kankan. Kouroussa is the chief trading centre for the rice, onions, millet, peanuts (groundnuts), sesame, cotton, and cattle raised in the surrounding area. The region is mostly savanna and is mainly inhabited by the Muslim Malinke and Dialonke peoples (both members of the Mande peoples). Kouroussa has a monument to the French explorer René-Auguste Caillié (Caillié, René-Auguste), the first European to reach and return from Timbuktu (1828), who visited the town. Formerly an important collecting point for wild rubber and gold, the town now processes and exports rice grown in the Niger valley. Pop. (1996) 10,141.