Bondoukou, situated in the savannah region just north of the coastal forest, was originally a small farming village. But in the 18th century, a community of Muslim merchants, the Dyula, moved to Bondoukou. The town became the southern terminus for a major trade route that linked the rich gold- and kola-producing forest region with the great trading centers of the Western Sudan, and it quickly grew into a cosmopolitan community of several thousand inhabitants. Over the last 250 years, Bondoukou has served as a center of Islamic learning for the region. Its multi-ethnic nature is reflected in numerous neighborhoods that have been established based on the ethnicity of their residents. Today, Bondoukou is still an important trading community. It also serves as an administrative center, the capital for the prefecture (state) of Bondoukou, with a population of roughly 30,000.