Labé [key], town (1996 pop. 249,515), W central Guinea, in the Fouta Djallon. It is the market center for a farm region where citrus fruit, bananas, vegetables, and rice are grown and cattle are raised. Labé was incorporated in the Mali empire in the early 13th cent. From the 16th to the 18th cent., after the decline of Mali, it was of commercial and political importance and served as a center of Islam. The Fulani settled there in the second half of the 18th cent., displacing the original inhabitants. Labé is today a leading center of Islam in Guinea.
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