Essouk
السوق | |
|---|---|
Commune and village | |
  Essouk Location within Mali | |
| Coordinates: 18°45′N 1°10.5′E / 18.750°N 1.1750°E | |
| Country |  Mali |
| Region | Kidal Region |
| Cercle | Kidal Cercle |
| Population (2009)[1] | |
• Total | 2,383 |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
Essouk (Arabic: السوق : "the market") is a commune and small village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village lies 45 km northwest of Kidal in the Adrar des Ifoghas massif. The ruins of the medieval town of Tadmakka (Arabic: تادمكة) lie 2 km northeast of the present village. Between the 9th and the 15th centuries Tadmekka served as an important entrepôt for the trans-Saharan trade.
The commune is very large in area but sparsely populated. The 2009 census recorded only 2,383 people[1] in an area of approximately 25,000 km2.[2] The village of Essouk has only a small permanent population. The rainfall is too low for rain-fed agriculture and almost all the population in the area are nomadic pastoralists.[3]
- ^ a b Resultats Provisoires RGPH 2009 (Région de Kidal) (PDF) (in French), République de Mali: Institut National de la Statistique, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-22.
- ^ This area is given in the Plan de Securite Alimentaire Commune Rural but appears to be too large. Kidal Cercle covers an area of 25,617 km2 but precise boundaries have not been established for the three communes within the cercle: Anefif, Essouk and the Urban commune of Kidal. See: Programme de renforcement des capacités nationales pour une gestion stratégique du développement (PRECAGED): Schéma d'aménagement et de développement du Cercle de Kidal (in French), République du Mali: Ministère de l'économie programme des nations unies et des finances, 2002, archived from the original on 2012-03-17, retrieved 2011-08-21.
- ^ Plan de Securite Alimentaire Commune Rurale de Essouk 2007-2011 (PDF) (in French), Commissariat à la Sécurité Alimentaire, République du Mali, USAID-Mali, 2007, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-19.