the control of first Samory Touré's Wassoulou Empire and the French colonial empire. Placed under the Côte d'Ivoire Colony of French West Africa in 1895, the completed section of the planned Abidjan-Niger Railway was constructed north and ended during the colonial period at Ferkessédougou town, lending it increased regional importance. The French introduced large-scale cotton production, which remains an important pillar of the local economy. In the late 1970s, Ferkessédougou was designated by the government as one of their regional development hubs for industry processing agricultural goods. A 50,000 ton capacity sugar processing plant was built in this period. Climate On the southern edge of the Sahel—tropical Savanna belt, Ferkessédougou gets a mean annual rainfall of 1400 mm, making it drier than much of Côte d'Ivoire. It is 1037 ft-316 m in elevation. Transport Ferkessédougou is served by Ferkessédougou Airport and a station on the national railway system. Villages The 41 villages of the sub-prefecture of Ferkessédougou and their population in 2014 are. References Robert J. Mundt. Historical Dictionary of the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire). Scarecrow Press/ Metuchen. NJ - London (1987) Sub-prefectures of Tchologo Communes of Tchologo Regional capitals of Ivory Coast