Kayes

Kayes (Bambara: ߞߊߦߌ tr. Kayi, Soninké: Xaayi) is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River with a population of 127,368 at the 2009 census. Kayes is the capital of the administrative region of the same name. The name "Kayes" comes from the Soninke word "karré", which describes a low humid place that floods in rainy season. The city is located 420 kilometres (260 mi) northwest of the capital Bamako. Prior to French colonial expansion, Kayes was a small village. Its location on the path of the future Dakar-Niger Railway, and the French need for trade centers, led to the creation of the Kayes market town in 1881. It remains a transport hub, primarily for Senegalese trade, to this day. In 1892, Kayes became the capital of the French Sudan; Bamako replaced it as the capital, first of the state of Haut Sénégal-Niger on October 17, 1899, then as the capital of all of French Sudan in 1908. During World War II, a portion of Poland's gold reserve, evacuated during the German-Soviet invasion in 1939, was stored for several years in Kayes before being transported to the United States in 1944, to be returned to Poland after the occupation and war ended.[2]